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It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that Gokulam Kerala FC have defined the last few years of Indian football in more ways than one.
In the 2019-20 season, the Malabarians won their first title in the Indian Women's League (IWL) and could've added another the following season if the league wasn't suspended due to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Calicut-based club have also spread their wings in the I-League where they galloped to two back-to-back titles, becoming the first club in history to do so. Soon after, Gokulam doubled it up by conquering the IWL 2021-22 trophy last month.
Rather than pumping big bucks into their men's senior team, the Malabarians opted for a holistic approach to developing football, irrespective of gender.
Speaking about what has been key to Gokulam's success over the past few years, Dalima Chhibber, at a press conference on Thursday, opined:
"For Gokulam, I think it comes to the consistency and the attention they provide to every player. Our club is the only I-League or ISL side who has been consistently supporting women's football for the past few seasons."
The words of the Blue Tigress full-back further portrayed that the efforts are more at a fundamental level. Dalima talked about how something as simple as the club giving equal social media coverage to both their men's and women's teams makes the players feel valued.
She explained:
"Even on the club's social media page, you can see there is equal coverage for the men's and women's football teams. Their ability to equally divide attention between the two teams has helped us come a long way."
"The league is obviously not perfect at the moment but hopefully it will get better" - Gokulam Kerala FC's Aditi Chauhan on the IWL
The Indian Women's League returned after a two-year hiatus this season and most importantly evolved into a longer format. Rather than teams playing five league matches each and then four teams making it to the playoffs, the IWL's new format allowed every team to play 11 matches each.
Gokulam Kerala custodian Aditi Chauhan, also present at the press conference, underlined that the current format was an improvement from the previous season.
But she reiterated that when more teams from the I-League or ISL start taking part in the women's league, the level of competition will increase drastically. Chauhan stated:
"Every team has been getting to play 11 matches, so that's been a great improvement from the previous season. Hopefully, the ISL and I-League teams will start taking part and that will increase the level of competition in the league. The league is obviously not perfect at the moment but hopefully it will get better going forward."
