KANNUR: The local volleyball tournaments in various parts of the district are booked with the police team for more than a month now. The police here is trying a new method of uniting the otherwise warring locals, by teaming them up together. Ask district police chief G. Siva Vikram, if he is trying to bring about peace through sports and he would smile, and correct that his aim is to promote sports in the district, and of course, peace is a byproduct. “That’s not my target, it would be larger goal. Kannur is known for sports — volleyball, football, the people in the district love sports. They are very passionate about it. It started with an incident almost six months ago, when I participated in one, and to my surprise, thousands of people gathered and stayed till late night,” the SP said.
He made a lighter comment on the huge participation of the public “All the problems are happening during 7 pm to 1 pm and during late night matches, people are occupied on the ground. Then I thought, why not give it a try, if it works, it’s good, if it doesn’t work also no problem, end of the day we are promoting sports at least among youngsters,” he added. Though at first in Mamparam it was a police-run tournament, it was later decided to involve local all-party organising committee. They organise the event and police will give an overall coordination. Officers belonging to those areas are coordinating that particular tournament. After the Mamparam tournament in February, a lot of teams and sponsors came forward and the SP made it clear the police would not involve financially.
In Chakkarakkal, the event became a huge hit, and the locals are demanding similar tournaments in Kathirur and Kuthu-paramba. The local leaders are meeting on account of the matches and talking to each other and police also gets more chance to interact with the local people. The next tournaments are in Vengad on April 5, Naduvanad on April 17 and Poothadi from April 16 onward, said Kannur volleyball association convener Shameer Oorppally. “There is a rapport developing among the people, which is a good sign. Now that the police also has developed a special team for the matches, there is a huge demand from the villages,” he adds.
