We all know about the passionate fans of NorthEast United. It’s been three seasons of the Indian Super League (ISL) and if there is one team with crazy fans, following the team everywhere, it has to be NorthEast United. In fact, NEUFC fans literally made the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, their second home ground, outnumbering the home crowd by a huge margin.
On Wednesday however, things went on to the next level when a fan leapt over fences of the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati, wearing The Highlanders jersey and with a flag and went on to the field to hug star midfielder Romaric.
It was a do or die encounter for the North Eastern side as they faced a daunting task against formidable Delhi Dynamos. But playing in front of the home crowd, the team pulled off an inspiring 2-1 win, conceding a goal only in the last minute of injury time.
Local boy Seityasen Singh started the proceedings in the 60th minute while Romaric gave the team an one goal cushion in the 70th minute.
Hence, NorthEast United fans had every reason to celebrate as their team kept their hopes for a first ever semi-final alive.
Who does the team play for? For their fans of course. And with the team dominating the other side, you can very expect its fans to be ecstatic.
With the home team leading right up to the last few minutes, we witnessed another first for this season or ISL at large. A pitch invader.
In the 89th minute of the match, Migom Kumbang, an IIT Guwahati student, crossed the barricades and ran onto the field with an NEUFC flag and wearing a jersey, and hugged Romaric.
The word invader would bear a very negative connotation here as Migom is a die hard NorthEast United fan, and was probably overcome by an overflow of emotions. His friends call him the craziest and biggest fan of North East United FC. Why so?
According to one of his close friend, Migom along with a few friends decided to hand-paint their NEUFC jerseys as well as flyers to support the team on October 14, 2014. That was the first time that anybody in the home-ground other than the team members were wearing a white dress with the team logo in it.
And some two years later, the same guy gets onto the ground and hugs a NorthEast player. Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, the 25-year-old Design student from IIT Guwahati said that it wasn’t a pre-planned decision, but if NorthEast scored the second goal, he would jump onto the pitch.
“We were so happy when the first goal was scored, and in an instance, I made my mind, if a second goal is scored and I will jump onto the pitch. And when Romaric did it, I could not stop and ran towards the Ivory Coast player to hug him.”
“You know it was such a good feeling, when people were cheering for me, I understood how it felt as a player to have spectator support. We the fans should do more for our players,” added Migom.
Also, Read – ISL Live Score: Kerala Blasters vs NorthEast United Commentary, ISL 2016
When asked about the dry performance of the team in between, Migom said, “If you see our team is much better than most other teams. We never lost a match by a huge margin. It was always one goal or at the max two. And most of the time it was because of a blunder. But they have played really well, and we wholeheartedly support them.”
“In the first season, I went to Paltan Bazar (Local market in Guwahati) and brought 15 white T-shirts. I alongside a few friends then handpainted them and wore to the match. Next season, we made a huge banner and even this year we did the same,” added Migom.
Even the team acknowledged the passion and zest of Migom when a shared post on their Facebook handle with his picture.
A team needs fans and a fan needs his/her team. NorthEast United has surely been blessed with some of the best bunch of fans and Migom Kumbang is just one example of it.
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