Working professionals in Chennai are taking to night football on turfs across the city

As the city sleeps, footballers across the city are dribbling and tackling their way around a six-day work week by being on the ball

As night falls, floodlights beam on astro turfs or levelled artificial grass turfs across Chennai where working professionals play night football. With some sporting arenas open as late as 2am, for these nightcrawlers, playing the game is like being in touch with their inner child that fell in love with the sport years ago.  

Ankur Das, Inspector of General Tax, moved to Chennai in the spring of 2023. Shortly after, he lost his father. Coping with grief and the rhythms of a new city, Ankur and his roommate Balaji Sukkala, a GST officer, would sit on their terrace framed against the indifference of the cityscape at night. 

Ankur remembers, “Balaji and I would spend hours on the terrace and ask only one question: what are we doing with our lives?”  

“I realised a lot of people must be feeling the same. So, Balaji and I decided to send a message on a Facebook group – enquiring about football enthusiasts who would like to meet up for friendly matches during the weekends,”  says Ankur.

“Since cricket requires a lot of people and an open space to play in, we decided to play football and the engagement to our post on Facebook was good,” adds Balaji.

As Ankur’s phone started buzzing with notifications, in a matter of months he was no longer spending his Sundays on the terrace. Now, the duo has formed a team of 52 recreational footballers who are navigating their lives with a zeal they thought was lost.  

A sense of community