There are two theories people share in informal circles when asked to point their fingers on that one thing that makes the Northeast – such an unstructured yet all-encompassing term – a conveyor belt for all things Indian football. Its topography and the fighting spirit people have in abundance. Twenty minutes on the roads of Shillong and Aizawl are all it takes to validate the theory surrounding topography. Roads have more troughs and peaks than an economics textbook. The locals, though, chug along smoking a cigarette, navigating the terrain like it is the most natural thing in the world. Cardio workouts for free for years will automatically have that effect on the human body.
The second theory presents itself in many ways. Taxi drivers whose job involves ferrying passengers from Police Bazaar, Shillong’s main commercial hub, to Guwahati (a two-and-half-hour ride on a good day) set their stall out early doors. As soon as they see travellers stepping out of hotel lobbies, they are there negotiating. Scuffles are frequent between competing drivers but the endgame is simple. The number of trips between the two state capitals is directly proportional to the presence of food on the dinner table.
Having to fight for scraps for a better living is not limited to cab drivers. It was very much in evidence during a Shillong Second Division match at Polo Ground, a stone’s throw away from JN Sports Complex. Players, some of them wouldn’t be out of place in school uniforms, were launching themselves into tackles or throwing their bodies in front of full-blooded drives. Skill is the main gateway to hard cash in football but on this rain-sloshed field, bravery and the stomach for a fight is like bitcoin. Sure, most football players the world over have passion running through their veins.
But not many of them hone their skills in grounds that should ideally be categorised as wetlands. The Meghalaya Football Association CEO, B Diengdoh, blamed the rain for the condition of the turf. “We have been unfortunate this year thanks to the rain. Even last week, we had torrential downpour for a couple of hours. The grounds were good then. Now it’s gone back to this. Hopefully, we have some luck going forward.” Outside, a team has just scored a goal and the celebrations cut through a pleasant late summer evening.
Stand out and the chances of being absorbed into one of the myriad football clubs present in a 25-km radius rise exponentially. There is Shillong Lajong, whose I-League address is a major calling card. There is Shillong United FC, whose members have prior experience in managing an I-League team (Royal Wahingdoh). There is Wahingdoh themselves, now a community-based club run mainly on donations. Then comes Rangdajied (formerly in I-League) and Langsing, an established presence in the Shillong Premier League. It may not sound like the world but for a select few this world is the only means to a better tomorrow.
To tell the story of football clubs across Meghalaya, one has to turn back the pages of history. Football was a powerful imperialist tool, so encouraging locals to take up the game was part of the curriculum. The game transcended culture and race in the first place but the British propaganda vehicle saw it in a different light — get the locals to ape us and we are a step closer to expanding our culture.
As Calcutta was the capital of the British Raj till 1911, the sport understandably grew in the region thanks to geographical proximity.
Ben Weinberg’s book, Asia and the Future of Football: The Role of the Asian Football Confederation, speaks about the spread in greater detail. “... football in India was facilitated by British regimental teams and missionaries. In Victorian public schools in North and East India, football was instrumentalised as a moral tool in order to educate and ‘civilise’ the local populations. Due to the fact that the British government was located in Calcutta, the first clubs were founded in the eastern region of India during the 1880s.”
Nicholas Jyrwa shifts in his chair in a small office in Laitumkhrah, 3 kms from Police Bazaar. The SUFC General Manager, very much a son of the Northeast soil, is in the middle of explaining the link between missionary schools and football players. “A typical village (there are more than 6000 in Meghalaya) will have motorable roads up to a point. After that, you are on foot. Once you are in, the first thing you are attuned to look for is a playground. And I will tell you why villages here have such playgrounds. Most of these villages have a missionary school and almost all schools come with a playground. That, in a sense, automatically becomes the village’s play area as well.”
A kid’s first port of call is these playgrounds. It’s a vast area fit enough to play n number of sports but football wins the day because of its accessibility. Minimal equipment — a few bodies, a ball which looks round and four pairs of slippers to act as goalposts and teams are good to go. That’s essentially why the sport has first-mover advantage. Next to no investment. That’s why parents also like the idea of kids playing it. As some families lead a hand-to-mouth existence, purchasing equipment for sports is out of the question. A government ban on coal mining and lumbering among other things has also not helped. The chief occupation is farming. “Right from 4 or 5, kids start playing football,” Jyrwa says. “In other words, they know how to use their legs to kick even before learning to walk properly.”
It’s one of the main reasons why clubs up and down the country have dedicated scouting programmes in many of these places. SUFC, in collaboration with NorthEast United, recently visited Umulong and Pynursla (a small village one will have to cross to reach Mawlynnong, Asia’s cleanest village). As Northeastern players came into the limelight in the early part of the 21st century, the sport also assumed economic importance for BPL families (swathes across the region were classified as being in abject poverty by the 2011 Census). The sport wasn’t just a pastime anymore. “It was a means to a livelihood,” Jyrwa says. Not just Meghalaya but all potential footballers from the seven sisters finally woke up to a new reality.
Numbers have the infuriating habit of hiding a lot more, but the following statistic reveals everything about the one overriding theme of Indian football in 2017. NE’s total population, according to the 2011 Census, was 4.54 crores – roughly 3.8% of India. Yet, that minuscule amount gives almost 30% of top division footballers. That could increase further as Meghalaya (Shillong Lajong), Manipur (NEROCA FC) and Mizoram (Aizawl FC) will all field I-League sides for the first time ever.
Saying that, the NE football food chain is also the most intense as Darwinism is at play. You swim to reach the top and live or you sink to the bottom and die. Of the thousands of kids who enter playgrounds every year, only a handful complete graduation. For those who make it, Eugeneson Lyngdoh (Mawphlang, 25 kms from Shillong) and Aiborlang Khongjee (Lyngkhat, 80 kms from Shillong) become automatic reference points.
June 1, 2015, was going to be a good day for Dominic Sutnga, the then owner of Royal Wahingdoh. He had pencilled that day a good few months before. The objective for Royal Wahingdoh’s inaugural I-League season was simple. Win a few games, try and finish in the upper reaches of the league before approaching the sponsors. They surprised all by finishing third – the best by a Northeast club till Aizawl’s first-place finish this year.
As soon as the season ended on May 31, Sutnga had drawn up plans to meet sponsors. A harsh reality check was waiting to punch him. “Our plan was to put up a decent performance in the first year and then approach sponsors so as to have a solid revenue stream for the club,” he says. The ISL’s immediate success meant that plan went to the gutter pretty soon. “Thanks to ISL, corporates weren’t interested in I-League anymore. We also realised that AIFF’s focus was also not so much on the I-League but on the ISL.”
Sutnga, managing director of SUFC now, has come up with a new blueprint. “Northeast is the hotbed, so we saw this as an opportunity for a new direction. ‘Let’s not spend so much money on the senior team as it gets expensive. Let’s spend it on the kids’. So we have decided to give them a platform to have a career. That’s the logic behind the move. We wanted to spend our resources on something that will actually build our football from the bottom.”
Three kilometres away, a Second Division game has just finished at the second of the Polo Grounds. A few minutes later, 22 players, some of whom bend to touch the chalk to pay their respects to a higher being, enter to signal the start of another match. Another chance.
Touching lives
The holy trinity
Three clubs from Shillong have made the I-League in its brief history so far. Express takes a look at the trio...
Shillong Lajong
The club that revolutionised football in Shillong, Lajong not only managed to become the first club from the Northeast to gain promotion to the top-flight (in 2009-10), but also managed to re-enter the league after relegation in their debut season.
Rangdajied United FC
Formerly Ar Hima, Rangdajied won the 2013 I-League second division and joined city-mates Lajong in the top-flight. They did not last long there though. After failing to fulfill club licensing criteria, Rangdajied were evicted from the league along with United SC and Churchill.
Royal Wahingdoh
The I-League only saw Royal Wahingdoh for one season, but what a season that was! Santosh Kashyap’s men played some heady football and finished third, gifting Indian football, the likes of Jackichand Singh and Seityasen Singh. However, they decided not to contest the league the next year.
swaroop@newindianexpress.com