You're trying too hard. Ipl comes around every year and lasts only one month. After and before that there are no proper games for the franchises. How can you possibly develop a deep affection for that team? I'm not talking about supporting, I'm talking about actually being affected by their loss. You can compare this to the premier league. I've been watching football since I was 8 and if my favourite team loses a match I'd feel bad innit. A football season lasts most of the year so it's more than enough time for you to be emotionally attached to your favourite team. An ipl season last 1 and a half months. You watch the ipl for that time and then forget it for the rest of the year.
International cricket is on for most of the year so you start to become emotionally attached to your favourite team and you're telling me a guy who's watched SA for his whole life wants to win the IPL more than the WC. That's just complete **.
The duration of an IPL tournament is irrelevant. It has been around for 11 years now and it is only natural for people to develop affection for their local teams.
I will put it in the context of PSL and perhaps it might resonate with you. Let’s say that the PSL is hosted in Pakistan on a full-scale from next year.
There is a generation of young kids in Lahore who are just starting to take a keen interest in cricket.
Naturally, they start to support Lahore Qalandars as well since it is their local team, and they go to the Gaddafi Stadium for every home game.
Fast forward to 11 years. These young kids are now adults, who have been watching their home team in their home ground for over a decade.
Are you suggesting that they are not going to care about victories and defeats since the tournament only lasts for a month? That is absurd and factually incorrect on so many levels.
As USofA also explained, this is a generational thing. These young kids who are now adults will influence their own children who will start supporting the franchises at a young age, and they will do the same for future generations. That is how support and loyalty is established.
An Indian cricket fan who was already an adult when the IPL was established and had followed Indian cricket for years would probably not have strong emotions for the IPL, but it is an entirely different story for the generation of Indians who grew up with it.
Similarly, our generation will probably never support PSL franchises with the same intensity as those young kids who are going to start watching cricket in the PSL era.
You gave example of club football and why people have affection for their teams because the season runs from August to May.
However, that is not true - people have affection for their teams because they grew up with those teams, and they wouldn’t have supported them with less intensity if the season ran for three months only.
When Liverpool was founded in 1892, the people of Anfield who were already adults probably didn’t care about the club nearly as much as the future generations who grew up supporting Liverpool and whose existence was a major reason why they got into football in the first place.
We are seeing this with the IPL now and we will see it with the PSL in the future.
Also, no one implied that
“a guy who's watched SA for his whole life wants to win the IPL more than the WC.” You seem to have invented that notion.
Nevertheless, since you brought it up, the simple answer is a resounding no. A cricket fan in South Africa will never care who wins the IPL, but the future generation of South African cricket fans who would grow up supporting their local franchise in the Mzansi Super League would definitely be affected by the performance of their teams.
