Get set to witness young footballers in the city exhibit their talent in the second edition of the Sunfeast Dream Cream Roots Football League conceptualized and managed by Game On Sports Management Pvt. Ltd. The league began on 11 January 2014, and is scheduled to end on 15 February, 2014. The tournament will see about 200 registered youngsters in the age groups of seven to fifteen; demonstrate their football skills in a competitive environment at the Vasanth Nagar Ground in Bangalore. Divided in 4 categories; Under 9, Under 11, Under 13 and Under 15, each of the teams will play a minimum of 6 matches to be crowned the champions of the league in their respective categories.



Game On Sports Management Pvt Ltd came up with this brilliant idea as they realized that there is a lot of untapped talent in the country with respect to football. “We carry out a lot of sports tournaments and we realized that kids these days have so much potential but not many tournaments to provide the real training. We wanted to bridge the gap and therefore took the initiative to start the Sunfeast Dream Cream Roots Football League – now in its second edition with repeat sponsorship from ITC’s Sunfeast,” says Amit Chacko Thomas, Managing Director, Game On Sports Management Pvt Ltd.



The 200 children registered to participate include 20 girls and 40 children from two NGOs across the city - Parikrma Humanity Foundation and Magic Bus. A uniquely structured tournament, the Sunfeast Dream Cream Roots Football League will be played out in a league format for all categories with the U15, U13 and U11 winners decided through a play-off system and the U9′s through two round robin leagues with a deciding play-off at the end to crown the champions. The duration of the matches will vary according to the age groups – the U15s will play two halves of 25 minutes each, the U13s and U11s playing halves of 20 minutes each and the U9s playing 3 segments of 10 minutes each.



Speaking on the league, Amit Thomas said “We started this league with the aim of nurturing the talent at our academy, by providing them match practice and competitive environments. We decided to extend registrations to all children in the city, realising the opportunity that this platform provides and its role in popularizing the sport and contributing to the community. With a larger response from children and parents alike we are confident that this edition of the league will be entertaining, successful and a battleground of talent.” The teams consisting of both boys and girls, are divided based on their level of play and will be coached by parent volunteers, with as many as 22 parent coaches taking charge of various teams.



Nayeer Abdulla, Parent Coach at the Football League and Director, Beijing Bites Pvt Ltd is joined by an entourage of parent coaches including Mr Seshadri Ramaswami, Regional head, Reliance Communications, Eric Savage – Co-Founder & President, Unitus Capital and the Head of Human Resources at Tesco Mr. Abraham Cherian in coaching the children.



An opportunity for junior football players to participate in an organized playing environment, the Sunfeast Dream Cream Roots Football League is an initiative towards inspiring more children in these age groups to make football their preferred sport and consequently building the base of football in the community.