Nation’s biggest football tournament or Kolkata para football league — Friendship Cup, 2011 — was kicked off on July 30. This year as many as 467 teams from all across the city have participated in this tournament, organised by Kolkata Police. On an average day, 42 -45 matches are being held across 22 to 25  football grounds. “If you just look at the scale of the tournament, it has hardly any parallel,” said additional commissioner of police Debasish Roy.

The tournament which was conceived as an effective tool for engaging teenagers and youths into physically challenging game so that they do not get into crime. Moreover, they also feel that they are contributing to the society.  It was so popular that in 2007, 561 clubs participated in it and it hit the Limca Book of Records.

“We then regulated the entry of clubs. We made sure that only registered clubs participate in the tournament. So now the number of clubs range from 460 to 480. And every year, the standard of the matches is improving. Now, nearly a dozen of footballers from the tournaments have become professional footballers who regularly play in different first and second division clubs,” said Soven Banerjee, officer-in-charge of Community Policing.

Initiated in 1997  to create solid bridge between the city police and public, para football went international in 2007. London Metropolitan Police Services replicated the model through English Premier League (EPL). EPL held an exchange programme between Met Police and Kolkata Police in London in March this year to take this model forward by sharing experiences. The Kolkata Police team includes premier football clubs of Kolkata.

“Kolkata Police has mapped the crime pattern vis-a-vis locality for the Kolkatans. Friendship Cup shows how their para football has left a positive impact on communities across the city and identified present and future challenges,” said commissioner of police R K Pachnanda.

The Para football tournaments’ have remained the most effective relationship tool for us to build bridges with communities. It was also to inculcate the value of sportsmanship in youths and to keep them away from crime. It was enhanced after civic police volunteers were recruited from these clubs. We keep receiving crucial inputs on criminals and strangers,” said a senior officer.

Para Football is the biggest football tournament in Asia by the sheer number of players’ participation. More than 8,000 footballers are involved. These youths often play a vital role in helping police when a trouble breaks out or a crime happens. So, it became a model worth emulating in terror-torn Lalgarh , where state police also organised football matches to improve police-people relationship.

The biggest reward of the tournament, is perhaps, the international exposure the best of the footballers get after the tournament. In 2006, the ESPN took four best footballers of the tournament to Chelsea. In 2008, four players were taken to Bayern Munich. Six best footballers of 2010 will again go to Bayern Munich for 7-day training, said a senior community policing wing official. Football legends like Oliver Kahn, Gerd Muller, Romario have attended the kick-off programmes of Para football tournament.

The Friendship Cup which was kicked off in presence of the state finance minister Amit Mitra, sports minister Madan Mitra and mayor Sovan Chatterjee will be concluded on September 17.