BackBring it on
A 'sportal' promotes organized game playing culture among Delhi's professionals, taking them from the office to the grounds
Premium
Game On India www.gameonindia.net
Past life
Zeba Zaidi, 37, head of sales for the Nordic regions, Switzerland, Germany and France for Corporate Executive Board, a big multinational company, was based out of London for 10 years before moving to Dubai for three years and finally shifting to India last year. Husband Adnan Adeeb, 39, works for iGATE, an international company that provides business and technology solutions. When the couple and their two young children moved to New Delhi, they were frustrated by the lack of quality leisure activities.
“All we could do was go to the movies, eat out, or go to a mall," says Zaidi.
Eureka moment
One weekend, Adeeb joined in a game of football with the neighbourhood children. “He came back excited, and flushed with happiness," Zaidi recalls. But when he again tried to find people to play with, he found it too time-consuming to organize the game. “Other friends had the same complaint—where do we play and who with?" says Zaidi.
Zaidi, who quit her job, and Adeeb began putting together a business plan for a company that would make access to sports simple, fun and exciting for working professionals pressed for time. But while they were thrilled with what they had come up with, they needed validation from a third party. Zaidi discussed their proposal over lunch with professor Sujit Sanyal, who had taught her at the Times School of Marketing (now known as the Times School of Marketing and Management), Delhi, where she had received a diploma in management.
Genesis
Game On India organizes everything: Indian Premier League (IPL)-style kits with different uniforms for different teams, refreshments, high-quality equipment, accredited referees (from the Delhi Football League, for example) and umpires (approved by the Delhi & District Cricket Association), as well as international standard venues such as Thyagaraj stadium (for football and badminton). A professional even inspects the grounds to ensure they are suitable.
Working professionals register with their company name on the website at no cost, and the sportal then forms tournament teams.
By February, Game On India had a beta site up and running, offering three games—badminton, cricket and football—in tournaments played over a month, on Saturdays and Sundays. The football event, held at Ambedkar Stadium in March, was priced at ₹ 1,200 per person, and the Twenty20 cricket tournament, also in March, at ₹ 4,000.
The couple relied on contacts and word-of-mouth press, and were overwhelmed by the response. “Players were so excited by what we were doing that one of them offered to create a logo for us for free; others offered to write and compose a jingle for us," Zaidi says. “That’s when we knew we were on to something. This reciprocity proved that we were filling a gaping need in the city."
Soon, they were flooded with requests for more tournaments, and what was meant to be a test run turned into a full-fledged operation, with nearly 600 people registered and five tournaments organized thus far.
Game On India now runs out of a small attic office on Delhi’s South Avenue next to Teen Murti, part of the couple’s home, and has six employees. It aims to introduce a pay-per-game schedule and upgrade to a sports social networking platform by August: Each registered player will have his or her own interactive home page, where you can add pictures, comments and videos.
Currently, the sportal is playing two tournaments: football and cricket. “We will launch tennis, volleyball, hockey and athletics," says Zaidi. “We are sports agnostics: any kind of outdoor or indoor physical sport there is a demand for."
Reality check
Booking government-run sports venues in Delhi has not been easy. “They only allow weekly bookings," Zaidi says. “You can’t book consecutive Saturdays at one go, so it was a big challenge to keep playing at the same venues."
Plan B
After the great response to their experimental launch, there was no need for one, says the couple.
Secret sauce
“Playing sports is not just fun, it gives you a sense of achievement," Zaidi says. “That’s why we make sure everything is top quality. We wanted to give the regular person a taste of what it’s like to play in a professional environment. How many of us have actually played on the international standard football pitch at Ambedkar Stadium?"
This story was first published on 2 June 2012. It has been republished due to a technical issue.
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