From Our Correspondent
NONGPOH: Perhaps only a few people in Meghalaya know that Umroi MLA Stanley Wiss Rymbai was an ardent footballer during his youth, whose very presence in the field would chill the spine of the opposing teams.
Indian Railways even invited him to play for them, but he turned them down.
In a football field at Bhoirymbong, on the sidelines of a send-off programme on Saturday for Mynken Christian Higher Secondary School, who will represent Ri Bhoi in a state-level football tournament, Rymbai said, “I played for Langsning Sports Club during the years 1981 to 1984 and it was during this time that the club was elevated from the Third Division to the First Division, which the team still holds on [to].”
The Umroi MLA played not only for Langsning, but also for Evergreen and Young Eleven, besides local village and school teams.
On his position in the field, Rymbai said, with a smile, that he was mainly on the forward line.
He has not played football in over 20 years, when last he played in a match between the Shillong XI and Stanley XI in 1989.
The match was held in the village of Lawmei and his team won three goals to nil, with Rymbai scoring all of them, to close his football career with a hat-trick.
That one game must have taken its toll, however, as Rymbai was laid up for a week with illness immediately after.
Being a football player in those days was no easy thing, Rymbai said.
Apart from the challenges on the field, he had to labour for a week just in order to be able to afford a jersey and boots. It was hard to find anyone willing to sponsor players then.
Perhaps his experiences led him to Bhoirymbong on Saturday, where the two teams – the girls U-17 and boys U-14 – received jerseys sponsored by the KSU.
Rymbai was joined by the KSU North Khasi Hills District President F Kharkamni along with the members and teachers of the school at the send-off.
None of these kids would have seen Rymbai in his playing days, but the MLA was keen to support the next generation of sporting talent in the state.