The September 22 witnessed the most intense battle of the nation’s biggest football tournament as KMC 100 Days played the final match against Kartik-er Paribar. It was battle between two gutsy teams with their ‘never-to-die’ attitude. Finally, KMC 100 Days emerged champion in nail-biting tie-breaker. 480 teams participated in this year’s para football tournament.

In two other sections of the tournaments — College Footers and School Footers — where 31 colleges and 75 schools respectively took part. In the College Footers Final,NetajiNagarDayCollegeemerged victorious overSarsunaDayCollegeand in School Footers, Sukhchar Vidyayatan became triumphant overJakiaHigh School.

“Each of three winning teams gets Rs 35,000 as prize money and runner ups get Rs 25,000. Four players from three tournaments will be sent abroad for a short-training course. They will also get to watch premium league matches there,” said Kolkata Police Chief R K Pachnanda at the closing ceremony on 22^nd September attended by the Additional Chief Secretary Dr G D Gautama as the chief guest.

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 toChelsea. 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 ofParafootball tournament. The programme at Body Guard Lines was also attended by football legends like P K Banerjee, Nayeemuddin, Sukumar Samajpati, Santi Mallick, Sabir Ali.

The Friendship Cup, 2011 was kicked off on July 30. 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,Parafootball 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 inLondonin 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.

TheParafootball 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 inAsiaby 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.