THRISSUR: The N I David Football Cup, which was once touted as the football World Cup of Thrissur, has been relaunched after a span of five years. The tourney, which began on Sunday, is already a success in terms of team participation and in the number of spectators.
In all, 25 teams from across the state are participating in the event titled the 35th State Club Football Championship for the N I David Memorial Trophy.
The participating teams include Titanium Thiruvananthapuram, Malabar United, SBT Thiruvananthapuram, KSEB Thiruvananthapuram, Josco Eranakulam, MES College, Mambadu, and Christ College, Irinjalakkuda.
The firstday matches were a treat for the spectators with MES Mambadu defeating G Sugunan Memorial VFC (70) in the opening knockout match held at 4.30 p.m. In the second match, a hardfought one between Eagles FC Ernakulam and Thrissur District Police, Eagles defeated the Thrissur District Police (20) in sudden death.
It was in 1997 that the David Football Cup Championship was launched by the Kerala Football Association and the Kerala Police in association with the Thrissur Corporation to remember SP N I David, one of the most popular footballer in the Kerala Police team who dies while in service.
It was the David Cup that introduced floodlight matches to Thrissur town.
However, when national football matches and Santosh Trophy got popularity, many teams preferred those tournaments to the David Cup after which the 'World Cup of Thrissur' lost its charm and had to be stopped temporarily in 2005.