Special football for blind people costs around Rs. 3,000 and normal football costs Rs. 250.
By Aiswarya Sriram
Bangalore, April 12, 2019.
Indian Blind Football Federation has organized the fourth edition of the National Blind Football Tournament. A total of 18 matches will be held in Bangalore’s Bullring Fever Pitch Yeshwantpur Stadium. In the tournament, 16 teams with 260 players are participating from all over India. The matches will end on Monday.
Dominic Nido, a Bangalore based player says, “It is a very nice experience to participate in the tournament, but there is a lack of funds. All over the world, 56 countries play football and we were in the 25th rank. But now we fell down to 29 as due to lack of funds we are not able to participate in matches.
Sunil Mathew, Sporting director of IBFF says, “We are currently not getting any funds. We are dependent on Corporate Social Responsibility Funds.” He also stated that the government is not providing any funds and the All India Football Federation, the authorized body for football in India, is not providing any technical support.
Along with this match, Women’s Blind Football Demo game is also being held for the first time.
Football for the blind is different from normal football. There are only five players on the field and three substitutes. The goalkeeper is the only person who can see.
Mathew said that the coaching centre is in Kochin only. The match will be aired on their Facebook page.
