The main problem that all sportsmen in Mumbai have been facing over the years is the lack of infrastructure for sports, especially the availability of grounds. Kalina too has faced this problem over the years, and hence any open space available is thronged by young boys playing their own game.

The grounds of St. Mary’s High School, Kalina, which was although small in size, could be well utilized to encourage some form of sport. However, no proper care was taken of these grounds over the years, and to add to this, there were unwanted elements jumping from across the walls and utilizing portions of the ground for drinking and gambling.

With this kind of a situation that existed, Fr. Sabino D’Silva who was Parish Priest in 1999, approached a few sportsmen from the parish, and requested if something could be done to organize activities on the ground, as also prevent the unwanted elements from intruding onto the ground premises. It was with this kind of a background that the Sports Committee was formed in August 1999.

The Committee consisted of 20 members when we started, all prominent sportsmen from Kalina, who also represented the 6 zones of the parish. The first meeting which was chaired by Fr. Sabino D’Silva was held on 09thAugust 1999, wherein Fr. Sabino explained the problems as mentioned above. At this meeting it was decided to first put up a barbed wire fence on top of the existing wall, stop the play of cricket which was spoiling the ground, and erect 2 sign boards at the entrance to the ground. One signboard was to show the timings for use of the ground, and the other was to display the fact that the ground belonged to the Trustees of Our Lady of Egypt Church, Kalina.

At one of the subsequent meetings, some members suggested that we start a football league that would be played between the 2 villages of kalina. After much discussion it was finally decided that we have this tournament, involving all the zones of our parish, and thus was born the idea of starting a Kalina Football League, which today is popularly known as KFL.

The League consisted of 12 teams, representing the different zones of our Parish. The main feature of organizing any event of this magnitude is the arrangement of funds, and the Committee decided that we go from shop to shop in Kalina, as well as contact sports lovers of Kalina to tide over this problem. Mr. Macien Alves of Everup Leasing & Finance Ltd., who is a well known businessman from Kalina, was the main sponsor for the first KFL, and together with what we collected, the tournament was a huge success. Subsequent tournaments were held in similar fashion, and we had main sponsors for these events in the form of NIIT –Kalina, Colgate Palmolive, Bisleri etc… All the money collected from sponsorships was utilized to offset the expenses, as well as duly reward all deserving players, especially those who showed great promise.

A special mention must be made about the late Mr. Mario Mendes, who was instrumental in putting KFL on the Football map in Mumbai. He made sure that this event was covered in great detail by all the leading newspapers in Mumbai, and thanks to him, all our tournaments have been well covered in the press, and talked about all over Mumbai.

The Committee over the years has organized various other events like Inter-zonal Cricket tournaments, Under-16 boys football tournaments, Girls open football tournaments, Veterans Open Football tournaments, Hockey camps for children below 16 years, and Football Camps for boys and girls under the age of 16. This last event is very popular, and every year we have a minimum of 100 trainees (both boys and girls) participating.

This year completes 10 years since the inception of the Sports Committee, and hence plans are on to organize this event on a larger scale. The highlight of this celebration will be the opening of our very own website, which will be regularly updated, and all the fans that have been following KFL every year, will get updated and detailed results after every match day. Rest of the plans will depend on sponsorships received, and we are quite confident of putting up a good show with the co-operation of all the sponsors and parishioners of Kalina.