A ‘Football Kranti’ with 1,000 clubs was started in the villages of the Shahdol district about two years ago. The impact of this revolution was so great that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit to the burgeoning football hotbed on June 27.
Around 100 of the top footballers will meet with the prime minister at this recently constructed football academy in Pakariya village. For the Prime Minister’s visit, a setting akin to Chaupal has been built, where he will mingle with residents and enjoy food from a nearby tribe.
The idea of three tier Football Kranti was born with the establishment of more than a thousand football clubs in villages in the Shahdol area, which has a sizable tribal population, primarily made up of members of the Gond tribe and the weak and backward Baiga tribe. In Shahdol, there is currently at least one football club in each gramme panchayat.
Last year, Shahdol district hosted about 85 competitions. At the inter-panchayat, inter-block, and inter-district levels, these contests were organised. There were also two state-level tournaments held there for both boys and girls in addition to this.
The goal of this local initiative was to inspire children to play football in every hamlet. “Why only football? Because it is one of the sports that can give maximum output with minimum input. All we need is a ball and a ground to inspire athletes to play this sport. We chose football because even someone coming from a financially weak background can play the sport,” an official said.
Rajeev Sharma, the divisional commissioner for Shahdol, stated to the Free Press, “We started this football revolution with help from the school education department, the sports and youth welfare department, and various other departments to divert the youth’s mind from phone and drug addiction towards sports. This would help them lead a healthy lifestyle and can become a source to generate income as well.”
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