India's first church-funded football academy eyes big goals

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Akesh T is warming up for practice. Son of a fisherman from Poovar area, the class IX student has been in the news after participating in national-level football tournaments for some years. He is one of the talents nurtured by the Little Flower Football Academy (LiFFA) here. It has changed his life.

It has been almost 150 years since Christian denominations shrugged off puritanical inhibitions about competitive sports like football and started founding clubs across Europe such as Everton FC and what is called Manchester City today. Now, the Roman Catholic Church in India has started a full-fledged football academy, tapping the talent of youngsters in a community where soccer is the "second religion". The Church’s archdiocese of Thiruvananthapuram has around 80 fishing hamlets spread across a 70-75 km coastal stretch — from Eraimanthura in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu to Anchuthengu in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala — under it, for picking up these young ‘natural footballers’.