Pizzas galore!

“It changed the parents’ attitudes. They saw that it was OK for girls to play football and that they could be really good at it too,” he said.

Parents are not the only ones won over. When the Italian clothing company Benetton approached the association to offer sponsorship for junior mixed teams, Mr Adams had a better idea.

“I suggested they sponsor the girls instead and they loved the idea straight away,” he said.

Thus the Bend It Like Benetton League was born, with six teams with names such as the Amazing Amazons and the Daring Divas.

Now girls all over Delhi are vying to join the league and a big expansion is expected. At Sardar Patel High School, girls brave thick fog and cold mornings to attend daily coaching at 7am.

“If we train hard enough, we can be as good as the boys,” Tisha Debpillai, 13, said. Her coach disagrees. “Tisha is already the best player. Not just among the girls, in the school.”

It is all a far cry from 1999 when Mr Adams took on his first four schoolgirl players. “There was one girl whose father didn’t want her to play. I had to do exactly what the coach in Bend It Like Beckham did, and go round to her house to persuade him.”

He did so by convincing him that his daughter could end up playing for the state — paving the way for a college scholarship, as Jess does in the film. It worked, and four years later she is still playing.

It is too early to say whether the Bend It Like Beckham effect will remain for good.

Mr Adams, however, believes that football has now permeated the Indian female consciousness and it will not quickly go away.

“There are other factors now, like they can watch football on cable television and they all do. And most of them love Beckham, of course.”

The girls give simpler reasons. “When you are out there on the pitch, you just feel strong and free,” Nisa Ansari said. “We’re addicted.”

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