A shrill whistle and the game begins. The players, dressed in bright jerseys with AIG and Emirates logos, get into action right away, kicking an Adidas Fevernova look-alike of a ball. The field is a dazzling carpet of green, lit up by a dozen floodlights.

Welcome to the Mahilpur Football League, where boys wear Zidane shirts, but play a style of football that’s distinctly their own. This is international football—at least at first sight—played with a gusto that’s distinctly desi. There are only seven players on each side on the field (not 11), the substitution system is similar to that of hockey, the ground is a good 25 per cent smaller than normal football venues, the duration of a half is 30 minutes (not 45) and the commentary, held only during half-time, is in Punjabi.

Twelve teams from a dozen villages, all within a radius of 15 km from Mahilpur, are vying for this 7-day tournament, called the ‘7 A Side Flood Light Football Tournament’. Each team has at least three players who have played international or national club-level football. This core group selects the remaining eight, including four on the bench, players from within their village. The bench is very important as a team can make as many changes during a match, and unlike in traditional football, the player who goes out isn’t barred from making a re-entry in the same game.

The League is the brainchild of 34-year-old Gurkanwal Bains, a Canadian businessman who played for India’s international school football team in 1993. “I have lived in Canada and Australia, two countries with a great sporting culture. As a hobby, I coached boys in local universities there. That’s when I thought of starting a tournament in my hometown,” he says. And so, the Mahilpur Football League was born three years ago.

... contd.