The Local, National and Global in Indian Football: Issues of Power and Identity

Abstract

In this article, I examine some recent events relating to the role of football in India. I argue that the sport provides an opportunity for the expression of particular types of globalism, some of which contrast with the localism that characterises the domestic game. Indians have therefore traditionally put their efforts into either consuming the global game or supporting local clubs despite a relative poverty in standards. The national team has sat uneasily between these two, and as such has been under-developed for the past three to four decades. There have been, however, a number of recent efforts from Non-Resident Indians to help boost the fortunes of the Indian national football squad. This has raised a number of questions about power, nationhood, and diaspora in a globalising world that are addressed in this article.