Eight teams from different blocks of Salt Lake faced off in a football tournament organised by CA Block at the BA-CA grounds on February 21. This was the first time that the block’s youth had been entrusted with organisation of a programme.

“They took charge of sending out invitations and getting sponsorships. Teams from neighbouring blocks, such BA and BD, came because of their initiative,” said Jibadip Bhadury, the secretary of CA Block Citizens’ Association.

The eight teams were divided into groups of four in a round robin format. The winner of each group would face the second-ranked team of the other group in the semi-finals. Each team could field four players, with one substitute.

The ground was reduced and the goals were made smaller. No player could get into the opponent’s penalty box, and doing so would result in a free kick or penalty. Each half of a match consisted of eight minutes.

The top team from Group A, BF-CF Veterans, faced and overcame Comrade FC in the first semi-final by 1-0. The top team from Group-B, CA1, faced Team BA in the second semi-final, winning with an identical scoreline.

The kick-off for the final happened immediately after the second semi-final. Right from the start, BF-CF Veterans pressed hard but CA1 dribbled in tight spaces to move ahead. A couple of chances were created by both but not converted.

With three minutes left before half time, CA1 got a free kick in their own half. Rohan Biswas went for the goal despite the distance. The ball went up in the air and bounced once before finding the back of the net. The BF-CF Veterans were stunned and some even walked up to Soutam Pathak, the referee, to confirm if a goal scored from a direct free-kick was valid.

In the second half, BF-CF Veterans pressed harder than before. CA1 was finding it tough to retain possession and went for swift counter attacks. During a clearance, Saikat Chowdhury, the captain of BF-CF Veterans, stepped inside his own penalty box, gifting a penalty to CA1.

CA1, the winning team, with prizes Sourced by the correspondent

Bidhannagar Champions Cup had a different norm for penalty. The kick-taker would have to take the shot from the centre of the field, aiming for the empty net. Amrit Sinha stepped up and took a slow shot. The audience gasped on seeing the ball bounce and roll in-between the posts. Now CA1 was up by two goals.

The remaining two minutes saw relentless attacks by BF-CF Veterans as CA1 players focused on defence. Soon the game was up. CA1 had won the Bidhannagar Champions Cup.

As the prizes were being handed out, spectators were busy discussing the brilliance of the free-kick. “I guess it was a mixture of practice, precision and luck,” smiled Rohan, the scorer.

Captain of the losing team, BF-CF Veterans, Saikat Chowdhury was philosophical. “Losing is a part of sports but it was hard as we had an unbeaten run to the final. Just one bad match cost us the title. We are looking forward to participating next year as well,” he said.

Amrit Sinha, the player of the tournament, was the top scorer, having found the net five times. “I practised taking penalty kicks customised for this tournament. That improved my accuracy. We were intent on not letting the game go into extra time,” said Sinha.

The captain of CA1, Archit Kundu, said his team performed better in the later stages of the tournament. “We won two out of the three group games and that one loss hurt our morale. We maintained consistency in the semi-final. But we were running out of energy in the final as we were playing matches back to back. In the end, we managed to score twice,” he smiled.

Organising the tournament was more satisfying as it took place after a pandemic-hit year. “Life was returning to normalcy so we thought, why not play football? During the lockdown, all we did was stay indoors. We kept a close watch on the players for a week before the tournament to see if they stayed fit. Even though the BA-CA ground is a huge open field, we did not want to risk having infected players on-field,” said Bhadury, who had himself contracted Covid-19 last October.