Cheap tickets bring more football fans to stadium

For many Chennaiites, watching Chennaiyin FC battle the visiting team at the Marina Arena (nickname for the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium) during the ongoing Indian Super League (ISL) tournament, has become a common affair. With tickets starting from Rs. 100, many football lovers and families are heading to the stadium to get their dose of sporting action. In a city known for its long-standing cricket tradition, this support for football comes as a welcome change. 

Syed Sabir Pasha, international footballer and coach for the Youth National Team, said that with an increasing number of Chennaiites following football closely, the local scene will get better. “This is a healthy trend. People, who have not played football, come to the stadium with their families, because they enjoy the game. With the tickets being priced nominally, a lot more people will be watching the games at the stadium. This will encourage these people to either start playing the game or make someone in their family get hooked to the sport,” he said. 

For Shafeeq Ahmed, a professional in the city, watching the football matches has become a routine. “If there’s nothing to do, I go and watch the match with my friends. And with the tickets being cheap, it makes it easier to go with a big bunch of friends and football lovers,” he said. 

Football fan Abhishek Murali pointed out that with such competitive pricing of tickets, more people were getting attracted to the game. “There is definitely some attraction towards football now. The ISL is not as intense as it was last year but it is still making waves. There are more people watching the matches now. I hope that the money collected goes to the grassroots, an ISL initiative to groom young footballers. Hopefully, over the next decade, we should see better infrastructure and amenities for players. And we should also churn out footballers who are good enough to play in European league,” said Abhishek, who is a partner at a CA firm.

For die-hard football fans, no match is complete without donning the official team jersey to proclaim one’s loyalty to the group. And fans of Chennaiyin FC are no different. Ask Mahesh, a sales rep from Bengaluru, who is in charge of a ‘Sports365.in’ outlet at the Nehru Stadium. The firm is the official merchandiser of all ISL goodies this season.

He says, “On a packed weekend match, we are able to sell upwards of 100 tee shirts a day, sometimes even more. The original cotton and polyester variants of the team tees are priced at Rs 399 and Rs 200 respectively, while a scarf is priced at Rs 399. But we are having a tough time competing with the duplicate merchandise which many people lap up due to their cheap prices. They are making a dent in the sales of merchandisers like us.” Ironically, the knockoffs of these products are being sold right outside the stadium. Sudhakar, an itinerant vendor who specialises in ‘stadium gear’ says, “For a decent bargain, you can get a similarly styled Chennaiyin FC shirt for Rs 100. We sell a lot more products that you won’t get inside the stadium like vuvuzelas (a loud horn), multi-coloured fancy headgears and team flags costing Rs 20.” 

A majority of flags sold by the unauthorised vendors are recycled from the flags left behind by fans, which gives the vendors a handsome profit.