With the FIFA World Cup set to kick off on June 14, businesses and not-for-profits are gearing up to capitalise on the city’s football frenzy with offers, screenings and tournaments.
The city is home to many coaching academies that also work to promote the sport among the masses.
These academies, often known by the arena they operate from, are planning to screen matches for enthusiasts, mainly children from government schools and also conduct tournaments.
“We plan to have a screening of the final for our boys and for the locals. We did this during the World Cup 2014 also,” said S. Tony of Shastry Soccer Club Trimulgherry, a known talent-pool in the city’s football scene.
Along with the screenings, some academies are also planning to use the world cup to create mass awareness that would encourage more people to play the sport and also organise tournaments for schoolchildren.
“We plan to have balloon floating and organise tournaments that introduce the game to children. We will screen matches on a 35 mm screen outdoors to get more people interested in it,” said K. Sai Baba of the Sports Coaching Foundation.
Stadium-like feel
Pubs, restaurants and other food-beverage enterprises are screening matches to cash in on the craze.
H. Adithya of SodaBottleOpenerwala said the establishment hopes to recreate the feel of being in a stadium during screenings.
“There are plans to create a menu for the football loving crowd during the screenings. Our place will be decorated with buntings and football paraphernalia when the matches start,” Mr. Adithya said.
Ravi Kumar Madan of Indiana Sports said more needs to be done to promote football among youngsters.
“We need to go to the school level and convince parents to let their children pursue sports. Playing sports also helps students excel at education. There is a lot of support infrastructure in place, but football needs more takers from the society,” he said.
