Mumbai, October 7: The Football Community in Maharashtra has got that much closer and will be inter-linked thanks to the unique initiative by the Western Indian Football Association (WIFA) and The Football Mind.
The Football Mind is a communication portal that will not only connect the entire football community, but will also help individual players, teams, clubs, associations and every person connected with the game to set up their profiles, pages and websites free of cost.
With the help of this communication portal, WIFA will now be able to easily communicate as well as monitor all the activities being carried out by the various District Football Associations as well as their associated clubs/ institutions, players and coaches. From news updates to events, people will be more aware of the happenings of local football through this initiative. All the football activities being carried out in the state will now be available to a larger database of fans as well as youngsters who would be interested in taking up the game professionally.
Through this unique initiative, all Clubs, Academies and Institutions will now have their own webpage to help build their online presence as well as communicate to the fans. This will be provided free of cost making it a viable option even for the clubs at the grassroots level.
Players from the grassroots level will have a platform to showcase their talents to club officials, coaches, scouts as well as fans alike. This will help them build their profile and get better access to the top level clubs. Coaches, scouts, and various other entities can now have better visibility as they can share their knowledge as well as popularize their skills and achievements.
Players, coaches and other individuals will have the flexibility of creating their own football specific profile page with their photographs and videos. Thus, their skills and achievements will be available to all entities across the football fraternity. Fans can also make their profile and follow their favourite clubs and players and be updated about their tournament fixtures, events and more.
Functioning of the website:
All football related entities like governing bodies, football associations, clubs, players, coaches and fans can set up webpages for free on thefootballmind.com. These pages are built specific to the type of entity it will serve, thus giving all users a platform to create their unique football identity. WIFA as well as all its associated District Football Associations will be provided messaging tools to maintain effective communication. Clubs will be able to push their news and events by using simple tools provided on the website.
The Beta version of the website has been officially launched. In the coming few months, additional modules and features will be rolled out that will help make the website more effective and user friendly.
The new initiative had been appreciated by players, managers and officials alike, as the testimonials below indicate.
“Although Football in Maharashtra is huge, the stakeholders currently have no means of displaying their achievements. The Football Mind is a first of its kind football specific networking platform in India that will give all entities a means to express themselves online and reach out to a wider audience.”
– Henry Menezes, CEO, Western India Football Association
“The Football Mind networking concept will boost the communication for football and bring people from all districts closer. This will help develop and promote the game in Maharashtra.”
– Souter Vaz, Hon. Secretary, Western India Football Association
“I think initiatives like these that use technology to boost sport are needed to take Football in India to the level of popularity that is comparable to top footballing countries. The Football Mind is a great concept.”
– Khalid Jamil, Head Coach, Mumbai FC
“If every football player, coach and team can have an online presence on the Football Mind, the network that can be created and its use for improving football will be potentially huge.”
-Henry Picardo, Manager, Mumbai FC
“WIFA has made tremendous progress in the past few years with their Grassroots Programs. Now with this fantastic initiative, WIFA and The Football Mind will make it easy for players to display their skills and get visibility and fans to be more aware about local football.”
– Abhishek Yadav, Player, Mumbai City FC
“Local football needs to be popularized. An online solution will act as a catalyst to this process”
– Pyarelal Chaudhary, Vice President, Poona District Football Association
“The World is becoming a smaller place through the internet, we need to use its power effectively to develop networking and communication. We applied this thinking to football and that’s precisely what our concept is about.”
– Pranesh, Co-Founder and CEO of the website.
“Providing an online solution to the on-field issues faced by clubs and players be it scouting, networking or an effective means of communication is what the website looks to achieve. On our website we provide these facilities at absolutely no charges thus, eliminating the cost factor, and making it more viable for clubs across all divisions.”
– Rohit Narayan, Co-Founder and COO of the website.
The Football Mind:
The Football Mind (TFM) is an initiative started by two engineers, Pranesh K. and Rohit Narayan to create a networking and communication portal for Indian Football. They were joined by Rahul Rane, a serial Entrepreneur, who is their technology partner. Every football entity in Maharashtra can now have their very own webpage which will help build their online presence. From showcasing your skills as a player, to scouting for players, setting up trial sessions, communicating with fans and being updated about football in India as well as worldwide, the website aims to bring the entire footballing fraternity on to a single platform. The objective is to not only increase the local football popularity within Indian fans, but also provide more visibility to clubs, academies, players and coaches from the grassroots level.
With their base set in Pune, both Pranesh and Rohit studied the local football scenario to develop the football specific functionalities on the website. They were encouraged by the Pune District Football Association.
WIFA:
The Western India Football Association came into existence on 12th July, 1911 and is the governing body for football in all districts in Maharashtra. The current President of WIFA is Mr. Praful Patel with the dynamic and inspiring Mr. Henry Menezes, the current CEO. Their present mission includes activities like the renovation of Cooperage Ground and laying of artificial-turf by FIFA, building a professional organizational structure for its districts, organizing the MAHA League (the start of Maharashtra State League) with clubs from Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Kolhapur etc. and reviving the historic-Rovers Cup after almost ten years.
