Patriots thrash Saints as Leisure Leagues-Happy Home league begins

KARACHI: Patriots thrashed Saints by 7-1 with Anas scoring a hat-trick in their match of Leisure Leagues-Happy Home six-a-side football league at the school’s Society Campus.

The match between Jaguars and Tigers ended in a 1-1 draw; Falcons defeated Elite 2-1 with Hammad bracing for the winners; and Panthers got a walkover against Cobras after the latter didn’t turn up for the match.

Leisure Leagues has collaborated with Happy Home School to organise the league. A total of eight teams from the school are featuring in the tournament and each team will play two games with every other team in the league.

Shahroze Rizvi, an official of Leisure Leagues, said that they were now reaching out to schools and providing their students opportunties to play at their own turfs. “It is difficult for youngsters, especially from schools and other academic institutions, to first form a team and then come to play at a ground that may be difficult for them to reach. So we have now taken the game of small-sided football to their own backyard,” Shahroze said.

Leisure Leagues has signed MoUs with IBA, Sir Syed University, Kiran Foundation, Haque Academy, Delsol and Happy Home. The mini-sided football organisers are optimistic that several more schools would come on board soon. Leisure Leagues will be starting eight-team leagues at three other branches of Happy Home soon.