It’s funny that we need little children to remind established footballers to play fair. It’s assumed that despite being instructed to not cheat, the ways of the world leave a mark of cynicism upon the players. Hence, more often than not, we are placed in front of an unedifying spectacle produced by the acts of diving, rough tackling etc.
The need to emphasise the core values of sport has seen the birth of the Adidas FIFA Fair Play Flag Bearers Program. This project brings children from a wide range of countries together to carry the FIFA Fair Play Flag before international matches.
As India continues to grow as a destination for football business — even though, the development on the pitch is hardly remarkable — it wasn’t a surprise that the programme chose to take six Indian kids to Brazil for the forthcoming World Cup. The selected ones will carry the flag before the round of 16 encounter in Sao Paulo on July 1.
Two kids each were chosen from the cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore – namely Mihir Batra, Jasen Moses, Drishti Punjabi, Pranjal Agarwal, Shankara Narayanan and Faazil Ahmed.
The process to choose the youngsters began when the organisers contacted football clubs and schools. Fliers and radio adverts were produced too. The selection process included the assessment of the kids’ football skills by coach and former footballer Rishi Kapoor. He was assisted by nationally recognised referees. A short quiz enabled the organisers to choose the final 30 in each city. In fact, Kevin Pietersen in Delhi and Virat Kohli in Bangalore were present to announce the names of those who made it to the final stage.
The ensuing round saw the finalists undergo a solo examination of their knowledge of football and enthusiasm for the sport. Remarkably, teenager Pranjal will not only bear the Fair Play flag, he will also escort a player and function as a ball boy. Drishti will be the only girl among the Indian flag bearers on July 1 in Sao Paulo. The 16-year-old Mumbai resident revealed that she did not prepare at all for the competition.
Like Drishti, Delhi boys Jason and Mihir didn’t plan anything as they learnt of this competition only a day before it was organised. While the latter attributed his success to luck, the former believed it was all down to his hard work.
Contrastingly, Faazil warmed up for the event by running for half an hour.
