The Kalyani-group promoted new I-League football team Bharat FC hopes to spur interest for the game in Pune city through grass root initiatives for the under-privileged children and in government and public schools, trigger a movement through fan-activation programmes and offer career opportunities for those who come through the club’s eco-systems. The new club is looking forward to its I-League debut game against Dempo SC at the Balewadi Stadium on January 24.
Giving his insight into what Bharat FC aims for, Mr. Amit Kalyani, MD of the Club and Executive Director of the Kalyani Group said: “Bengaluru FC has set a good benchmark by winning the league on debut; so we consider ourselves as a contender. The ultimate aim of the club is always winning, but we would like to play the game to the best of our ability, demonstrate sporting spirit, fair-play and represent Pune city as its ambassadors.”
Bharat FC unveiled its three kits created by its apparel partner Nivia— home and away and training — and announced its full team, which has several star players who excelled in the recently concluded highly successful Hero Indian Super League. Some of them are Arindam Bhattacharya, Gouramangi Singh, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Dharmaraj Ravanan,Lester Fernandez, Mohanrajan Nallappan, Adil Khan and Subash Singh. The overseas players are Englishman Bobby Hassell and New Zealand’s Kris Bright.
The club has the advantage of having Mr. Kunal Agarwal as its director. He was closely associated with Bengaluru FC. “We have a world class training facility at Manjri here and we hope to build a mega-stadium with all purpose facilities to make it a fan and family destination. It will cost the club around Rs. 950 crore, but the running of the club for a year though in the I-League would be around Rs. 12 crore,’’ said Mr. Agarwal who is an Arsenal fan.
Gouramangi Singh said that the HISL is behind and it’s time to focus on I-League. “The I-League will be different from the ISL. I have to motivate myself to get up early in the morning, go for training and practice and play games. I will give my best shot. I am very happy with the club’s vision and ambition to go forward,’’ said Gouramangi, who refused to say anything when asked if the AIFF as the promoter of the I-League should do a lot more to advertise I-League and create awareness.
Mr. Agarwal felt that the AIFF can organize a media-event before the first I-League game, with the representatives of the 11 teams and its captains in attendance. “The contest between the two local clubs can be called a “Pune Derby” , but we want the local football fans to turn up at the stadium in big numbers for all home games,’’ said Agarwal.
The team : Goalkeepers : Arindam Bhattacharya, Harshad Meher, Shahinlal Meloly.
Defenders : Gouramangi Singh,Mehrajuddin Wadoo,Dharmaraj Ravanan,Nallapan Mohanraj, James Naorem Singh,Bikramjeet Singh, Bobby Hassell, Shahbaz Saleel.
Midfielders : Lester Fernandez, Simranjeet Singh, G. Vignesh, J Prasad, Dipendu Dowary,Adil Khan.
Forwards : Manjeet Singh, Rajinder Kumar,Kris Bright,Subash Singh,Surojit Bose.
