Birthday or wedding anniv, they play football to celebrate every occasion

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 18

Be it birthday, marriage anniversary or getting a new job, they all adopt a unique way to celebrate it. They cut no cakes and blow no candles, but play football to celebrate every occasion. These are the members and players of Daily Morning Club in Nawanshahr.

Today, Ajay Kumar, president of the club, celebrated his birthday by organising a football game. Not only this, but the members also plant saplings at the end of the game. It has become a ritual now, they say.

The reason why they do this is to encourage the spectators to adopt sports in their lives. The club is known to motivate those who are into drugs to join the club and then change their lives forever.

The Tribune had earlier highlighted success stories associated with the club. But the club has now adopted this way of celebrating occasions by organising matches. Tarsem Lal, who is a senior player and a member of the club, said whenever they played football, children, youngsters and elderly came and watched them play. “You cannot imagine what impact this will have on those who come and then enjoy the game. We want the children to adopt sports early in their lives and get associated with us,” he said, adding that “whenever I see a youngster playing with them and recovering well from the pain he has suffered while consuming drugs, he feels so relieved and satisfied”.

Tarsem also motivates youths, who have fallen prey to drugs, to come and play football with them. He shared that at present three youths who indulged in drugs had joined them, and were also playing and doing well in night tournaments that were being held at Jindua village near Nawanshahr.

Notably, the district administration has been encouraging master trainers at the OOAT centres to take responsibility for at least 10 drug addicts and ensure that they shun drugs under the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan. Also, there is a special team for players above the age of 40 too. Various tournaments are organised by the club regularly.