Football has seen exponential growth in India since the past decade or so with some of the biggest leagues and clubs internationally investing and engaging with the Indian football market consistently given the massive fan following these leagues & clubs enjoy in India, despite Cricket still ruling the heart of Indians. We caught up with Roshan Shetty also known as Roshan Ramesh Shetty who shared his experience of being the Lead Sports Commentator for the first ever Premier League Games in India “The Premier League and Hero Indian Super League Youth Games” (now known as Next Gen Cup), featuring Premier League Youth teams of Arsenal, Leicester City, Manchester United, Chelsea along with teams from the Hero Indian Super League Clubs and the Reliance Foundation Young Champs.
“I was 10 years old when I wore my first football jersey, my dad had bought a Manchester United jersey with Beckham’s name and number on it. I am talking about 2003 when English Premier League and international football wasn’t as big as it is now in India. I have been an ardent follower of the Premier League and a staunch supporter of Manchester United since childhood,” says Roshan.
The advent of the Indian Super League in 2014 opened doors for a lot of football leagues and clubs from across the world to partner with Indian Football for its growth and development & Premier League along with Individual clubs have been at the forefront with multiple initiatives for grassroots development, referee & coach education programs, fan engagement and partnership with ISL Clubs for similar activities throughout the year.
“I had just come fresh from my Television Debut on Star Sports and that’s when I got a call to cover the Premier League and Hero ISL Youth Games, which was the first of its kind happening in India with the youth teams of top Clubs like Arsenal, Leicester City and Mumbai City from the ISL along with Reliance Foundation Young Champs being a part of it. At first, when I got to know I will be covering this I went into a small flashback of the days being a fan, supporting and watching these teams play on TV and also was a little emotional for me as I had dreamt as a child of being associated to the English Premier League in some capacity, but little did I know it is going to be in the role of a commentator, a thing I love doing the most.”
Roshan who considers Peter Drury as one of his role models was one of the youngest in the country to be recognized as a sports commentator and Presenter covering national leagues including the Hero I League, Reliance Foundation Youth Sports, Hockey India National Championship, Roll Ball World Cup etc which eventually made his way for his debut on Star Sports in 2019.
“Commentating for the Premier League and Hero ISL Youth Games was a phenomenal experience and I was excited as my voice went global with the matches being broadcasted beyond Indian shores in Europe and other places, the quality of football stretched far more above what I expected and I was in awe of the Indian talent from Reliance Young Champs and Mumbai City FC who showed an exemplary performance throughout the tournament. We need tournaments of this magnitude at the Grassroot level consistently where our talent gets to rub shoulders with technically better players from Europe and other parts of the world to develop Indian football in the long run,” says Roshan Ramesh Shetty.
There have been more football clubs from La Liga, Bundesliga, and other countries who are now connecting to their Indian fans, the Indian clubs themselves have built a massive fan base for themselves in the last couple of years. Hopefully, the growing partnership of Indian football with other leagues and clubs will take us close to our dream of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup soon.
