Girls in action at an exhibition match held on Sunday as part of Chamong Group Darjeeling Cup. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, Jan. 14: A footballing dream is taking shape in the tea gardens of Darjeeling hills.

Chamong Tee Exports (P) Ltd, which has emerged as the single largest producer of Darjeeling tea with 13 gardens under its fold, is searching for good, young footballers from the hills. It has started Chamong Group Darjeeling Cup, where 12 teams from the group’s gardens vie with each other for the trophy and to catch the attention of Jamshed Nassiri, an Iranian whose exploits in the football fields of Calcutta are remembered to this day.

A. Lohia, the chairman of Chamong Tee Exports, said: “The proposal for the football-related project was first mooted by Mr (Netra) Thakuri (a local GNLF leader) and we gave serious thought to it. We realised that football was a passion in the hills earlier but that is no longer the case.”

So the company decided to do something about it and the Chamong Cup came into being. “We decided to give it a professional touch (by appointing Nassiri as the talent-spotter),” Lohia added.

Over the past one month, Nassiri has been following the Chamong Cup and scouting for talent. He has already short-listed about 36 players. “A trial will be conducted and we will create a final pool of about 24 players,” he said.

The Chamong group is hoping that these 24 boys can take up football as their livelihood. Nassiri, whose exploits in Darjeeling for East Bengal in 1981 is still talked about around here, said: “I will try and put the boys in different leagues in Calcutta where they can earn by playing. What they need is more exposure.”

Sources said the boys can earn between Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 per month as footballers in Calcutta.

To foster talent in the hills, the Chamong group is also looking at organising an Under-14 boys’ tournament from next year. A women’s tournament is also in the pipeline. The group wants to build a top side within the next five to seven years.