Football becomes a tool for empowerment

“3,2,1, quiet!” no luck. The gentleman conducting the opening ceremony failed miserably to silence the children in the Tyagaraj Stadium on Wednesday. Even the presence of Sanath Jayasuriya or the police commissioner had little effect. Finally, the national anthem did the trick.

The opening ceremony of the second season of STAIRS school football league (SSFL) was a noisy affair. Set to kickoff from Thursday, the 90-day league will see over 4000 children from 288 schools take part in over 600 matches.

Jayasuriya, who was full of praise for the concept, said grassroots development of football was the key: “We don’t have this in Sri Lanka, starting from this age is good. Cricket is big in India but I think initiatives like this can also make football big.”

Trials were conducted for underprivileged children earlier this year, and they would be integrated with school teams to form a pool of 5000 players for scouts to pick from. The teams will be divided into under-14 and under17 categories with 32 girls’ teams taking part as well.