GREATER GUWAHATI BABY LEAGUE ANNOUNCED IN GUWAHATI

Guwahati, October 9, 2018:

Assam is going to take baby steps for a giant leap as the state will soon witness its first ever structured youth league dedicated to kids.

Sportscraft Management, a leading sports management company dedicated to grassroots development and Guwahati City Football Club (GCFC) today announced Greater Guwahati Baby League (GGBL) which will be organized with support of Assam Football Association (AFA).

“The league which will be organized under the rules and regulations of All India Football Federation's (AIFF) ambitious Baby League project and will aim to bring much needed football culture in the state.” said Sportscraft and GCFC's Co-founder Darick Ranjan Deka addressing a press conference held at the conference hall of Assam Olympic Association.

GGBL has already got green signal from AIFF as the league is registered in the baby league app and all necessary documentation is provided via AFA to the governing body of Indian football, he added.

This will be the first time that six to thirteen years old kids of the state will get enough game time to play, learn, grow and rise as this first season of the league will run for four months starting from end of November. The kids will be divided in to four age categories (6-7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13) and they will play every weekend just like any professional league of the world, informed Mr Deka.

"Objectives are to bring these kids to the field regularly, create football culture, give these young footballers experience of professional football, give them enough competitive time every season and bring out best when they reach the age of 13yrs. Because this is the age when kids become ready to be professional footballers" told sportscraft and GCFC's Co-founder Siddhartha Sankar Deka.

Referring to superstar Lionel Messi, he said that Messi started playing professional football at the age of six and up to 13 years of age he scored 500 plus goals which forced FC Barcelona to sign him. "We want to provide those seven crucial years to our kids which are often missed out because of lack of such youth leagues. That's why we are still seven to ten years behind from those football playing nations. Decreasing that gap is GGBL's objective" he added.

Ex COO of AIFF, Ankur Dutta appealed all football fans, clubs, organizations of the state to join in this project to make it successful