Small Note: “˜Footer Volley’ is what can be called the National Game of IIM C, tongue firmly behind the teeth. If you do not know what it is, read the following article only for the dramatics. Just for your benefit though, Footer Volley is a game played with football anatomy and volley ball rules, and it is IIM Calcutta’s favourite method of relaxation. Apart from academics of course.

The Setting

The night of 7th January saw the grand finale of Concrete Bowl: the inter wing footer volley tournament of Ramanujan Hostel, popular as the Old Hostel for very uncreative reasons. It was quite a bit into the next day when the champions of OH were finally crowned and bragging rights for yet another season of footer was firmly secured. Both the OH teams were in the finals of the inter hostel footer tournament, and comfortably at that, and all along the league stages and semi finals there had been flashes reminding the fact. But it all came to head in a grand finale, which if anything, lived to up to everyone’s expectations too well.

The match was between MoT (Men on Top, H2 2nd floor) and KBS (Kahin\Kabhi\Kaise Bhi Shuru, H4 1st floor). The two teams had coincidentally been drawn in the same mini league during the eliminations and had followed identical paths to the finals by trashing fancied opponents in the semis. The league match between the two teams was a cracker, the best of the lot till the finals, going all the way till deuce into the third set. It set the backdrop of the final beautifully, with people opining that if the match was played to a first to 51 sets game, a 101st set would be required. It was decided by his holy highness and elected OH Representative, Kushal Kumar Manupati, in consultation with both the teams that the match would be played to a first to 3 sets game, with the usual first to 15 points rule per set.

The Teams

A little bit about the teams themselves. MoT, which had won the league meeting between the two teams, was spearheaded by Nakul Singh Pangtey, possibly the finest all round footer player in the college. It also boasted the talents of football team member and OH footer captain Siddarth Majumdar and the able Rishikesh Patkar. While these 3 formed the crux of the team, they were ably supported by Ruchir Aswal and Krishnan Ramani, the latter of whom earned the complimentary nickname “The Wall” during the course of the final.

Arrayed against them, in a friendly fashion, were KBS led by Rahul Meena. A cheerful forward player with superb reflexes and invention, Meena, or KaMeena as he likes to be called, was buttressed by Rahul Bhawal, Swayam “Khilu” Khialani and Praveen “Pubya” Umredkar. The serious and focused Shouvik “ShouvikDa” Chakraborty finished the lineup.

The teams had differing styles. KBS liked to build from the back, letting Meena and ShouvikDa play the final ball, while MoT essentially lived off the versatility and immense improvisation of the Kungfu Panda (Nakul) and Chotu (Sid). At the outset, it appeared that the playing styles would mean a longer match would favour KBS, since Nakul and Sid ran around so much, trying to be ubiquitous in the other team.

The teams were pretty well matched: Nakul & Rishi more or less matched the ball retrievals of Pubya, Khilu and Bhawal at the back, while Meena and ShouvikDa’s angles and acrobatics were more than competently repelled and replied by Nakul and Sid in the front. If you have been reading carefully, you’d note that Nakul really was everywhere, and his accurate yet unpredictable serves had tipped the balance in the league game between the two teams.

The Final

KBS won the toss and chose to send MoT to ply their trade with MohanDa, the OH stores owner, behind their back. The set scores were irrelevant, as each point was hard fought for, and even a set which finished 15 ““ 2 or thereabouts was very very close in terms of how the points were won or lost. The rallies were lengthy, atypical to OH’s general play, and repeatedly, seeming winners were plucked out of the vortex of the court and kept in play. MohanDa was a lucky charm as the team playing from his side, and the teams kept changing sides every set, kept winning. Four sets gone and it stood 2-2 and very few realized that the fourth set had been kept at 14-13 to KBS for 10 serve changes and 20 minutes. Or indeed that Rahul Bhawal had won his team 11 points on his serve, missing only once, in the set which lasted for an hour.

The final set saw a bit of the inevitable controversy. Changing sides, as can be inferred became an important advantage, even if only psychological, and there was confusion regarding how best to carry it out in the final set. MoT however clinched the set, having made points first when they were on the lucky side, seen a fightback when they had to play from the other side, finally winning it when they got to go back to MohanDa’s comforts.

And In Summary…

There were several genuinely unforgettable moments during the game. Krishnan’s wall like stoic presentation of his underbelly to every ball Meena hit purposefully in his direction, ShouvikDa’s reaction and retrieval of plays Meena had almost lost hope in once he didn’t get it across the net, Nakul’s booming serves, Pubya’s defiant and brave defense of his court, the banter between other residents of MoT and Swayam, the tabla of the KBS cheering team, the confiscation of the Nimbu Pani meant for the players by one honest referee… okay, may be not the last one.

The man of the match had to be Nakul for doing absolutely everything that could be expected of two men, including having the presence of mind to remind the referee of the side change at the fag end of the fifth set. While KBS tired and saw their shoulders droop during the fifth set, Nakul and Sid were running themselves into the ground with a smile. It was their camaraderie and understanding of the game and its players that stood out in the ending and defined the course of the right to be called the undisputed champion of OH Footer Volley. Coming, rather unsurprisingly from the Old Hostel, your correspondent can warn the other hostels about a real fight on their hands to prevent an OH team from winning the inter hostel footer this year.

On a final note, I would like to state that my own team came third in the pool that contained the two finalists. Now if only the two had been separated and had met in the semi finals… I guess the finals would have been over pretty quickly if we reached it. Having said that, I wonder who would win if MoT and KBS played away a game for one set and one set only… Hmm.

Oh and by the way, the next time, I plan to write about the Footer Match between the first and second year girls that took place just before this particular final… now that was worth watching

G. Sriram