GTFA Sports & Arts Club

A football club and training academy

The GTFA Annual football Tournament

Tournament dates for 2014: Feb 09 - 16.
The 14th Annual GTFA Football Torunament: Final, Sunday, Feb. 16.
Teams: Thaqua Group, Pathanapuram Vs. Valiathura Football Academy, Trivandrum
Game time: 5 pm.
Concluding Ceremony & Trophy presentation : Presided over by theHon. Chittayam Gopakumar, MLA
There is no ticket to watch the tournament.

WHAT AND WHY IS THIS TOURNAMENT?
The GTFA tournament is a 7-a-side football contest held once a year, lasting eight days of play, and culminating in the Final game on a Sunday - usually the second or the third Sunday - in January of the Gregorian Calendar. In some years, the Final game may be on the third Sunday. The tournament, with one game a day, is presently held on a single playing field which is the home field of GTFA. Participation is by invitation from GTFA to seven teams, other than GTFA, from the middle part - measured north/south - of the former principality of Travancore. Thus, the districts of Quilon, Pathanamthitta, Alleppy, and farther districts in the State of Kerala may be included. Participating teams receive travelling allowance and the winner carries home the rolling trophy.

The reasons for holding the tournament are the following:
(1) Affords the opportunity for eight leading teams, including GTFA, to gain experience from playing each other and to get to know the players of the contesting teams
(2) Affords GTFA seven additional opportunities to play in tournaments that may be held at the home fields of the invited teams as a result of the general courtesy extended by the invited teams to invite the inviting team
(3) Creates awareness among the local and regional publics about GTFA and the participating teams and hence helps improve the chances of building players of high skill levels
(4) Enhances the maintainance of the home field as the tournament demands that the field be in reasonable playing condition
(5) Helps keep the team in top physical shape for away-games and the team's boots and clothing in good and presentable condition
(6) Affords the local public the fun opportunity to watch hotly contested games between good teams
(7) Promotes football so that with similar efforts from thousands of other localities in the nation the standard of India's soccer will rise enough to qualify for the quadrenneal World Cup games

DATES
This year - 2014 - the GTFA tournament dates are February 09 to 16. In other years, the tournament began on the second or the third Sunday in January and ended with the Final game on the Sunday following.

What elevates the human more than anything above the rest of creation is the brain which is also called "mind." And what distinguishes a human from other humans is the quality and power of the mind. But there is no mind without a body to nourish it. Professor George R. Thomas who provides playing field for GTFA notes that most of the famous mathematicians, scientists, and artists in the world are also mindful in providing adequate exercize to their bodies. This habit keeps them healthy and gives them more time to employ their mind as less time is lost to sickness or delinquency. So the adage, "sound mind in a sound body", is real. This holds true even for young men and women.

Young men who do not exercize enough are more likely than not to become sick or obese. Athletics are a fun way to exercize for healthy young men and women. Also, by being regularly involved in athletics they have less time to squander or misuse in the evenings. Young men involved in athletics are less prone to substance abuse, including smoking. No team member in GTFA is allowed to smoke and those who had smoked have to quit for good before they are admitted to the team.

KERALOLSAVAM
GTFA Team A was the Pathanamthitta District champion in both the 2006 and 2007 Keralotsvams.

GTFA Senior Team
Keralolsavam '06 Pathanamthitta District Champions