Kicking away gender stereotypes, a goal at a time

Futsal is a variant of football played on a court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. Teams usually are comprised fivea-side, and a higher level of skill is required to play this sport competitively. 

The game gained popularity in the city when the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Ronaldinho and so on played during the inaugural Premier Futsal tournament a couple of years ago. 

Karthik Kalimuthu, one of the event organisers, said, “The tournament has received a vivid response so far. There are a lot of Tamil Nadu-based women’s football clubs that have no means of providing a competitive stage for the girls in the academy. Since we have been actively promoting the sport in the city, we wanted to take a step towards providing a competitive set up for the local women’s clubs as well. We wanted to start out with a tournament to bring to light the talent abundant among women - and are hopeful in doing a lot more in the competitive formats of the game next.” 

Girls from not just Chennai, but all over the state are signing up for the marquee event. Kalimuthu said, “We have received positive response from clubs in Madurai and Coimbatore, and are hopeful to get more teams from the remote parts of Tamil Nadu as well. Sadly, a lot of teams do not have the basic funding required to travel to Chennai, and we are looking to help them.” 

Kalimuthu added, “Futsal is the shorter version of the game. It involves five-member squads and three substitutes as opposed to the 16-member football format. In this way we want to give clubs with lesser number of participants the chance to participate on a state-wide competitive stage.” 

Even professionals like Adhithi Rajagopal, who has represented Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Indian football teams are piqued by the concept. 

“It’s a great opportunity for girls here. Even when I play in tourneys with boys, they hesitate to pass to me. This way, we all get to play with one another on a great platform. I hope it’s a great success.”