BENGALURU: Shivaraj Shetty is not the usual football fan. The 25-year-old IT professional is taking several steps beyond just watching matches, and is putting his love for the sport to good use. Shetty, who is a Bengaluru FC fan, spent the last week drawing portraits of the team players and auctioned them to raise funds for blind children’s education at Gnana Jyothi Trust in Vijayanagar. It took him a few days to auction the sketches, which fetched Rs 30,000. The organisation will use the funds to buy study material in Braille.   

“I am a part of West Block Blues, the official fan group of Bengaluru FC since its first season. Since drawing is my hobby, I started sketching portraits of club players, which I used to gift to the players directly, and to my friends,” says Shetty, who then thought of using them for something useful. “Bengaluru FC is also active in helping others. I thought of doing my bit as a fan,” he adds.  

The Whitefield resident drew 16 portraits, mostly featuring Bengaluru FC players like Sunil Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Carles Cuadrat and Udanta Singh, and international stars like Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar. “Around 10 pictures were portraits of Bengaluru FC players. I was not sure about the sale. I thought each portrait may get about Rs 500. My target was `5,000-6,000,” Shetty admits.

However, the response to his social media posts took him by surprise. Bengaluru FC fans from all across the world reached out to him. “For same portraits, more than two people came forward with offers. The bidders are not just from Bengaluru or other parts of India, and even football lovers from the United States and Canada contacted me. I finally collected Rs 30,000,” he smiles, revealing that the highest bid – Rs 5,500 – came for Sunil Chhetri’s sketch.

His efforts have prompted Bengaluru FC to promise getting the portraits signed by the players. “I hope to start shipping them to the highest bidders by this month-end,” Shetty adds.