From the streets to the stadium

It is 5.15 p.m. and a group of nine young girls wearing bright orange vests over their jerseys, begin running laps around the small ground at Karunalaya in Tondiarpet. Later, they bring out footballs and kick them around, guided by their coach, Kannadoss.

The all-girls team will soon be representing India at the Street Child World Cup to be held in May in Moscow. “Of the nine girls in the team, five at the Karunalaya shelter for girls here and four girls live with their parents who are street dwellers. The World Cup aims to bring underprivileged street children from across the world and give them an opportunity to showcase their talent in sport and engage in a discussion about their rights,” said Paul Sunder Singh, secretary, Karunalaya Centre for Street and Working Children.

The girls have plenty of stories to tell about their love for the sport. S. Sangeetha, a first-year college student who was rescued from child labour when she was 14 said that she fell in love with the sport a few years ago after watching the boys in her locality play. “Until a couple of years ago, there was no girls team I could be a part of and play competitively, but now we’ve toured across the country,” she said, proudly.

For Shalini, a Class XI student, her interest in the sport began four years ago when she saw it on TV for the first time. A. Keerthana, another team member said initially she was not allowed to play any sport, but her parents, who are street dwellers are supportive now.

Their coach Kannadoss represented India in the 2014 Street Child World Cup.

“All of us love the sport and we have talent. We just need to be encouraged and given a platform to show our talent to the world,” he said during a practice session.

“For many of us, getting basic documents is a hurdle since we do not have community certificates, birth certificates or any other identity proof. This is a matter we want to pursue after we come back from the World Cup,,” he added.

Mr. Kannadoss was rescued as a child from a railway station and has been staying in the Karunalaya shelter since.

Since the team has exams going on now, practice has been restricted to two hours every morning and evening. “Once our holidays start, we are all going to stay together and train through the day,” said P. Indhu.

While a part of the travel of the team has been taken care of, the team is still looking for sponsors to fund their travel from Chennai to Delhi to catch their flights to Moscow as well as their accommodation there.

“The World Cup starts on May 10, before which we hope to have all the necessary funds,” said Mr. Paul.