IndiaCSR News Network
New Delhi: Taking the cause of ‘Sports for Development’ a step further, Stairs, the NGO working for the upliftment of underprivileged youth is set to kick-start one of the biggest school football league ever- the Stairs School Football League (SSFL). The tournament will commence on December 1, 2014 and will be held in Delhi-NCR.
The first edition of the Stairs SFL in association with the Department of Education NCT will have teams from the Delhi-NCR region. The information for participation has been sent to schools recognized by the DoE comprising of 43 KendriyaVidyalayas, 924 Delhi government schools and 1187 public schools.
Every team will get to play atleast 3 matches. A total of 256matches will be played during the tournament in adherence to the FIFA guidelines. The matches will be spread over 20 days with the finals being held on 20 December, 2014.
Speaking about the initiative Mr. Siddhartha Upadhyay, Founder, Stairs said: “The Stairs SFL is in line with our ‘goal’ to promote football at the grassroot level in schools. This platform will not only provide an organized championship format to school children but also harness their talent to the last mile. Our endeavor is to make schools recognize the importance of sports in the wholesome development of students and SSFL will be a big leap for us towards this.”
“Volunteers from Stairs have been visiting various schools in New Delhi and have been meeting the faculty and the students in order to brief them about the League. Each school has been extremely positive and the excitement amongst the students is palpable. We are very motivated about SSFL and are confident that the children will make most of this opportunity provided to them. We hope to see some great sportsmanship during the league,” added Mr. Upadhyay.
The league intends to develop a well-organized grass root youth development program, through an organised championship league which will be committed towards structured professional training. This will also allow access to football to the children in their own environment. The idea of this league is that every enthusiastic boy between the age group of 14-17 gets an opportunity to play competitively.
The first edition of the league is limited to the Delhi-NCR region. However, Stairs will be taking it further to six other states in its next edition in 2015.
