It’s a Sunday afternoon and the sun is beating down hard. But the heat and humidity fail to dampen the spirit of these youngsters kicking around in soccer boots on an emerald turf against a picturesque backdrop at Akkulam. At first glance, the “manicured” pitch with clean-cut, chalk-white markers is a sight to behold, except that, on closer inspection, it turns out to be artificial grass.
At a time when playgrounds get cemented over to make way for high-rises and commercial structures, lovers of the beautiful game can take heart from football fields with synthetic playing surfaces emerging in the city. Mimicking a bona-fide grass field in appearance, these grounds are, in fact, fashioned out of large polyethylene mats seamlessly dovetailed by tapes underneath.
Balagopal Sadasivan, a techie who introduced the city’s first such football turf at Friday Football Club (FFC) Arena at Chanthavila near Kazhakoottam last year, says he took cue from his playing days in Bengaluru. “After a week’s work, Friday night was the time some of us would gather to play football at artificial grounds to unwind. We formed the Friday Football Club as we used to play regularly. When I moved back to the city, I wanted to recreate that experience here and named the place in honour of our club,” says Balagopal, who co-owns FFC Arena with his friend, Jinu Babu, a techie working in Kochi.
At Diego Football Park, a stone’s throw away from NISH at Akkulam, floodlights light up a portion of the heart of darkness pervading the wooded haven as night falls. By then, most of those warming up for some ‘kicks’ would be working professionals, trading formals for jerseys after a hard day at work. Diego was opened by four friends – Jimmy Joy, Hari Xavier, Rahul Raj and Meghal Vijayan – inspired by similar playing turfs they came across in Kochi. “It’s also a tribute to the sport. In fact, we play a game here every night after our customers leave,” says Jimmy, an IT professional.
Though with the name ‘Diego’ one would presume the Argentinian legend Diego Maradona, Hari clarifies with a chuckle that they actually named the place after their Brazilian football icon, Diego Ribas. While Jimmy and Hari oversee the daily functions at the place, Rahul and Meghal, based in Australia and Canada respectively, provide necessary back-end financial support.
Water drainage
The turfs are filled in with rubber crumbs to keep the surface “fluffy” and uniformly smooth, and the preferred length of grass blades is about 5 cm. “The smaller the grass, the better the grip it offers,” says Jimmy, who imported the grass at Diego from Australia.
Boots with metal spikes are a usually disallowed as they can damage the playing surface. While the pitch at FFC Arena is enclosed on all sides by high nets and even a roof net, Diego remains open above. Rain would not play spoilsport at these venues as the excess water is automatically drained out by the sides. “Moreover, an artificial surface does not turn as slippery as the real grass surface when water-logged,” points out Balagopal. Rubber crumbs are refilled once in a few weeks as part of regular maintenance.
Diego hosts two cheek-by-jowl five-a-side pitches that are separated by a cross-field sliding net, thus essentially doubling up as a single seven-a-side ground as well to host larger games. Currently, FFC Arena has a single 30m x 20m, five-a-side pitch, while construction is on for another one adjacent to it.
Hari says it’s not just youngsters and techies who turn up at the ground, but also veterans of the game. School and college students too find much favour with the venues.
Pradeep Mathews Tom, an IT professional, says he loves to drop in for a game with his buddies at Diego on weekends as it is otherwise hard for them to find playable grounds. “Since you can book a time slot, it’s a guarantee,” he says.
While Diego takes only call bookings as of now, FFC Arena mainly works through the Playo app.
Time for some kicks!
(FFC Arena is open from 6 in the morning till 12 at night and Diego from 5 am – 10 am and 3 pm till about 1 am. At Diego, charges range from ₹1,200 to ₹2,200 per hour depending on the pitch size selected and the time of the day, while FFC charges ₹1,200 an hour during day and ₹1,500 after evening)
