The sea of crowd at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium was yellower than the mustard fields, DDLJ ’s Simran ran in. Such was the support for India’s first ever Pro Volleyball League that concluded on Friday, with the yellow-jerseyed Chennai Spartans being crowned winners.
The euphoria from Chennai’s straight 3-set win (15-11; 15-12; 16-14), against Calicut Heroes, was reminiscent of the early IPL days of Chennai Super Kings’ matches. The incessant dhol beats and bugles added to the heartbeats of a 6000-strong crowd that threatened to spill out of the stadium.
Fans from not just Chennai, but also Kozhikode and Kochi had travelled all the way to support their teams. A healthy splatter of red dotted the mostly-yellow crowd. However, the enthusiasm of Chennai fans was perhaps a tad bit overwhelming for the Calicut team. The team that had remained undefeated throughout the season, lost to the underdogs, as much due to their faulty serves, as Chennai’s well-executed team play.
But above all that, “When you have a thousand people cheering you on, you know your emotional support is taken care of, then you can just focus on your game,” said Rudy Verhoeff, the Canadian player roped in for the Chennai team.
Having scored 13 points in the final game, not only was he declared the League’s Best Spiker, but had also become — if the crowd’s sonorous chants were anything to go by — a new hero among Chennai’s volleyball fanbase.
The game spreads
It was a testament to the country’s love for volleyball, that the Pro Volleyball League, organised jointly by Baseline Ventures and Volleyball Federation of India, drew the support it did — in its first season — without any celebrity endorsements.
Parents were cradling year-old infants, bouncing them in their arms, but not taking their eyes off the game. Chennai resident Irudhayaraj, held his 18-month-old son close to his chest, while explaining what the game meant to him. He, and his friend Arul Pandi, who themselves play the libero and attacker positions respectively, have been coming to every Chennai match with their families. Arul’s wife, Priya, points to their five-year-old son, Krithik Roshan, and says, “He is the next future volleyball player for India,” with pride.
If you ask the Man of the Match, Chennai’s own Naveen Jacob, the city is one of the best places for a budding volleyball player to develop his/her skills. “You have so many good teams here, like the ones from Railways, Customs, Income Tax departments, and SRM College. The craze is huge”
Naveen, who grew up in Tirunelveli, and now works with the Indian Overseas Bank here, added, “I hope that with leagues like these, the opportunities for young talent in volleyball will be better, and even those from the rural areas can look towards the sport as a full-time career.”
Indeed, egging on the crowd, was some quality production value. Lights from every angle danced on the roof of the stadium, balls autographed by MVPs were thrown towards the audience, clouds of yellow-and-purple confetti rained down, and fireworks and smoke-show displays concluded the match.
“I’ve played in leagues in France and Germany, but maybe 500 people watch those. Here, you have nearly 50,000 people watching on TV screens and digitally… And this is just the first season,” said Rudy, adding that even back home, in Canada, the game was getting immense traction, and interest from other players.
“We want to make Indian volleyball better. It has great potential, we do believe in this country’s love for the game,” said Fabio Azevedo, the general director of FIVB, an international governing body for the sport, adding that the first season of the league exceeded their expectations. “It has brought India to the notice of the international community.”
Gearing up for the next season was the task cut out for them now, said Tuhin Mishra, co-founder and managing director of Baseline Ventures. Quoting tennis legend Billie Jean King, he signed off, “Pressure is a privilege.”
