Where football is freedom: A Kolkata mixed-gender team is rewriting rules from margins
A mixed-gender football team in Kolkata, run by the NGO Bondhu Collective, is challenging social taboos and gender norms in the Kalighat red-light area. The team provides underprivileged youth with a platform for freedom and self-expression through sports.
Why it matters
This story highlights the role of sports as a tool for social empowerment and breaking down systemic barriers for marginalized communities.
As the FIFA World Cup reaches its climax far from India, with stadiums packed and fans cheering their teams, a group of children in Kolkata is fighting a very different battle for their love of the same game. Their biggest opponents are not rival teams, but prejudice, social taboos, and the daily struggle to find a patch of ground to practise on.
For the children of Meye-Cheleder Khela (Girls and Boys Play Together), football is less about trophies than freedom.
A member of the team during a match. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Run by the NGO Bondhu Collective, the mixed-gender team brings together children aged between seven and 20 from Kolkata’s Kalighat red-light area and nearby underprivileged neighbourhoods. Boys and girls train side by side, challenging the long-held belief that football is a sport meant primarily for men.
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