An immigration lawyer. A sales exec. An engineer. A pharmacist. A neuroscience major at University of Texas at Dallas. An energy solutions manager. Some are married, some have kids. Some recent college grads.
Together, dozens of men gather every Sunday at 7:30 a.m. to play football.
Furquan “Sunny” Azhar was 35 when he started DART Sports with some friends, who were also then in their 30s. Back then, the organization had “sort of a backyard feel” but the teams got younger and the organization became more structured as they grew.
DART is an acronym for Dallas Area Recreational Team, a play on Dallas Area Rapid Transit. The committee (leadership) team has worked to make the group more than a pickup football group. Since its inception in 2016, the group has added statistics, media, and game tapes through pictures, videos, GoPros and drone footage. Sign-ups, live drafts, weekly highlights and group chats abound on WhatsApp.
“There started to be an influx of talent and people of all demographics, then we realized people had more interest than just football,” Azhar says.
They branched out to basketball, tennis, soccer and even Madden NFL, a football-based video game that has become a popular e-sport among sports fanatics.
“What got everyone out is not just what sports you’re playing, but the love and passion for it,” says Taha Usmani, who’s been playing for DART on and off since 2019. “[We’re] not really having an avenue to have an organized sports activity for most of us …. So it comes out to be more valuable to most people as that outlet for people to take their mind off things of their everyday lives and enjoy some of the things that you grew up playing.”
Several of the guys, lovingly referred to as “Goobers,” had their own group before joining DART. They played right after DART’s weekly Sunday pickup games, and saw the group grow while theirs dwindled.
“We joined forces, so to speak, and that helped [us] grow a little bit where a lot of our guys were kind of enjoying the DART structure,” Papiha Kashmiri says. “You have that whole community feel … It was welcoming. Everybody comes from all different walks of life, all different cultures, so it was just another place to call home.”
And they aren’t just playing pickup. The teams are competitive, and their awards are plenty.
“Obsession with sports is definitely a common denominator among all of us,” Azhar says. “We all waste a lot of time talking about sports, looking at sports statistics. We have a DART fantasy group as well.”
The obsession is so intrinsic, the group says, that Sunny will frequently quiz the men on sports facts, though he has “a 13 year head start,” they note.
And the guys don’t just show up for each other on the court and on the field. When one member, Arijit Bhattacharjee, went to the finals for intramural flag football at UTD, DART committee members and casual players alike showed up to cheer him on. The team won for the third year in a row, Bhattacharjee noted, and have supported different initiatives each other have presented.
“[DART members] just felt like a family and they’ve helped develop me, not only in the game of seven on seven, but becoming a better man and learning the mores in life,” says Jelani Arnold, who joined last year and pioneered the first Madden season. “It’s more than just football. It’s a family away from my own.”
