The near victory of the Meghalaya football team in the Santosh Trophy was subsumed by the hurly-burly of the election results. The Meghalaya football team deserves credit for putting up a creditable fight against Karnataka at the finals in the King Fahd International Stadium Riyadh. Meghalaya football’s rare success at the national level must be celebrated. To become runners up at that level is no mean achievement, even if the football powerhouses are more focussed on sponsorship tournaments these days. To overcome strong teams like Bengal, Punjab et al is like a fairy tale for minnows like Meghalaya. With the exception of Manipur, no other North East state has made a mark for themselves in the Santosh Trophy. Credit for this goes to the Meghalaya Football Association which played a stellar role in holding the team together and providing the required mentoring. Football star, Eugeneson Lyngdoh who represented India at the international level as a central midfielder for Indian Super League club ATK Mohun Bagan was roped in as mentor for the team. The Government too has spared no pains to ensure that the footballers were well looked after.
Meghalaya’s love for football is legendary. The youth have always had a great affinity for this game and this is evident from the fact that every village has a football ground where young kids and teenagers are seen kicking the ball and modelling themselves on football greats like Pele and now Lionel Messi. The Government needs to create football nurseries through baby football, talent search, training on modern techniques, physical training, introduction of more level tournament structures etc. There is much food for thought for the recently elected MLA and sports minister, the youngest in the cabinet.
Incentivisation is the order of the day. Taking a leaf out of Assam and Manipur, in providing government jobs to their athletes Hema Das, Lovlina Borgohain, Mira Chanu et al, Meghalaya must make sports more rewarding. We have the raw talent so it’s for the government to nurture that talent so that the football team’s enviable success does not become a flash in the pan. Meghalaya was in the Santosh Trophy finals for the first time in the tournament’s 82-year history. The win brought out wild celebrations among the Indian expatriates, who had turned up to see the two Indian states slog it out in the finals at the Saudi Arabian capital. Meghalaya football went into a lull during the two-year Covid period but was quickly rejuvenated. The Government needs to hold more village tournaments because these are the nurseries from where young, raw talent can be identified and groomed.
