punnoose mammen is a financial analyst thats what he does for a liv ing but his passion is footballactually kicking a ball not just follow ing the glorious pursuits of european sides in cashrich foreign leagues or playing in the virtual spheremammen recalls a year ago a casual conversation across an office bay resulted in a few of his colleagues getting together for a fiveaside game postwork soon it became a thursday feature lateevening gettogethers he says we pooled money booked a turf and played till midnight the 25yearold executive says looking back on his football friendshipbengaluru garden city bean town pub city indias silicon valley and more recently runners paradise is gaining ground as the countrys amateur football capital mini turfs hosting five and sevenaside games have grown from a mere three to over 60 in the last three years working professionals young and middleaged men and women are getting their football studs out of the shelves and on to the pitch on weekends for conversations and kickaboutsthe city has over 150 amateur football teams some of which will feature in a newly floated amateur leaguethe amateur part is only in format amith reddy a local businessman who was instrumental in building friends united explained that banter and the beautiful game are regular features on weekends at the astro arena in bellandur we started as a small group but weve grown in number since he says we play at least twice a week in the evenings weve also started to compete in tournaments we consider the facility as our home ground we go to other turfs to play toolike the big clubs around the world friends united has custommade uniforms with different jerseys for home and away gameshemant varghese who earlier worked as a manager at the bengaluru international airport started prakrida sports a specialized football store he explained the demand for customized gear is like never before there is more variety on the racks footballs and boots especially amateur football has caught on big time with working professionals so much so that there are over 10 turfs on the sarjapur road stretch alone catering to the it industry socializing in bengaluru might well have a new name with floodlit facilities being kept open past midnight and into the morning depending on demandshree harsha a representative of addrush sports hosts of the football fives league ffl for amateur city teams says in every 5km radius theres a football pitch either turf or hard ground there are more than 150 amateur teams including some 50 corporate sides competing in tournaments hosted on weekends on a regular basis herewomen too are taking to amateur football in a big way rutvi tiwari in the finance business spends most of her evenings playing football with close friends hr executive anna shaji and marketing professional shanu we used to watch our friends play and then decided to try our luck now we are hooked to the game recalls rutvi some of the