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Football brings everyone together,” observed Zaara Dastur who along with Jeyhaan Carnac founded the Zoroastrian Premier League (ZPL) "to introduce professionalism to the game and to encourage the youth to see sport as a viable career option.” Whilst football as an inter-baug game has been played and enjoyed over several years in Bombay, the ZPL organizers conceived of 10 teams, constituted on the basis of caliber and not colony affiliations, that would play matches over four weekends in April 2019.
The 120 players who are sweating it out at the ZPL floodlit matches in April at the Dadar Parsee Colony Gymkhana grounds were ‘bought’ at an auction held the preceding month. Each of the 10 team owners who had invested one lakh rupees in ZPL was assigned 100 million worth of play money to ‘buy’ 12 players of their choice. Whilst every team hopes to emerge victorious at the final match on April 28 and take home the prize money of Rs 2,50,000, the organizers have further set aside Rs 3,50,000 as salaries to be paid to the 120 players and 10 team managers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a footfall of around 450 over the first weekend when 13 matches were played, with the games starting at around 7.45 p.m. and continuing till 10 p.m. Leading the table was the team Pink Panthers owned by Bombay Parsi Punchayet trustee Viraf Mehta with Varun Buhariwala as manager. Despite a hamstring injury their player Jimmy Irani helped his team win two games. At the bottom of the table was the team Sterling FC owned by young entrepreneur Delna Daruvala with Fareez Vasania as manager. At the end of the second week, Pink Panthers continued to lead. At the bottom were Websters, owned by Hoshang Jal, retired officer of the civil services, with Farhad Dhunjisha as manager. There are 20 games yet to be played before the semi finals, according to the organizers.
Logistics for the League
Pairing of owners and managers was undertaken by the organizers. "If they were not comfortable with each other, another manager was assigned,” stated Dastur. "The managers are in charge of the day-to-day running of the team which includes taking training sessions, coordinating with the organizers, formulating game and tournament strategy,” clarified Carnac.
Additionally, the managers who were present at the trials at the Cusrow Baug grounds on March 17 helped the owners determine the worth of the players. Altogether 278 football players from Bombay, Poona, Surat, Bangalore, Calcutta — the youngest aged 12 years and the eldest 60 — had registered online. Of these, 150 showed up for the trials when "they were made to perform certain drills and play a game” in front of around 200 onlookers, Carnac provided the details. 
The players were divided into three tiers, based on their caliber and assessment by a panel of footballers who have played a large number of All Parsi Football tournaments over the years. The first tier consisted of the 20 best players in the community; the second tier of the next best 20 players; the rest fell in the third tier. As per the auction requirements, the owners had to buy two players each from the first and second tier, and eight from the third tier. When the bidding was on, a placard was held up detailing the player’s name, age, highlights of his football career and names of teams he has represented over the years. For each of the 278 players the organizers had prepared a placard.
 In his inimitable style, auctioneer Hormuz Ragina, a popular master of ceremonies, ensured the auction at the Royal Bombay Yacht Club on March 24 was lively and smooth. A maximum of three people could sit at each table. "Maintain decorum,” he beseeched the nearly 50 spirited enthusiasts who had assembled.
"Danesh Avasia and Nushad Irani were the most expensive players to have been sold at the auction for 34 million each,” Carnac informed Parsiana. Avasia was bought by team Saturday Supremos, owned by Berjis Desai, senior lawyer in private practice, with Yazad Karai as the manager. Irani was bought by Sterling FC. "These two teams expended 34% of their total budget on each of these players,” revealed Carnac. The eldest player to be sold at the auction was 48-year-old Nauzer Dubash who was bought by team Predators owned by Jeshad Dumasia, a young football enthusiast, with Varun Dastur as manager.
Iranian Giants, owned by restaurateur Rustom Dehmiri, of Café Universal, with Hushad Khan as manager, succeeded in buying the highly rated Ratan Khandhadia, who formerly played for the Mumbai Football Club, for a mere 11 million. "This was thanks to a brilliant strategy adopted by the Giants to wait for the other teams to buy all their players and wait for their marquee man till the end,” reported Carnac. Websters was the first team to complete their squad at the auction.
The other teams represented at the auction were Storm 11, owned by Rishad Byramjee, chief executive officer of Casby Logistics Private Limited and managed by Jehan Vapiwala; Persian Pirates owned by Marzi Pestonji, a judge at the TV show Dance India Dance, and managed by Zubin Wadia; Mondy’s Patraos owned by restaurateur Hoshang Yazdegardi, of Café Mondegar, and managed by Perseus Daruwala; Byculla United owned by Gilan Ferzandi, managing director and owner of Farmacross India, managed by his son Yaaresh Ferzandi.
All decisions regarding the teams, from finalizing the name to designing the team jersey kits were left to the owners’ discretion. An interesting logo was designed for each team: the clinking of frothy beer mugs for Mondy’s Patraos; claw scratches for Predators; the Farmacross logo for Byculla United; a portly pheta wearing bawa whose waistline merges with a football for Saturday Supremos; a linear depiction of a spider with a football for Websters; a silhouette and outline of two lions in a faceoff for Storm 11; letters SFC blazoned on a shield for Sterling FC; a bearded pirate sporting an eye patch for Persian Pirates; a crowned lion head for Iranian Giants; side profile of a panther with penetrating eyes for Pink Panthers.
The ZPL logo, specially designed by Pashang Dadyburjor of Disney India, shows the letterings on a shield with one arm in red and another in green on either side of a soccer ball. As explained by Carnac, the shield will be constant over the years but the symbols on them may vary: "The idea was borrowed from a concept in Spain, wherein the teams have their logos altered as they grow in terms of success and wealth. They start with figures like walking sticks and eventually replace them with crowns or thrones. The plants on either side of the shield symbolize the planting of a concept in this community, and the birth of something new.”
Nearly three months ago Carnac and Dastur initiated work on ZPL. Working with the duo on the organizing committee are footballers Shazen Elavia, Joshua Dumasia, Xerxes Bamboat, Meherzad Bhadha and Karl Malao. For the last three years Carnac and Dastur have been organizing the mega event "Wings” at Rustom Baug when around 700 participants are brought on stage to perform before an audience of nearly 3,000. Both of them have also worked on the organizing team of the Holiday Programme for Youth. Twenty-year-old Carnac who is studying law is currently interning at the chambers of advocate Purazar Fouzdar. Nineteen-year-old Dastur, who models at Lakme Fashion Week for several designers and presently works for IMG Reliance, is studying to be a pilot.
Seeing the interest generated in "the largest football event in the community,” with many individuals voluntarily coming forward to be team owners, the organizers expect to accommodate many more players next year. Already they are gearing for a grander version of ZPL 2020.