Stars set to have a ball

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Ranbir Kapoor is going to play for All Stars Club

Come March 30 and football fans in Delhi will see a starry face-off on the field of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. On one side will be All Heart Club, a team of cricketers led by Virat Kohli, and on the other side Abhishek Bachchan will spearhead All Stars Club, his bunch of actors. Going by their versions, both the teams are preparing hard to give each other a tough competition and raise funds for Magic Bus, an NGO.

At the recent unveiling of the team jerseys and trophy in the capital, Virat Kohli, who announced his charity foundation, Virat Kohli Foundation, said it is the right time to display team India’s other talent, which is football. “Not that we just play cricket, we play football very often. Mahi (Mahendra Singh Dhoni) is the best football player in the team. He will be playing for us at the event,” says Virat.
Jokingly, Abhishek added that he could already see the trophy going to Virat’s team. “We plan to put out as competitive a match as we can but we don’t have any false illusions. They are the finest athletes in the country. The kind of training and fitness level that they have, it will be very difficult for an actor to be on that level. But I know we are going to give them a fight. We had been training for six months with proper drills, trainers and coach. All the members in my team, including Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor and Varun Dhawan have taken up football very seriously,” says Abhishek.
Sharing details about his foundation, Virat adds, “I am going through a transition in life. At this stage, I personally wanted to help underprivileged kids and inspire them to work hard in life. I remember how I had to struggle to get myself a bat when I was growing up. Now I want the young talent to get the facilities that I did not get,” says Virat who says he will be personally involved with the training camps the foundation is planning. “I’ll personally help and make it easy for children who become a part of our foundation. And events such as these will be the main platform to raise funds,” he says.
Abhishek, originally a basketball player, says he is willing to do anything to work for a cause, including playing on the field. “I am very passionate about football and can see that the sport is very popular with children these days. This is the reason why I agreed for these matches. And about playing for charity, each member of my family is associated with several causes, as we believe a lot in doing things for society. We work on a lot of stuff and sports as a medium has come my way now. Besides this, I always believed that sport is a great teacher. There is a lot that you can learn through sports, character building and teamwork being the main ones,” says Abhishek.
One of the organisers, Bunty Walia, says actors have taken to football seriously. “We thought of this idea (to form a football team) at the beginning of 2012, and it took me six months to get everyone together. All the actors involved are busy with work and are mostly available on Sundays. Despite the busy schedules, they come to practice around 4:30 pm and stay on till 7 pm. They are practicing seriously with FIFA referees since June last year. The day I don’t call them for practice, they call up to check why there is no practice,” ends Bunty.