A Royal gift for women’s football in India

Royal Wahingdoh girls’ team; Photo Credit: Royal Wahingdoh

2014 has been a landmark year for Shillong’s Royal Wahingdoh as they finally qualified for the I-League by beating Bhowanipore 3-2 in the final second division clash.

The club still have plenty of work to do off the field to ensure they get the national license next year after being given a one-time exemption this time but they have already achieved something unique by starting their very own girls’ team, a first for the state of Meghalaya.

The initiative was led by Bobby Nongbet, the club’s head of youth development, as a group of 20 girls from the state were assembled. They are in the age group of 12-16 and the team is coached by AFC C license holder Iaikyntiew Nongkynrih.

The girls have two training sessions every week on Friday and Saturday and train on the artificial turf of the Meghalaya Football Association ground. The whole idea behind this ground-breaking initiative was to give the girls football education so that in future they can forge either a playing or coaching career.

“It all started when I was having a discussion with our club owner and director Mr Dominic Sutnga about introducing a girls’ team. It was he who shared his interest in setting a girls team and that was like a huge chance for our youth development. With that in mind, I sincerely felt that it was a fantastic idea and here we are going ahead with our girls setup. We never thought whether it would be a first for an I-League club. Our sole motive was to give a chance to the girls because they are equally passionate about football in Meghalaya and the whole of North-East. It’s a small start but we are very serious about this project,” Nongbet said during an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda.

East Bengal and Mohun Bagan used to have women’s teams in the past but since 2003 they have been inactive so Wahingdoh’s initiative could inspire other I-League clubs to make similar contributions to women’s football.

Nongbet is hopeful of the same because he feels involvement of other I-League clubs in women’s football will provide a healthy competition for girls on a national basis.

“Hopefully our initiative will see other clubs in not only Shillong but the rest of India do the same. I heard that there is a possibility of a nationwide domestic league and if that happens then women’s football in India will get a new lease of life,” Nongbet added.

AFC B license holder Nongbet was formerly in charge of the youth development at Shillong Lajong and also had a coaching degree from Hungary. He explained why they chose to form a team comprising teenagers rather than a senior outfit and how they intend to give the girls exposure.

“We wanted to teach the girls about the basics of the game and groom them so that one day they are able to play at senior level for the country. Of course we would like to retain them for years and maybe play them in a women’s national league if there is one. But for now the target is to give them the basic football education. It will include exposure trips around the country and participation in some local tournaments,” he said.

Wahingdoh have plans of expanding the team in the future and thus have more trials all around the state of Meghalaya and even other parts of the North-East. They would also try to arrange foreign tours like they do for the youth boys’ teams.

“We will have players initially from our state to start with and plan to expand by recruiting players also from other North-East states and other different parts of the country,” he said.

It remains to be seen how much of an impact this has on women’s football in India but Wahingdoh have certainly made an effort. Budding woman footballers in the country would be hoping for more clubs to come up with similar initiatives in the near future.