 Welcome to another episode of 420grams here on newsclick.in, now if you can see that I'm glowing today that's because my man Arjun Pandit is for a change right here in studio next to me, so it's going to be a fun episode today hopefully, and it's a big day because the new jersey for the Indian football team has been launched just a few minutes ago, our man Leslie Xavier was at the launch, it's a new brand, a new step forward for the Indian team, so let's go across to Leslie and take a look at what happened at the jersey launch. In a couple of weeks time the Indian football team will be playing the AFC Asian Cup after a gap of 8 years, they last played in 2011 and the team before they head off to the UAE, they had a small gathering here in which they announced their latest kit sponsorship deal and also their latest kit. I'm sure there's a bigger smile lying somewhere inside guys, for the broadcast team right at the back. Your initial reaction on seeing the stripes that you've come to associate with the Tigers, I just hope that it brings a lot of luck to us, that will be the most important thing. That shows us a glimpse of what's to come. Alright thanks for that Leslie, so Pandit coming to you man, what is your take firstly on this new look, new brand jersey for the Indian team? Yeah bro, this is our biggest ever tournament and I would say bigger than the 2011 one because we've qualified, so we belong there, we haven't gone through a backdoor tournament. And while there is good in the jersey of course we'll talk about it, that you've got a deal and they're paying you money and all but just purely on looks and seeing the Indian team wear that play against UAE, Thailand, Bahrain. It's a complete fail for me bro, I'm not buying it, what is that synthetic kind of thing bro, is reminding me of the college school kind of jersey. I don't know if the players themselves would be very happy wearing that jersey, you're coming from a Nike brand and of course the difference being that Nike wasn't paying you money, these guys are paying you money. So that is a step in the right direction but it has to be aspirational. I didn't see anything aspirational in terms of looks, I didn't like it at all, especially the whole shiny feel. I remember the college and school, when we used to play Nivea Cup and Inter college tournaments. And I'm being very polite right now, honestly speaking. So over the last let's say 10 years or so after the deal with Nike was signed, the national team has played in some very nice looking kits. So Nike was not paying us money? No, Nike was just supplying the kit to teams across all age groups and the women's teams as well. So the deal was that wherever you're going to play, we'll give you fresh kits for everything. And now there's this new brand 656 which is manufacturing the kit. It's a new company, they are a couple of ISL teams, Kerala Blasters, Pune City. I think one of the positives because let's look at the silver lining. One sec bro, before we move ahead and talk about the positives, you didn't tell me what you thought about the jersey. Just purely in terms of looks. At the end of the day, you don't buy a jersey because they're giving you endorsement for Indian football. You'll pick up a jersey A because it's your team and B because you like the way it looks. And how it looks on you. So then what's your thought? My thought is that... People are saying it with so much of a pause. Fortunately, over the years I've managed to collect several of the old kits. I think I'll stick to wearing those when I have to. So yeah, I think that's, I'll give it a 5 on 10. It's a start, maybe a step in the right direction and I think the positive will be maybe that since these are local manufacturers, they are in the textile business. By the way, this is a company owned by or run by a young brother, sister duo. The Anejas Avni and Ambar are their names. It's a six month old company. I think they have a cricket background as do most sports manufacturers in India. But they're seeing the kind of growth trend in Indian football and I've decided to at least partner for the next five years. So hopefully the positive will be that at a non-ridiculous price like 4,000-5,000. That was the Nike price. 4,000, 3.5,000. When it was available at all because there was a major stock issue as well, right? We've been looking for India jerseys for so many years and usually you only find them in factory outlets or places like that where the old stock will be. So I'm hoping that the... How much can we expect the MRP to be around? I think based on what they are pricing the ISL jerseys, it will be pretty similar to that. So in the 1,000-1,200 rupee range. Yeah, but would you not agree with me that an India jersey as opposed to a club jersey should be aspirational? And if... See, that's what I'm thinking is the dilemma. That you said that you want something which is 1,100-1,200 bucks, which is readily available and easily available to everyone on their pocket who wants to go and buy this jersey, right? But at the cost of what? At the cost of making a shiny looking jersey. At the cost of the team looking good on the pitch. Yeah, man. At the cost of that. Unfortunately, yes. I'm sorry, man. That's an Indian team. It's not Kerala Blast. It's not FC Pune City. And all due respect to those ISL teams, that is the Indian team. That is the pinnacle of Indian football. And especially, they're not going to play an Intercontinental Cup. They're not going to play Friendlies. They're not going to play a SAF. They're playing the Asian Cup, man. The biggest tournament that we've qualified for in God knows when? Ever. Yeah. So yeah, I mean... So yeah, I mean, there's also the fact that not so long ago, the Indian team wouldn't have proper kit, the national football team, right? Yeah. It would be very similar to how, when you were playing with clubs. Shiv Nuresh time. Yeah. Shiv Nuresh or even beyond. Best case scenario, they would have a couple of kits for the actual matches. But training, kit, etc. They wouldn't get all that. Even clubs, yeah. I remember Durant Cup... Everyone wearing their own... First time, remember, we went to see Durant and Jopal, we were seeing playing for East Bengal, went to him and said, Jopal, I loved the game, I loved the game. He said, yeah, it's the same jersey. We'll have to wash it off in the next match. After the tournament, right? So, my first jersey was Sumatai Shiza. Jopal's jersey. It was the same shiny, thick, dirty material. I think three sizes too big for Soso. And he had long hair at the time. I think they lost that Durant Cup final. So after the final, he chucked me the jersey over the fence. That was my first football memento. So coming from that kind of background, I think when Bob was in charge of this team, one of the things that he thought was that for the team to play like a team, first they need to at least start looking like a team, feeling like a team. Right? And you'll also agree with the fact that football is a lot of... a lot of it has to do with how you feel. Any sport? I feel like the looks on the faces of the players. We can show you some of those shots. They sort of betray what the players think of the new kid as well. This is mere speculation. Absolute speculation. We are basically judging it on the first reaction we got when we guys were checking it out on Twitter or whatever, on our phones. I mean, I remember my wife was there and she's like, what is this? Because she's seen our India jerseys back at home, which we've got, of course, from the Nike jerseys and all. She's like, what is this? This is the Indian team jersey? And, you know, like you said, these young, young, young people who are involved in this, of course their heart is in the right place, which is a step forward for Indian football. You're paying them, I think, how much did you say? A couple of crores a year, probably like a five year deal to ten crore deal overall. Which is big. It's okay, sure. It's somewhere. Maybe we can afford to now play a couple more friendlies, who knows. Problem. But still, I think, that's where I'm stuck. That this is an Indian team jersey, it should be aspirational. You know, it should be something, of course, it should be earned. And just the fact that it's the Indian team jersey should be enough, but it should look royal, man. It should look of that stature that this is Sunil Chhetri's jersey. The white jersey, to be fair, is still a little better than the blue one. But I think because it's white, so there's less of that shiny, shininess. But yeah, I think... So you've given a five on ten, right? I'll give a two on ten. Two? I mean, I am really disappointed. So the idea is not to bash a young local company just for the fun of it. But you're looking at a jersey and you're calling it as it is. And perhaps what the guys who made this plan could have considered was that the eve of a major tournament might not be the right time to do this. They could have waited a couple of months, used the existing kit or extended the existing deal by a few months and then post the Asian Cup because there are going to be other changes as well. No, but from their point of view, India is playing the biggest tournament. So they're saying if we're entering into a five-year deal with you, we want to be a part of that tournament. So that's a smart business move. Why would you wear the Asian Cup Nike? If I'm giving you money, then even if it's the start of our tenure, then I want to be a part of it. You can understand that. I can understand it from the company's point of view, undoubtedly. But not so much from the team or the federation's point of view. Because now with the Asian Cup being a 24-team tournament, we will play in four years' time again. Hopefully. Unless Asia suddenly has more countries coming in, I think we'll be in the top 24. I think it should be from now on. I don't expect us to take so many steps back now that this train has started rolling. You want to judge the past jerseys as well? Do you remember the past jersey? For the people who are watching right now, should we tell them the evolution of the Indian jersey? I don't know if you can call it evolution. There was a time when it was pretty random, where they would just approach some kid manufacturer and that manufacturer would supply, let's say, 50 kids in whatever size you got, however you got it. As per your number, don't pick it up and leave. There was no name or anything. Then there was the Adidas kit, the stripe one. The light blue and dark blue stripe kit. Light blue, dark blue. I didn't like it that much. Maybe also how styles have changed. Like if you look at pictures of Baichung, we can maybe pull up a couple of those pictures. It looks so oversized, but then I guess back in the 90s, people were wearing oversized... That was when men's fashion was still men's fashion and not women's fashion coming into men's fashion with the fitted clothes. Players had pot bellies also. There were things to hide. Post the Adidas kit came the Nike kit, which was in the Asian cup, where they had the sleeves with the orange and the white. Of course, you had the light blue sleeve and the dark blue thing and the V-neck, right? I liked that jersey because it was something new. Yeah, and the full sleeves. The full sleeves was in the area. Before that, there was Nehru Cup. I wore Nehru Cup, which one? That white stripe that was going down from here. When N.P. Pradeep scored the winner. The first Nehru Cup. First Nehru Cup. Long white shorts, the white stripe going down. That was the first... Bro, for me at that time, that was aspirational. Absolutely. It was because it was Nike. Of course, Nike, Reebok, these are big brands. Adidas, big brands. But just purely with the way it looked. So when I saw it on the field, I said, dude, find out where it is. And the obvious question being Nike, but it was never available in the showrooms. And it was expensive. At that time, it was 2500 bucks or something like that. But it was still aspirational, man. After the Asian Cup, The Continental Cup, the light blue kit with the orange stripe. These boys are all, you know, super fit boys. No one's got a belly now. Everyone's got eight pack, nine pack, ten pack. That looked good. Then the China kit. Again, the dark blue. Dark blue. I like that kit a lot. Very nice. If I had to pick a kit... Yeah, but if I had to pick a kit over all the kits that we've taken right now, for me the China one is the... the clencher. But it only lasted for one game. That should be about it. Let's not make it a full-on fashion episode. Yeah. I mean, just take a look at our clothes. I mean, who are we to give fashion advice here? If someone's wearing a skydive, then someone's got up from the bed. Anything else you want to add to the squad? Send them a little farewell message. I will be supporting you boys with all my heart but wearing my old Nike jersey. Sorry. I think they might ask us to bring some for them also. Alright. So, let's wind up this episode then, Pandit, on that note. It's good chatting. Good chatting with you too. Thanks for coming in. I mean, these are our own personal thoughts on the jersey. Of course, we hope that you go out there and support the team. Wear it with pride and whatever that comes along with wearing an Indian team jersey and have fun. Have fun. I hope you enjoyed watching this episode. Until next time, good bye.