Meanwhile in Kerala, couple fund football dreams of poor kids

AS THE world celebrates yet another season of the “beautiful game”, in a coastal hamlet of Kovalam in Kerala, an octogenarian couple is giving wings to the football dreams of a group of talented but underprivileged children, mostly from the fishermen community. They even built a practice stadium for the children, who were otherwise training on the beach.
T J Mathew from Kerala and Sally Mathew from San Francisco were working in the United States when they met and got married in 1977. After retirement, as Sally says, “I persuaded him to settle in India.” The couple moved to Kovalam in 1991.
Ebin Rose
Initially, the couple would help children in the neighbourhood with their education. “We formed a small trust to help these children, most of whom were raised single mothers,” says Mathew. Thus the Mathew/Sally Educational Trust (M/S ET) was formed and regered as a charitable society.
Later, Mathew chanced upon the Kovalam Football Club, founded in 2008 for underprivileged children a passionate footballer from Vizhinjam, Ebin Rose, who played for the Kerala team when it won the Santosh Trophy in 2004.Subscriber Only StoriesPremiumPremiumPremiumPremium
Kovalam FC went on to become the first club from Kerala to play in the Under-15 I-League and also played in the Kerala Premier League this year with an all-local talent. “My dream is to develop Kovalam FC into a professional football club,” says Ebin, who started playing when he was in college.
“These boys have inherent skills and talent. But they didn’t have the expertise or money to carry it forward. Shashi Tharoor (Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram), who knew my interest in football, asked if I could help them. It all started then,” says Mathew, who played football at the university level.
In the beginning, about six years ago, the couple offered monetary support to the club. “But when I watched their game, I realised that the kids had the skill but lacked stamina. My wife found out the reason – their meals were just rice and fish gravy due to poverty. So we started a hostel from a rented place to provide these boys a comfortable environment and required nutrition,” says Mathew, who is the younger brother of veteran journal T J S George.
The couple then raised funds from their family members to build a hostel and a practice stadium. “Now we have a modern facility on three floors that can accommodate 52 children. But since we cannot meet the operational costs, we have 41 as of now,” says Mathew.
Among the 41 children, all in the 13-19 years age group, 30 are from the fishermen community, while some are from faraway dricts like Malappuram and Kasaragod. Besides football training, the children are also sent to a near school to complete their education.
“Mathew has put in more money than he could afford into this and even a part of his residence is being used for the club. With a large vision, he is putting in extraordinary efforts… I am trying to support him whatever way I can. He has a vision, he has passion, he has commitment, and he delivers,” says Tharoor.
Benon John, 25, from Vizhinjam, who has been with Kovalam FC for over 10 years, says, “Our club started getting recognised more after Mathew Sir and Sally Ma’am came in. We owe it to them for reaching the KPL (Kerala Premier League).”
Manoj M, 20, who joined Kovalam FC when he was in Class 4, says, “We now have a facility to practice together and study.”
A few children have got sponsorships from groups such as Muthoot and R M Education Solutions. And there are a few parents who pay at least Rs 1,000 per month.
The elderly couple is now raising a corpus fund to sustain the facility, where the average monthly expense per child is about Rs 7,500 at present. “Once the corpus is raised, Sally and I will hang our hats,” says Mathew, adding that they are “just 89 and very young”.
Both Mathew and Sally don’t get involved in the selection or training process. “I tell Ebin, ‘let’s not focus on winning trophies, let’s make champions’,” says Mathew.
Ebin says they don’t have any criteria to select children. “Football is a game God has given to all. We take children and make them talents with the needed support,” he says.
For Mathew and Sally, their biggest reward is seeing the children play and move on to greener pastures. “Seven of our children were picked other clubs. Last year, Gokulam Group recruited four, Tamil Nadu police recruited one, while a Bengaluru club and a Puducherry club recruited one each,” says Mathew.
Sajith Poulose who joined Kovalam FC when he was 16 years old, went on to play the Santosh Trophy in 2018, that landed him a job at the Kerala government’s education department. “The turning point in my career was provided Kovalam FC. I grew up playing with them,” says Poulose who joined Kickstart Football Club, Bengaluru, three months ago.
The coach, however, is not so happy about the talent drain. “But it is natural, as we are not yet a professional club where we can support them financially,” says Ebin, as he hopes that dream will come true, soon.