ASIA’s FIRST C PERATIVE FOOTBALL CLUB IS IN MAKING. www.smri.in We dare to dream India wins FIFA World Cup and an Indian football club defeats giant clubs like Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Manchester United at their home grounds. You can label our dreams as 'impossible good dreams' or 'madness'. But, some logic and history inspire our mad dreams. www.smri.in Who told only Celebrities, Crorepatis & Corporate houses can START a football club? Common People founded Uncommon Clubs! In 1895 a group of Oxbridge graduates founded the club Football Goal. In 1900 this club split into two different clubs New Foot-Ball de Madrid and Club Español de Madrid. In 1902 the latter club split again, resulting in the formation of Real Madrid FC on March 6, 1902. On 22 October 1899, Hans Gamper placed an advertisement in Los Deportes declaring his wish to form a football club; a positive response resulted in a meeting at the Gimnasio Solé on 29 November. Eleven players attended and Football Club Barcelona was born. When the Munich gymnastics club decided that the footballers of the club would not be allowed to join the German Football Association (DFB), eleven members of the football division left the congregation and on the same evening founded Fußball-Club Bayern München. Spanish club Athletic Bilbao is founded by British steel and shipyard workers and Basque students. Athletic Club de Madrid was founded on 26 April 1903 by three Basque students living in Madrid. These founders saw the new club as a youth branch of their childhood team, Athletic Bilbao. Common People founded Uncommon Clubs! Borussia Dortmund was founded on 19 December 1909 by a group of young men unhappy with church- sponsored Trinity Youth. Towards the end of the 1960s, an ambitious group of businessmen decided to create a major club in the French capital. They chose to merge their virtual side, Paris FC, with Stade Saint-Germain. Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (PSG), came into being in 1970. Members of St. Mark's Church of England, West Gorton, Manchester, founded the football club that would become known as Manchester City, for largely humanitarian purposes. Two church wardens sought to curb local gang violence and alcoholism by instituting new activities for local men, whilst high unemployment plagued East Manchester, specifically Gorton. All men were welcome to join, regardless of religion. On 3 April 1905, a group of Italian boys met to form a club. The house where the meeting was arranged was Esteban Baglietto's and the other people who attended were Alfredo Scarpatti, Santiago Sana and brothers Juan and Teodoro Farenga. After some hours of discussions Baglietto's father threw the boys out of the house and they had to continue with the project in the Plaza Solís, which is recognized today as the place where Boca Juniors was finally founded. If others can, why we Indians can’t? Who told only Celebrities, Crorepatis & Corporate houses can OWN a football club? World’s greatest football clubs are owned by common people! Most of the world's most valuable clubs are owned by its fans. Eg: REAL MADRID (Spain), FC BARCELONA (Spain), BAYERN MUNICH (Germany), ATHLETIC BILBAO (Spain), BORUSSIA DORTMUND (Germany) and BOCA JUNIORS (Argentina). Most of the football clubs in Spain and Argentina are owned by the fans. It is mandatory in Germany that minimum 51% of the shares of a football club must be with fans. If others can, why we Indians can’t? Who told only Celebrities, Crorepatis & Corporate houses can SAVE a football club? Manchester United was formed in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR Football Club. In January 1902, the club was served with a winding-up order. Captain Harry Stafford found four local businessmen, including John Henry Davies (who became club president), each willing to invest £500 in return for a direct interest in running the club. Subsequently the club also changed its name to Manchester United. Following the death of principal benefactor John Henry Davies in October 1927, the club's finances deteriorated to the extent that Manchester United would likely have gone bankrupt. In December 1931, a local rich man James W. Gibson invested £2,000 and assumed control of the club. Common people saved many clubs! Sinking football clubs like Northampton, Bristol City, Aldershot, Hull, Chariton and Portsmouth are survived with the support of common people fans. If others can, why we Indians can’t? WHY GREAT FOOTBALL CLUBS OWNED BY GREAT BUSINESS HOUSES LIKE MAHINDRA & JCT STOPPED THEIR GAME? Mahindra & JCT succeeded in every other business they started. But, failed in football business, because football is a different business. Indian football will die and foreign football clubs will reign Indian football market with their merchandise and increased viewership for their matches. Indian fans will continue erecting hoarding for Brazil and Argentina. Celebrated Indian football leagues will live with retired foreign players. If we don’t want to kill Indian football, we must play the new game of football business. WHY WE CAN’T Why We Indian’s Can’t create a football club, which defeats world’s football giants such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Manchester United in fame & game? Why We Indian’s can’t create a football club, which produces thousands of Messis? Why we can’t create a football club which contribute maximum players to Indian football team to win Fifa World cup? ONLY PEOPLE OWNED FOOTBALL CLUBS CAN SAVE INDIAN FOOTBALL. Existing Indian football clubs don’t have a strong/loyal supporter base due to its primitive football business practices. We need to strengthen the existing clubs with new structural changes and management practices. We need to start new PEOPLE OWNED FOOTBALL CLUBS across India. People will feel ownership and will encourage their clubs to be the top. The result will be strong football culture in India. So the only option to save Indian football is PEOPLE OWNED FOOTBALL CLUBS. More than 200 supporter owned football clubs are working in UK under the guidance of Supporter Direct, which is founded by Brian Lomax to save the then sinking Northampton FC in 1992. BRIAN LOMAX Founder of Supporters Direct, ASIA’s FIRST C PERATIVE FOOTBALL CLUB People Ownership opens up a number of benefits to a Club that are much harder to achieve or not possible to achieve in a privately owned Club. Football Lovers United is the first cooperative football club in Asia. It will be 100% professionally managed football club under the Cooperative Values. Name of the Society: Kerala Football Development Cooperative Ltd Name of the club: Football Lovers United (FL United FC) Head Office: Ernakulam Type of ownership: Cooperative Society Area of Operation: Kerala State Membership Types: 1) Individual: Rs.1000 2) Institutional: Rs. 5000 3) Supporter: Rs.1500 4) Minor: Rs.500 (without voting right) Business Composition: 1) Primary: Football Club & Academy 2) Secondary: Merchandise sales, franchisee, licensing, sports agent & other businesses 3) Tertiary: Permitted financial activities like Chitty, Gold loans & other loans. Board of Directors: 12 members 1) General : 5 2) SC/ST Reservation : 1 3) Woman (General) : 1 4) Woman (Athlete) : 2 (one must be footballer) 5) General (Athlete) : 3 (one must be footballer) Major Features 1) A member can take multiple shares, but One member One Vote 2) Only active members can vote and contest for Board of Directors (BOD) 3) No member can be director for more than 15 years and can't be Chairman for more than 10 years 4) People representatives like MPs, MLAs and members of LSGs and office bearers of political parties and religious and community organizations are not eligible to contest for BOD 5) Close relatives of the directors and employees are not eligible to be employed in the society 6) A new member can contest for BOD only after completing 6 continuous active membership years DAYS: FIRST TEAM WEEKS: OPERATIONAL PROFITABILITY 90 MONTHS: BEING THE BEST A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history- Mahatma Gandhi Do you have the determined spirit to own Asia’s first Cooperative Football Club? If you are interested to own FL United, please register your name @ www.smri.in/flunited For any clarifications/suggestions/criticisms, please contact SIJIN B T Chief Sports Architect, SMRI @ 8891994467 [email protected] This document is prepared by Department of Sports Management Sports & Management Research Institute (SMRI) 39/186B, Mahakavi G Road, Karikkamuri, Ernakulam 682011 Kerala India Phone: 0484 6558725 Email: [email protected] www.smri.in www.smri.in © SMRI 2015.