Premier League side West Bromwich Albion are set to work toe-to-toe with the Indian Super League’s Delhi Dynamos to promote and help develop football in India. West Brom, the only Premier League side to have be affiliated with an ISL club, are doing their best in helping India develop football from its grassroots.
The two clubs will be collaborating with the UK Trade and Industry, the New Delhi government and the University of Wolverhampton in taking football to children as part of what is called the ‘Pass It Forward’ initiative. The Pass It Forward initiative will build on work the club have been doing in the Delhi area for the past few years. This program is expected to spread out to more than 2,000 schools in the wider region.
A group of selective students from the University of Wolverhampton will join in for this cause along with the coaches from West Bromwich Albion Football Club and will be providing technical expertise to the Indian coaches. The initiative is an added help to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to take football to every village in the country as India gears up towards hosting next year’s FIFA Under-17 World Cup, as mentioned earlier on his national talk show.
Both the teams have worked together in the past by promoting each other at their home grounds during their respective league games. West Brom’s former England youth international Adil Nabi had joined the Dynamos, becoming the first Premier League player in history to move directly to the Indian Super League on loan.
Adrian Wright: "There aren't any other @premierleague teams that have an association with an @IndSuperLeague club" #AlbionInIndia 🇮🇳
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) April 15, 2016
“We are delighted to team up once again with West Brom on this ground-breaking initiative. At Delhi Dynamos we have shown a great deal of ambition by bringing some of the household names of world football to the club in the past such as Roberto Carlos, Alessandro Del Piero, John Arne Riise and Florent Malouda,” said Delhi Dynamos president Prashant Agarwal at the Press conference for the announcement for this campaign was.
“But ultimately we want to develop homegrown talent who can go and become the next household name in world football. To do that you need to develop football at the grassroots level. A tree cannot grow without strong roots,” he added.
Prashant Argarwal: "Football in India was very popular in 1950. We've taken this decision to develop grassroots seriously" #AlbionInIndia 🇮🇳
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) April 15, 2016
West Brom sales and marketing director Adrian Wright too shared his thought on this plan by saying: “We want to establish a legacy that leaves a lasting impression on Delhi and India. It should be a legacy that extols the values of West Bromwich Albion and of course hopefully brings new fans to our attention. But we are also developing our relationship with Delhi Dynamos all the time and our message is clear. We’re there to stay and want to help football develop and through that improve the health and well-being of thousands of youngsters whose lives we can genuinely hope to change for the better.”
Darren Fletcher: "This is a perfect chance for Albion to send coaches to India and teach kids how to play football" #AlbionInIndia 🇮🇳
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) April 15, 2016
China had announced to make themselves one of the strongest football by nations by 2050 and this would have given the Indian football fans another topic to have a thought about.This generous effort taken by both the teams has been appreciated a lot by the football fans in India and shows the determination of people to make the country a major footballing powerhouse in the near future.
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