VIRTUALLYTHERE ROOTING FOR YOU

You’ve plonked yourself on the couch, stocked up on food and drink and are all set to watch your favourite football team. All you need now is a bunch of friends rooting, cheering and fist-bumping at every goal scored. But what if none of your pals is sporty?

That’s where Rooter comes in. The app serves as a platform for real-time interaction with enthusiasts in the vicinity and across the globe.

Chat with supporters and rivals, try to predict a win and you may also win prizes. The app also lets you take trivia quizzes to kill time before a match begins, and lets you start discussions about game rules if you are a novice.

“If Tinder, based on an individual’s tastes and preferences, can do well, we thought a sports app could succeed too,” says Delhi’s Piyush, 36, the founder and CEO of the app. Since their launch in September, Rooter has had around 45,000 downloads on Android and IOS.

Rooter caters to football, cricket, tennis and basketball for now and looks to add Formula 1 and Motogp soon. “We had around 1,480 users logged into the Los Angeles Lakers vs Phoenix Suns basketball match at 9 am on a Friday,” says Piyush. He says the app helps connect fans of niche sports like basketball.

Football fan Naresh Dutt, 34, downloaded the app in October and the assistant vice president at an advertising agency in Gurgaon, says Rooter is a stress buster. “Predicting matches gets very addictive and there have been times when I have actually pulled over to the side of the road, while driving, to stop and select my prediction card.”