Spreading the ‘pleasure of football’

Nine-year-old Faisal Ahmed desired to play football since early childhood, but his family's financial condition meant he could not pursue his dreams as some others can.

Every day, Faisal would go to the field at Brindabon, located behind Mirpur DOHS, and sell peanuts to passersby while watching boys play the game he loved.

Then one day, out of the blue, he received an offer from a trainer in Brindabon to join other boys and practice football at an academy. Without hesitation, he joined them and started his new life last month.

"I am very happy I got the chance to play football at the academy. I now also dream of becoming a national player if I can continue my game," said Faisal, whose father is a rickshaw-puller while his mother works as domestic help.

"It is a really good opportunity and now I can dream of becoming an important player, which can change my life," Faisal said as he eagerly awaited the afternoon's practice.

This is not just a tale of one boy, but over 100 children who have been given the opportunity to practice under national players, who have also pledged jerseys and footballs to the cause.

These boys, who had no specific aim in their lives, can now foster a dream under the guidance of former national players like Alfaz Ahmed, Shiekh Belal Ahmed and Al Amin and former premier league player Sheikh Siraz Ahmed. The Dhaka Golden Future Football Academy started its journey in May this year and now conducts daily practice with 130 boys of different ages.

Alfaz, a fabled striker who lifted the 2003 SAFF Championship with Bangladesh, said that he and his friends had practised free-of-cost during his childhood under local coach Afsar Uddin at the Agrani School Field and two other fields in Azimpur.

"So now it is our turn to do something for the next generation, especially for the underprivileged," Alfaz, who is one of the founders of the academy, added. "We want to provide them with the pleasure of football and if they get that passion from childhood, then they will be able to continue.

"We plan to give them support until the Pioneer League [the youth grassroots league] and get them on a track that they will be able to use to move forward," Alfaz, who credited Belal for initially taking the initiative, added.

He said they would meet with the State Minister for Youth and Sports to get support for the academy and that they would be happy if anyone came forward to provide assistance.

"I was brought up in Pallabi and played in a field there and gradually reached the national level. As people do not provide facilities to poor boys, I decided to do something for them and my initiative started from that feeling," Belal said.

He said that when he used to go to Brindabon, he saw many children playing football and gauged some of them to be very talented.

"One day I asked some of them: 'will you play football?'. They replied that they were already playing. But when I asked them whether they wanted to play under a coach, they became very happy and since then the journey started," Belal continued. "Initially I started with only 10 players but gradually it rose to 130. As many of them are involved with different work, they come in the afternoon to play and return to work after."

"There are 26 players who are aged 14 and we have a plan to make a team in the Pioneer League with them. There are also players of ages 12,13 and 14 and we will make age-group teams with them. We aim to increase their passion for football because, in Dhaka city, many underprivileged children fall into the pitfalls of crime and addiction," he said.

However, Belal urged donors to come forward, saying that they were struggling to run the academy since the numbers had grown so quickly. Alongside kits, he wants to provide them with the nutritious diet that athletes need.

"We are taking help from senior national players who are providing balls, jerseys and pants but we need money to get food and provide proper nutrition. That is very important for them. If some big organisations come forward it would be very helpful for them," he said.