Ranjib Rudra | Staff Blogger
I still remember the first football match I ever saw on TV. This was way back during the 2007-08 season. An eight-year old boy, who had up till then just heard about the game of football and maybe just kicked the odd ball for fun in school. Anyways, didn’t know about the real technicalities of the game. But one day, changing the channels on the TV in boredom due to lack of good cartoon shows, stumbled upon this sports channel with a football game on. The teams playing that day were Manchester City against Manchester United at the then City of Manchester Stadium. Yes, that’s right, the first ever game I ever saw was none other than a Manchester Derby. And from that day on I just fell in love with this game and this league.
After the knowledge of the game grew deeper, I found out about these other leagues and the other big teams around the world, and along with that the debate about which one is the best amongst them. Often being criticized for being the most commercial and the most telecasted league as the reason for its success and popularity, I feel the Premier League also serves the best football. This is the only league where no one can guess the winner anytime through even the half of its duration. Each season begins with a whole new round of speculations, debates and guess work. The main reason for this is that the competition is very severe and unlike the rest of the major leagues, is not spread amongst the one or two or maybe three of the big teams of the league. And the best thing about it is that any team, any day, at any time of the match can defeat anyone, whether it be big or small. It can be the day of the underdogs in no time at all. The biggest example of this came in the very recent 2015-16 season, where an underdog team of Leicester City, went on to defeat all the big boys of the league and clinched the title.
On the question of the amount of money spent, yes there is a big disparity between the amounts that rich owners bestow upon their clubs, in comparison to the other teams in the league. But this happens in other leagues also where the monopoly exists with a few teams. The only big difference is that these huge reserves of money are no guarantee of wins in the Premier League, whereas in other places, it might be. This league also has the best youth academies and training systems in the whole world which recruits and nurtures the best of the talents and give almost all of them an opportunity to make it to the big leagues in England and around the world. The biggest example being that of Manchester United, where Sir Alex Ferguson made the majority of the team from academy graduates and with them carried the team to the status of one of the greatest in the world.
All these different leagues in the world is what makes the footballing world so unique and amazing! The English Premier League has had a special place in this history for a long time now. It makes, what I say, this sport, truly, the beautiful game! Â
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