THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When St Bartholomew’s Football Academy, Poovar tasted their first major glory, since its inception in 2011, at the district leg of the Bajaj Allianz Junior Football Camp 2014 at University Stadium here on Tuesday, one person was conspicuous by his absence.
In the past few months, Viswanath Samson, also the father of Indian cricketer Sanju V Samson, who worked up a sweat to set up the academy, has been staying away from it due to personal reasons, but the boys whom he nurtured over the course are showing no signs of relenting.
“Though he isn’t fully involved with the team, he still visits the academy most of the days and motivates the boys. The influence he has on them is unmatched,” said Reegan Alex, manager of the academy which now constitutes 60 boys between ages of 11 and 17 years, on Samson’s impact on the team.
“He would work day in day out to train the youngsters. He is still contacted by the youngsters over phone and when they go play even does a little bit of managing from home,” elaborated Lijy Samson, his wife.
Those efforts have paid of with Government HSS, Poovar, the school side fully adopted by academy, comfortably defeating Rosa Mystica HSS, Bethsaida 3-0 in the final. Former Malabar United and Travancore Titanium player Vincent S currently trains them.
Six of the academy boys - Crispin Das, Gracious, Sajith Das, Nijo Gilbert, Ebey Mathew and Roy Sebastian - will play the state leg and stand a chance to win a trip to Germany to meet players of Bayern Munich, including the newly crowned World Cup champions among them.
The academy has also previously been the Kerala south zone runner up in Mahindra Youth Football Challenge 2013 and finalists of the Ramco district inter-academy league and Ananthapuri Cup. The academy has produced a junior India international in Bento Joe N and around a dozen of junior state footballers.
It is also to their credit that the team has achieved much success even without a ground of their own. “We train in a piece of land where it is difficult even to play three-a-side game. Building a ground of our own is one of our biggest dreams,” Reegan said.
The academy is awaiting the Rs 14 lakh promised by the Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation to build a ground at Poovar.
In the meantime, they hire grounds at Somatheeram and Pozhiyoor for daily practice, thanks to the Poovar parish and few non-resident Keralites.