For Aneeta Raichal football has been nothing less than a magic wand that helped transcend her dreams from the small idyllic coastal village of Chellanam, near here, to Cardiff in the faraway Wales in a jiffy.
If football goddess smiles on her, the 18-year-old graduate student who idolises Lionel Messi will wear the Indian colours when the 17th edition of the Homeless World Cup gets under way at the iconic Bute Park in the Welsh capital of Cardiff on July 27. The four-a-side global tournament will witness the participation of 500-odd players from across 50 countries.
Aneeta is one of the six players - four boys and two girls - from Chellanam to be long-listed as the national team probables for the forthcoming tournament.
Venda project
The Venda (Say ‘NO’ to Drugs) project run by a Bengaluru-based NGO, Fourth Wave Foundation, to keep vulnerable youth from high-risk areas in Kochi away from drugs opened the doors to a new dream for these youngsters.
Their performances as part of the men's and women's teams representing the State at the National Inclusion Cup (NIC), organised annually by the Nagpur-based NGO Slum Soccer, at Mumbai in February led to their inclusion in the national probables.
“Earlier I simply dreamt of graduating and doing some job. But now I want to pursue football as a profession,” said Jeffin Joseph, a Plus Two student.
Having started playing the beautiful game at the age of 12, K.V. Rajalakshmi, a graduation student, knows that the selection is not over yet. “But then I never dreamt to be in contention in the first place and that itself is very exciting,” she said.
C.C. Joseph, Director, Fourth Wave Foundation, said football has given these youngsters hopes, dreams, aspirations and an alternative engagement for an otherwise vulnerable lot.
Representing Kerala
Kerala was represented at the NIC for the first time and initially they found it tough to adjust to the game played on 16 x 22 metre pitch. But then they got accustomed and reached the semifinals and quarterfinals in the men's and women's categories respectively.
“The four-member men and women’s national squads out of the probables long-listed from across the country will be selected over two selection trials to be held this month,” said Homkant Surandase, head coach, Slum Soccer.
Slum Soccer, which was founded with the idea of creating opportunities to the youngsters from low income and socially depressed classes through football, started the NIC with a mere eight teams 17 years ago. “This time around the annual event had 52 teams, out of which we had created a pool national probables,” said Abhijeet Barse, CEO of Slum Soccer.
Driven by their dreams, these youngsters will leave for the selection trials this weekend.
