Sacred Grounds

Indian football is far bigger than a handful of famous clubs and the top leagues. This book looks at the game as it lives in regional tournaments, in local heroes and in the people who keep the sport going in their own corners of the country.

It travels to the popular Khep games of Kolkata, the fiercely contested 7s league in Kerala and the many Basti tournaments of Meghalaya. It also visits hilly Mizoram and Nagaland, the green fields of Punjab, the sandy shore of Thoothoor in Tamil Nadu and the celebrated villages of Goa. In each place football holds a special spot in people's hearts.

Sandeep Menon sets out to record the many distinct football cultures of India. He gives space to local figures and to names that history has lost or that are known only within small circles, and he gathers their tales and legends so that forgotten stories are kept on record. Through the game, the book explores the history, folklore, landscape and culture of different regions, using sporting values to show what the people there are like.

Sacred Grounds won the Special Jury Award at the 2025 Ekamra Sports Literature Festival.