KOZHIKODE: Abdul Haseeb Moosais a youngster in his twenties, came back to his hometown from Pune, after getting fed up with his routine office job. But he did not come barehanded, instead he came back with a whole lot of business ideas to be implemented in his land and one of them was a concept to introduce a mini football ground with artificial turf. He introduced the concept of night football, as a post-work or post-studies entertainment in Kozhikode city and now for hundreds of football lovers, this artificial turf set up across 5,300 square feet space is a place where friends or colleagues meet up or play till midnight.
Due to the huge response for the turf here, Haseeb has opened another turf near Mankavu, which is a 12,000 square feet turf, where seven plus seven players can be played. Two of his NRI friends Abdulla Sani Rayaroth and Abdul Mukdathir are partners in the venture which they have named as ‘Club One Football”. “I was a regular player at various such artificial turfs in Pune and it was from there I thought of starting one in Kozhikode, which did not have even one. Back in Pune, there were more than 100 such turfs built on rooftops or on the ground floor of a premises catering to the growing need. My mission is to bring a maximum number of turfs to Kozhikode and make it a sports city where people start thinking of sports as a major entertainment and get rid of all other bad habits,” he added.
He emphasized that the space was eco-friendly as all the water went directly to the ground and the space was well- equipped with synthetic grass, flood lights for night games and even trainers and locker rooms etc. “From media professionals, bankers to actors and school/ college students, we have a variety of people who play at night. Even expats and out-of-towners are regular. From children to 55-year-olds, the age group is varied.” This shorter format of football, also known as Futsal, is usually 5-a-side game and is exciting and fast-paced.
