Scenes from a practice session at the Sudip Chatterjee Krira Kendra in Howrah. Pictures by Gopal Senapati

Far removed from the glitz of IPL 5, a two-year-old free football coaching centre in Howrah, cradling the soccer dreams of 155 boys between five and 14 years, has caught Fifa’s eye and given two of them a clear shot at a junior India team berth.

Shamsher Ali and Chandan Shaw, both 14, have been called up for the U-15 India trials, and will be at the camp in Kalyani till April 15. While Shamsher is a Garia boy who travels to Howrah to practise, Chandan, a resident of the neighbouring Bostompara slums, was literally born on Dhopar Math, where former Maidan players train young hopefuls.

“Football keeps Shamsher out of trouble. His father, a rickshawpuller, and mother, a domestic help, are seldom home with him and his three siblings. Two years ago, he missed the junior Bengal trials when a prank went wrong and he ended up with 10 stitches on his right foot. Now that he sees a career in the game, he has become much more focussed and rarely misses practice,” said Pranab Chatterjee, one of the coaches.

Named after the local lad who kicked on to become the captain of the Indian team two decades ago, the Sudip Chatterjee Krira Kendra at Dhopar Math in Mandirtala draws boys in two batches four days a week to practise under the watchful eye of eight middle-aged ex-Maidan players, who take turns to guide them.

A resident of the locality, Santanu Basu, who represents India in cyber games and reviews them in t2, wrote about the club and how it had brought people of the neighbourhood together in a contest organised by Fifa, the global governing body of football. The write-up, chosen last month by a panel as one of the six best from across the world and featured on the Fifa website, caught the eye of a senior official of a multinational company, which recently sent several jerseys and footballs to the club.

But what provided a bigger boost to the ex-players to continue their labour of love was the selection of Shamsher and Chandan for the junior India trials.

The club’s draw is just as strong for those who are too young to see a career in football. Like seven-year-old Abhiroop Mukherjee, who keeps “begging” his mother Chandana to take him to the ground early every practice day so that he can play longer.

He and the other boys have to line up for a roll call before practice and if they have missed a session, explain why. The children from the nearby slums, most of whom cannot afford a jersey and a pair of boots, head to the corner room of the one-storeyed clubhouse, where free-to-use gear and at least 50 footballs are kept. In a large bucket in a corner of the room, 3kg of chhola are soaked in water for the youngsters to devour after practice.

“The chhola is all some of the children will eat between lunch and dinner. Kids regularly show up for morning practice without having breakfast. We keep packets of biscuits so that they do not have to play on an empty stomach,” said Basudeb Chatterjee, another coach.

The ground, a desperately needed patch of green in a tight grid of grey, low-rise houses, was not always so. It was uneven and had undergrowth that provided cover for criminals and drug addicts.

“We levelled the field and built the club house in 2009 with a grant from the MP local area development fund that Arun Ghosh, a former Olympian from Howrah, helped us secure. We only wanted to provide children a place to play. Slowly, they started coming in. That we meet all the expenses ourselves and do not charge a paisa from the guardians is a big reason for our popularity,” said coach Dilip Ghosh.

But keeping the Sudip Chatterjee Krira Kendra going is a constant struggle. “We had to wait months to install metal goalposts. Even the soil that we will have to use to level the pitch after the rains will cost thousands of rupees. More importantly, we need money to take charge of a few talented kids. Most of the boys who play well enough to continue with the game are too poor to do so,” said Pranab Chatterjee’s brother Prabir, who spends “every minute” he can spare from his South Eastern Railway job at the ground.

The guardians are confident that the ex-players will find a way to dodge every obstacle. “There are perhaps better facilities and more qualified coaches elsewhere but no one loves the game and these kids more than those who run this club,” said Shyamal Chatterjee, a retired air force employee, watching his six-year-old grandson Arannyo dribble past plastic cones.

Do you know of any free coaching camps for children? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com.