The headmaster of a local school, the local media, and more than half of the teams in the tournament this time are from North Bengal – that’s the spirit of this year’s RevSportz Football Carnival.
This year the Football Carnival debuts in another heartland of the game, Siliguri, in keeping with the community spirit/philosophy of the original tournament. The football tournament kicks off today and playing host to the girls teams that are coming in from different parts is Sailen Sir, headmaster of the local Bagha Jatin School, who has not only opened up the school grounds for the girls’ group league matches, but also arranged accommodation for the girls teams.
This is a tournament that – and we can attest from the previous years – is watched from rooftops and from behind window grills by mothers and aunts, toddlers and teenagers, from the houses and balconies overlooking these local playing grounds. In the true spirit of a carnival, neighbours and strangers together enjoy the momos on offer from one of the sponsors. There are soft drinks and lots of prizes for the players and audience. We deeply appreciate the support of Tata Steel for supporting the women’s tournament. We are also grateful to our sponsors Wow Momo, Shrachi Sports, Limca Glucocharge, Lalbaba Rice, Geta-fix Solutions and Bharatserum and Vaccines for staying with us on this vision of promoting a local sporting culture and promoting grassroots talent in their quest for excellence.
🚨There will be 16 teams in both the men’s and women’s sections of the RevSportz Football Carnival this year, as it breaks new ground in Siliguri. The first match kicks off on October 22.@RohanDC98 writes.@BoriaMajumdar @sharmisthagoop2 https://t.co/X1h0jV86II
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) October 21, 2024
In its third year, the Football Carnival has been moved out of Kolkata in the true spirit of the local, so that local does not become equal to metropolitan/big city-suburban. The commitment is to involve players and clubs from more marginal groups and communities and from smaller towns, who might not have been able to travel if the tournament stayed centred in Kolkata.
The idea also is to encourage people to consume neighbourhood sport. To make so much more normative the idea of girls and women playing in shorts, to firmly plant the idea of football, and all sport, as a career option for not only men but equally for women. To make the girls as seen and heard as the boys. By and by, to make physical literacy a norm rather than an aberration.
The prize money will come with wings, especially for the girls! Many of these players, both men and women, are from lesser privileged backgrounds and families. For the girls especially, well played will mean rewards beyond their wildest imagination, for the truth remains that football comes with next to no income for women’s teams. And winners or runners-up, or the player of the tournament can then go back enthused, as also their families, because monetary incentive goes a long way in changing mindsets. It goes a long way in the ways people will think of sport as a future prospect. And in the ways men and women can have parity and equality.