FIFA Under-17 World Cup: Bureaucrats, dabbawalas put best foot forward to promote football

Mumbai: Gearing up for the FIFA Under-17 football World Cup that will be hosted by India next month, the state’s senior bureaucrats, including IAS and IPS officers, and even the famous ‘dabbawalas’ of Mumbai played matches across the state on Friday. The events were part of the Maharashtra government’s ‘Maharashtra Mission 1 Million’ campaign to create awareness about football as the country gets ready to host the international event between October 6 and October 28.

Members of Mumbai’s Dabbawala Association and school students played after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the campaign in south Mumbai.

In coastal Raigad, district collector Vijay Suryawanshi came to the ground dressed in football gear, to the surprise of other officials and school students present.

“This was an occasion to refresh my memories of school, where I played football regularly,” Mr Suryavanshi said. He asked the students to develop a healthy lifestyle by embracing sports.

In Jalgaon, district superintendent of police Datta Karale joined district collector Kishor Raje Nimbalkar in flagging off the local football event there.

As part of ‘Mission 1 Million’, the state has distributed over 90,000 footballs, at a rate of three each in 30,000 schools across the state, state minister for sports Vinod Tawde said.

“Maharashtra is the first state to organise such an event, where an average 50 students from each school participated in football matches,” Mr Tawde said.

To encourage young students to take up football, the Maharashtra government, during the monsoon session in August, had organised a friendly match of legislators from both the Houses of the state legislature.