If you share the passion and excitement for football, here is just the right club to hang around
If you share the passion and excitement for football, here is just the right club to hang around
It may be cricket mania that we see around us, but there is another sport that has caught the imagination of the public. In fact, this has been a preoccupation with Indians in general, over the years, but has not been in the spotlight, you could say.
We are talking about football, which has caught the fancy of some Puneites.
Dr Ashok Kumar, who is the general manager of the Pune Football Club, told MiD DAY, "Our aim was to promote football and to project this team as the top 10 in the country." The Pune Football Club was launched in January 2008.
He explained, "The I-League is the premier league of India. Our aim was to get into this league."
Dr Kumaru00a0 added, "To do this, you have to play the second division league and then play the top teams and finish among the top four to qualify for I-League."
At that time, the top teams were Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd (HAL) who were Karnataka champions and Delhi Heroes who were Delhi champions.
"We had a good run in the second division league and we entered the final round in 2008, but in the finals in Guwahati, we finished fifth, so we did not qualify," he said.
"Had we finished fourth, we would have qualified for the I-League in 2008 itself," he explained.
But it was in the second season June 2008-May 2009, "that we qualified for second division and won. We qualified for the I-League in April 2009 which took place at Gurgaon," he said.
Grooming youth
At present, the club has a youth development programme. "We have U-19, U-17 and U-15 teams," he told us.
"This year our senior team (U-19) took part in the I-League and has already played eight matches in Balewadi and there are seven more to go in January-February 2010," he said.
Their fan base is impressive. "It's over 7000 now!" said Kumar.
Amit Dharap, who looks after the administration of the last two years said, "The club is doing good by promoting football in Pune. I love football and it's really good to be involved with so many people."
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