English Premier League (EPL) team Blackburn Rovers will take on Pune FC in a much-awaited exhibition match on July 22 at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi-Mhalunge.
The match against Blackburn Rovers, owned by Pune-based Venky’s poultry firm, will make Pune FC the first Indian club to face an EPL team.
“The game is a landmark encounter for Indian football fans and we are happy to be part of this treat,” said Pune FC Director Nandan Piramal. “We are excited and honoured to be the first team from India to play an EPL team that revolves around inscribing history.”
The Lancashire-based side’s trip will be the first on their twin-nation visit to Asia. The squad will then proceed to the EPL’s Asian Trophy in Hong Kong.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 14th, 2011.
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Pune Blackburn & Gandhi the conection of both city's Pune is also associated with the struggle for Indian independence. Mohandas Gandhi was imprisoned at Yerwada jail several times, and placed under house arrest at the Aga Khan Palace in 1942-44, where both Kasturba Gandhi, his wife, and Mahadev Desai, his long-time aide and secretary, died.Gandhi once paid a visit during his campaign to boycott British textiles, the main purpose of which was to talk to the British people most affected by it. The local workers famously showed him solidarity in his political struggles and he stayed overnight with a local poor cotton-weaving family living in neighbouring Darwen. His visit made a lasting impression and is celebrated in his inclusion with other famous 'Blackburn' faces depicted in a public artwork sited on the platform at Blackburn Railway Station.