The football scenario for schools in Bangalore is a fragmented one. There are tournaments that only ICSE schools take part in and other tournaments where only certain schools from a particular location take part. Then there are tournaments where non-ICSE schools and schools following non-State syllabi compete. At no point, till now,have Bangalore’s best school teams come together on the same platform for one tournament of champions.
The Parikrma Champions League presented by Menzies Aviation for the Equality Cup™, an invitational tournament, brought together for the first time ever, Bangalore’s 14 best, U-16 Boys school teams chosen from across the various tournaments. To heighten the competition, a champion team each from Kolkatta and Goa were also invited. The tournament, in association with the Karnataka State Football Association, was played from November 15-19 at the Bangalore Football Stadium, in a high-energy atmosphere that no school football team had ever experienced before.
For the first time a U-16 tournament was held on astro-turf and to engage the children in the competition we made it a full ranking tournament. We added a ‘Plate Section’ for the bottom two teams in each group. On the Finals Day all teams played for positions 16 to 1. There were prizes galore. It was a tournament nobody will forget.
