Mumbai's top celebrities are kicking it hard at local Bandra football league

Gabriella Demetriades at the St Andrews turf PicShadab KhanIts a weekday evening and South African modelturneddesigner Gabriella Demetriades is in the midst of football practice at the St Andrews Turf Park in Bandra Dressed in workout gear she is the lone woman in the team As she deftly tackles her opponents its evident that Demetriades ranked one of the worlds hottest women by a leading fashion magazine in 2012 is no stranger to rough games But let me tell you my girls are far more roughJackyy Bhagnani owner of Raging BullsThe boys are terrified of them she laughs Demetriades owns Demolition a team that is part of the womens edition of Roots Premier League RPL a league for footballers with day jobs most of whom live in and around Bandra Currently in its second season RPL which is also Indias first competitive amateur league was launched last year by Harpreet Baweja owner of Butter Events and Aroma Thai Spa along with actor and event planner Santino MoreaMandana Karimi plays against team Demolition at the Bandra turfIn a years time RPL has gained a steady following among the citys swish set While the six womens teams are owned by actors Mandira Bedi Mandana Karimi Amrita Puri blogger Malini Agarwal aka MissMalini designers Nandita Mahtani Dolly Sidhwani and Bhavana Pandey and beauty entrepreneur Adhuna Bhabani the mens team owners include actors Rannvijay Singh Jackyy Bhagnani Aparshakti Khurana Ayushmans brother Kunal Kapoor Prabal Punjabi and host Samir Kochhar And they all have different reasons for flocking to the turfAdhuna Bhabani with her teamA team effortOn the day of our visit Demetriades is sans her team they practice on weekends But that hasnt stopped from her from dropping by for a game of football In fact back in her hometown in Port Elizabeth the 30yearold would play hockey at the university level but when she moved to India a couple of years ago she was disappointed to see that Mumbai lacked a culture of outdoor sports Thats how I would end up playing with the boys here at St Andrews she says These days Demetriadess passion for the game has found more takers She plays with 100 other women all amateur football players every Monday Wednesday and Friday They have a WhatsApp group where they decide on timings and discuss matchesMalini Agarwal with BhabaniAs team owner Demetriades prefers to be involved in every minute detail from deciding the name logo selecting players and discussing strategies Its a sentiment thats shared by other team owners too Mandira Bedi recalls the time she sat with her team to find a name which would succinctly sum up their character We were racking our brains when somebody suggested the name Goal Digger and we said voila This is it she laughs Her teams jersey too was a team decision The uniforms are black and gold with a skull football and two spadesHarpreet Baweja owner of Roots Premier LeagueBut a yearandahalf ago when Baweja envisioned the league it was difficult bringing even 20 people together Being avid amateur footballers we wanted to bring likeminded people on field I never thought it would become this big But slowly as we began playing more people started joining us from the area It became a sort of a community he recalls Thats when Baweja and Santino realised that the games potential goes beyond it just being a physical activityView gallery Ranveer Singh Nandita Mahtani Mandana Karimi at a football gameIt became a medium to bond respect trust communicate and become healthier I think thats what draws people here he says Actor Kunal Kapoor who has played at the turf in the past believes thats what makes the league a social enterprise Its not only about the sport but also about getting people together Its a place where you meet hang out with friends and people that love the sport as much as you do he says While Kapoor tries to make it for most matches work commitments often play spoilsport Right now his primary job is motivating the boys on the pitch to score goals and motivate them off pitch to raise funds for Slum Soccer an organisation which uses football to bring about a change in the lives of street dwellersThanks to the glamour quotient involved the weekly Wednesday matches have become crowd pullers for the paparazzi what with the likes of Ranveer Singh Aditya Roy Kapoor Dino Morea and Mandana Karimi as players There are some unexpected and unlikely faces too Bedi was surprised to see her sons school teacher playing one of the matches I did a double take when I saw her Shes an American who moved to Mumbai four years ago and has been playing here for a few weeks she saysHow they rollFor now the league allows players to be drafted through an auction process with an investment of R5 lakh have their names printed on jerseys and participate in weekly games that are planned and organised against other teams in the league We have a format where we just plug in the team names Its a random setup that gives each team equal game slots he saysBhavana PandeyMatches are held every Wednesday night from 8 pm to 11 pm Needless to say the energy during these hours is electrifying Agarwal a TV host and entrepreneur says it is the camaraderie that she looks forward to the most Because its women empowering women If you drop by for the matches youll see everybody cheering for the teams and doing a huddle Its great fun she says Her Instagram posts too are peppered with pictures and boomerangs from the matches While Agarwal has been involved in the womens league since inception she admits she knew little about the rules of the game when she signed up At the time having been approached by the owners it was the cause that inspired her to sign on the dotted lines It seemed legit where the idea was to support women and the sport This wasnt a commercial moneymaking business she saysAdhuna Bhabani andNandita MahtaniWhile the game may be a hobby for some others are using the sport as a means of social outreach Mandana Karimi who plays as a defender for team Love Gen has teamed up with an NGO to make her own team comprising underprivileged girls Football helped me get over a tumultuous period of my life when I separated from my husband I felt it has the potential to empower she says All teams have partnered with a suitable NGO of their choice where they donate the proceedings Jackyy Bhagnani is the latest to join the league with his team named Raging Bulls For him the decision to acquire a football team was also an extension of his recentlylaunched NGO Kasrat that promote fitness among children in BMC schools But there was also the guilty pleasure of being called a team owner of a football league As kids we have grown up watching matches of Chelsea and Manchester United so there was a thrill in this he saysWhile the matches are a lot about camaraderie theres no denying the competitive element involved Bedi whose team has lost two matches this season is optimistic What we need is a couple of more sessions together Im sure well break the jinx she laughsView gallery Ranbir Kapoor Ahan Shetty Ishaan Khattar Akash Ambani play footballCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates