Fest Alert: GNLU Sports Committee on Justice League 2015

The second edition of Justice League, Gujarat National University’s flagship sports event will be held from February 27, 2015 to March 1, 2015. Bar & Bench caught up with the Core Committee to know more about the event..Bar & Bench: When was the fest initiated? How has the journey been so far? .Justice League Core Committee: Justice League started as an Intra-University Sports Fest, where all the batches of GNLU battled it out against each other. It was only in 2011 that the name Justice League was coined and the dream to have our first Inter-University Sports began. Owing to the new campus being under construction, and lack of funds, infrastructure and experience, the next two editions in year 2012 and 2013 were conducted as Intra-University Fests..In 2013, we were able to convince our Director Dr. Bimal N. Patel who agreed to invest heavily in Sports Infrastructure. His vision of having a World Class University allowed us to construct a basketball court, cricket pitch, volleyball court, have football matches under floodlights etc. The contribution of Prof. Satya Ranjan Mishra cannot be forgotten. In spite of having several personal problems, he supported us on a daily basis with his constant enthusiasm and ingenious ideas. Preparations for the 2013 Fest saw us rolling the pitch and watering the grounds till 2:00 am in the night. The year also saw the joining of Mr. Sugnesh Chudasama as Assistant Director of Sports, who within a few days became a fan favourite as he developed a culture of athletics..In January, 2014, the final plan for making Justice League an Inter-University Sports Fest began. A hectic period of two months ensued. Around 20 teams participated in 11 sports, the 11th being Athletics, which had throw events, running events and jump events. We were also one of the first Universities in Gujarat to have Swimming as an event. Justice League’14 is still remembered fondly by our opponents for its quality of officiating. All running events had several cameramen at start, finish line and a bird’s eye view to check for lane cuts. A GNLU participant who won the Gold was disqualified in the 100m event for changing lanes two feet from the end line. Missed in real time, a review by a GNLU Sports Committee of all video footage led to his instant disqualification..B&B: How do you manage funding?.JLCC: Primarily, the financial assistance that we require for the fest is furnished through the internal budget of the University, which has a separate allocation for student welfare, student recreation and other extra-curricular activities. However, we got huge discounts from our long-term apparel supplier Nike, long-term equipment supplier Gujarat Sports, Rajesh Sports and Printer Omega. We did not have much time to find sponsors. A lot of our costs are reduced compared to other Universities because only for swimming, badminton, tennis and cricket we needed to go to the Gandhinagar Gymkhana, which gave us the grounds at a very reasonable rate. Our other events like football, volleyball, basketball, athletics, table tennis, carom, chess take place in our University and for all these events we have floodlight facilities. Further, we have a GNLU bus and GNLU Tavera at our disposal, which makes our travel expenses nil..Apart from this, the strength of the Committee, which consists of more than 60 members, is of huge help. We have brilliant designers and talented artists, which takes care of our creative costs. Moreover, S.A.I. Gujarat has been providing us excellent referees since a long time at very reasonable rates. This year for securing sponsors, we have started calling and emailing them. We will be taking appointments and showing them our sponsorship brochure and presentation..B&B: Have any new events been added this year? How many colleges are expected to participate?.JLCC: Justice League’15 promises to be bigger than ever. Kabaddi is the new sport that is making its entrance in this year’s fest. We are expecting at least around 30 colleges to participate this year. Our Dean of Student Welfare, Dr. Richa Sharma and the Accounts Department have always been of constant support to us and this year also they have ensured that we have sufficient funds to organise the Sports Fest. However, to have big cash prizes and to add value to our Sports Fest, we have started approaching various organisations. We also plan to invite some well-known Sports Superstars to the Inauguration and Closing Ceremony..There have been many people from the Alumni, Administration, Faculty and Students who have constantly helped us and supported us. We thank all of them and apologise for not being able to capture all their names in this interview.