Gangtok: January 5:

More than 60 bands and 100 five a side teams are battling for a prize money of Rs.260,000 on the much awaited Red Fest. The 160 teams will be competing for the coveted ‘Red Ribbon Super Band’ and ‘Red Five Football’ title.

The first audition of the much anticipated ‘Red Ribbon Super Band Contest’ isscheduled on 5th January 2011 at Namchi Municipality Hall, Singhithang for theSouth and West District participants. Similarly the auditions for East and NorthDistrict will be conducted at Café Live & Loud, Gangtok on 8th and 9th January 2012. After a month long registration, a total of 62 bands from all over the State will be competing with each other for the ‘Red Ribbon Super Band’ title. The main objective of the intervention is to spread awareness on HIV & AIDS and the ill effects of substance abuse amongst youths across the State. The competition will be judged by a panel of four well known musicians and sound engineer, namely Albert Gurung, Donald Lepcha, Surja Solomon Rai and Diwash Rai.

Simultaneously, the ‘Red Five Open Football Tournament’ will kick off on 6th
January at MG Marg, Gangtok. The first two matches at MG Marg will be played between Dzongri Club and Boys Club and between two National Girls team. The Red Five Football tournament has 100 teams participating from all over the State which makes it the biggest play off of its kind. The tournament is an integral part of the Red Fest. Apart from carrying the message on HIV and AIDS, the aim of the tournament is also to promote sport culture and to acknowledge the footballers of the State. The Red Five tournament is designed to involve teams from each district bringing in semi finalists from South and West and its counter parts from North and East.

The fixtures will be laid out and will be declared by 7th of January
2012. This massive football campaign has been made possible by involving various NGOs, stakeholders and prominent footballing personalities and football coaches’ especially Thupden Bhutia (Sports Department), Dzongri Club, Boys Club, Jorden Karthak, District Coaches, Amos Subba, Suren Chettri, Mayel Lepcha and Milan Subba.

The Red Fest Media partners are Nayuma Television Entertainment and Red FM 93.5 and NGO partners HOPE Foundation, RUN, Bethzatha and SNP +.

The State level intervention, ‘Red Fest’ under Multi Media Campaign 2011-2012 was launched on 11th November 2011 and is a multi pronged intervention targeting all sections of the society. The first phase of the Red Fest intervention, ‘Positive Intervention’ was conducted during the month of December 2011 involving school students.

Sikkim Mail

 

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