CHENNAI: When Bernaud Thomson J (32) and Harrison James Nelson (33) — two Manchester United fans from Chennai — started a YouTube channel to do watch-along videos of European football matches in August 2020, little did they know that they would soon be streaming live matches, too. Their sole intention was to make it look like a part-time job so that they would be able to watch without any interference from their family. While football was an integral part of their childhood, it became difficult for them to sit through the night and watch television. “With family commitments filling in our weekends, Harry (Harrison) and I wanted to find a way to go back to our happy place with the sport. And, we started the ‘Football Makkal’ channel with live comments in Tamil,” says the former bank manager.
Tricks of the trade
However, a lack of knowledge on the conditions of using YouTube led them to lose the channel to a copyright strike for using match clips. With each mistake, the duo learnt the tricks of the trade, and Football Makkal became Football Makka, a more informal, local name. “Our first match was the 2020 FA Cup final between Chelsea and Arsenal. Slowly, people started discussing on the live chat, and it developed into a small community,” he says.
By July 2021, during the European Championship, they had close to 1,000 subscribers. As the community widened, they were convinced that if European Football had such a huge following, there’s hope for Indian and local tournaments too. They began organising friendly matches at Harrison’s multi-sports facility, Aadukalam. “We streamed it from an iPhone with Tamil commentary, and over 100 people including our friends, the players’ friends and families, watched it live. We were particular about the quality of the product. Friends from different fields pitched in for VFX, graphics, streaming quality,” he says.
They then upgraded it into a weekend invitational tournament, Porkkalam, with six teams. “One of our friends, Vignesh, who works abroad, offered his space for recording videos. We hired a few more friends and tried to make it as professional as possible,” he adds. But with the successive waves of Covid playing a spoilsport, they restricted the schedule and managed to finish the event in two months. The players began receiving feedback from their families and friends. Understanding its scope, Bernaud took over full-time. “We realised that there are different football communities and cultures across Tamil Nadu. Looking at our work, people started coming aboard, and we grew as a team,” he says.
Raining recognition
At the same time, the Tamil Nadu Football Association approached Bernaud to live-stream the Tamil Nadu Women’s League tournament. The state wanted to take the third season one step further by streaming it live. “We had to upgrade on technical aspects as we would be broadcasting from the ground. We collaborated with a friend, who does marriage videos. For the first match, we had to explain the technicality of the sport, and they slowly picked it up,” he says. With the tournament coming to an end on January 27, Bernaud is content with the progress. The duo is also keen to move into a semi-professional set-up. “We aspire to create an ecosystem to guide anyone who wants to become a footballer or coach or any other job that’s associated with the sport,” he says about his team.