The Hindu : Sport / Football : League format restructured

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Monday, Aug 13, 2007
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League format restructured

BANGALORE: The Bangalore District Football Association (BDFA) seems to be finally waking up. With a new committee in place and K.G.S. Alva as president and S.M. Balu as its secretary, the District body has decided to take a few steps in the right direction.

For one, there is a restructuring of the league format. The super division will now comprise 15 teams, five more added to the present 10-team league. This will help institutional teams recruit fresh talents and strengthen their present base. Also there is a concrete attempt to revive the long forgotten Stafford Cup, easily the best sought after football tournament in South India.

The BDFA president also expressed his views on having a talent pool of 25 players to be selected from an 80-strong base from the under-19 and under-21 players. Four teams will be selected to play amongst themselves. The 25 players then selected from this pool will represent BDFA in some of the local and outstation tourneys.

There is also a proposal to make the Prasanna Kumar and Puttaiah Memorial tournaments into an invitation championship, which will help enhance the standard of the local teams.

Other initiatives

Speaking to the media, Mr. Balu expressed the initiatives to target school level talents. “A Bangalore Premier schools tournament is also proposed to tap young talented players. This was one area that was untouched in the previous years and BDFA is keen about having more tourneys for schools and colleges in Bangalore to unearth fresh talents,” the secretary said. The BDFA will start the Super division league for this season from August 16. — Special Correspondent

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