Soccer took Centre stage in scoring for child rights

The foggy, rain-soaked morning with a nip in the air could hardly dampen the spirits of the teams, as the day was dedicated to a cause and gearing up for a tournament with a difference. The day-long football bonanza was all about creating awareness around children’s rights to happy childhood and raise funds to ensure children across projects supported by CRY – Child Rights and You get access to happy, healthy and creative childhood that they deserve.

The tournament hosted 12 big Corporate Soccer teams including HDFC, TCS, SREI, Swiggy, Havells, APJ Surrendra, BPCL, Avenger Plywood, Goodricke, Arohan Financial services, Genius, and Sterling & Wilson locked horns for the trophy at the Mohun Bagan Ground, as the famous football club came on board as the venue partner for the second consecutive year.

The winners of the day was TCS and the team from Sterling and Wilson was the runner up, while the cause was the real champion. Priyamita Barik, captain of the winning team from the battle between the two CRY all-girls’ teams, said, “We’re so excited to have played this match today. Never thought that we would be playing at the famous Mohun Bagan grounds ever. This is a very special day for all of us. I cannot believe we won!”

Talking about the tournament, Atindra Nath Das, Regional Director, CRY (East) said, “Soccer for Child Rights is a flagship initiative of CRY that not only gives the Corporate employees to take time off from their busy schedule for the game they love, but also offers them a platform to make a difference in the lives of underprivileged children while doing what they love!”

“The very idea behind Soccer for Child Rights is to bring focus to the fact that people from every walk of life must come together to uphold the rights of our children, in their own capacity, at every possible level. Investing in children today means that a country such as India has a chance to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty, inadequacy, malnutrition, abuse and violence. And investing in quality education is one of the very first steps,” Mr. Das added.

Genius Consultants Ltd came on board as the title sponsor of the tournament. RP Yadav, CMD at Genius Consultants Ltd said, “This is indeed a great pleasure for us to be associating with CRY in their endeavour to raise awareness towards child rights through football. We always believe that sports can be a most befitting way to bring people together, and can help us in a big way in raising awareness on social causes. We do believe that if we all join hands, we can make it a better place for our children.”

As SVF joins hands with CRY to celebrate the spirit of child rights, the cast and crew of SVF's upcoming film - Aschhe Abar Shabar, starring Saswata Chatterjee, Subhrojeet Datta, Darshana Banik,Diti Saha, Indraniel Sengupta, Gourav Chakraborty were present to encourage the finalists and the girls’ teams from CRY. The film is directed by eminent film maker Arindam Sil, who also graced the occasion and spent time with children. “Today is the first day of our promotions and what could be a better start than this association with such a noble cause,” Sil said. Saswata Chatterjee agreed with him and added, “Mohun Bagan ground brings back fond childhood memories of time spent with my dad, Subhendu Chattopadhyay. And it feels wonderful to see the work CRY is doing with the children, our future.”

Debasish Dutta, Secretary (Finance) at Mohun Bagan Athletic Club said, “Being the oldest athletic club in the Eastern India with a glorious tradition of more than 125 years, Mohun Bagan has always believed in the beauty of the game in bringing people together. We are really glad to be associated with CRY, and we salute CRY for their endevour in bringing lasting change for children.”

The other partners coming on board included Fever FM, Beacon Kolkata, Success Menswear, Wow! Momo, Red Bamboo Shoot, Newby London, Explara, Aqua Diamond, Selvel and Photoholics.