Hotshot Striker

Alan Solomon KJ is the only player from Kerala who will be part of the Indian football team for the Homeless World Cup which will be held in Cardiff, Wales. 64 countries are taking part   

By Shevlin Sebastian

At 5 am, on a recent morning, the mobile alarm rings in Alan Solomon KJ’s house at Chellanam. The 20-year-old switches it off, and gets up. Quickly he gets ready, and puts on a T shirt, shorts and sneakers. The air is still and unmoving. It is a humid morning. But the roar of the waves is a soothing sound at this coastal village in Ernakulam district. Soon, he sets out on a jog. There are hardly any people on the streets. The few stray dogs have seen him often so they don’t bark.

Alan is on a five kilometre run. As he runs on the tarred streets, a word pops into his mind: ‘Wales’. And suddenly, a nameless excitement pervades his body. Without realising it, he begins to run faster.

There is a reason why ‘Wales’ caused such an excitement in him. Because, in July, he will indeed be in the city of Cardiff, as a member of the Indian football team. The Homeless World Cup is taking place from July 27-August 3. Around 64 countries are taking part.

The football that is played is different from the usual football that we see all the time. There is a maximum of four players per team on the court. These include three outfield players and one goalkeeper along with four substitute players. “Players can be substituted all the time,” says Alan. Each match lasts for 14 minutes and there is a one-minute interval at the seventh minute. The pitch is smaller and the ball never goes out of play, since it is played in an enclosed area. “Hence, it can get very tiring,” says Alan. Incidentally, the criteria for participation is that players should be living in a slum.

Alan’s life changed when he met members of Project Venda (Say No to Drugs) at Chellanam. This programme is run by the Bengaluru-based Fourth Wave Foundation. “We work with young adults from high-risk areas who are exposed to a lifestyle of drugs and help them to steer clear,” says Diana Joseph, founder/director of the foundation. “In Chellanam we noticed that there is a culture of playing football. So we set up a team and they began to do well.”

In fact, when the Kerala team took part in the national slum soccer championships at Mumbai in March this year, all the eight members were from Chellanam.

At the tournament, the Kerala team lost in the semi-finals. Alan has an easy explanation for the setback. “We played three matches on a single day,” he says. “Our last match was against West Bengal, and we lost because we were so tired.”   

Nevertheless, a few players impressed, but it was only Alan who made it to the final team. Now he is the only player from Kerala who will represent India. “My role is that of a striker, to score as many goals, as possible,” he says. The other players are from Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.

All of them, like Alan have a deep passion for football. Alan fell in love with the game when he began playing it in Class five at the St. Mary’s school at Chellanam. Thankfully, the school had good coaches, so he learnt all the right techniques and developed into a fine player. 

Today, he plays in numerous five-a-side, seven-a-side and 11-a-side teams in the district.
“There are many sponsors, but we don’t get any salary,” he says. “Instead, the prize money is shared between all the players. This could vary from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000.” Of course it means Alan’s teams have to win tournaments. Which they have done quite a few times.

Meanwhile, on the education front, Alan is doing his Plus Two. Thus far, his father, Joseph, a fisherman and homemaker mother Helen are supportive of his footballing ambitions. “Thanks to the ISL (Indian Super League) it is possible to make a comfortable living through football,” he says, with a smile. 

(The New Indian Express, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode)