Players, officials brought from other states for Chandigarh women’s football team

Deepankar Sharda

Chandigarh, May 17

Working for the “welfare” of football in UT since 1996, the Chandigarh Football Association (CFA) failed to find a batch of 20 local women footballers to participate in the Senior National Women’s Football Tournament.

In the national meet, majority of the players in the team were from Haryana, specifically from Alakapura – known as mini-Brazil of India and a village having lesser population than any famous sector of Chandigarh.As per the team manager, the local squad had only three female players from Chandigarh, while seven players were from Alakapura and others represented different districts of Haryana.

And, it was not the first time that players from Alakapura represented Chandigarh. The practice has been in place for years, said the team manager, who also belongs to the same village and accompanied the team to Kolkata. Notably, the coach accompanying the local team was coaching Gokulam Kerala FC till March, this year. Despite all this effort, the local team finished at the bottom of the points’ table.

During Senior Women’s National Football Championship for Rajmata Jijabai Trophy, the Chandigarh squad, despite importing players from other states, finished at the bottom. The side lost four matches and played one draw to have one-point from five outings. In their last outing, the side played a goalless draw against hosts Bengal. In their previous matches, UT team lost to Railways (0-3), Delhi (0-1), Punjab (0-2) and Tamil Nadu (0-2).

“The competition in Haryana is very high. So, those having some talent shifts to Chandigarh. During the preparatory camps (for nationals), they (the female players) practice in Chandigarh, rest of the time they return to practice in the village,” said the team manager. When questioned, if they are studying in Chandigarh colleges or schools, she replied, “Some are studying, while some took transfer to Haryana,” she said.

When asked about her contribution in Chandigarh’s squad as a manager, about the coach and other players, she referred the correspondent to talk to CFA representatives.

A local coach said: “Despite importing players, they fail to perform and win matches. Why not players from Chandigarh are preferred for the nationals, if they (association) just wanted to send teams for participation? They (CFA) are unable to make a base to have local female players in the local team. Having one or two players from outstation is fine, but the entire squad is coming from some other state.”

Haryana reached the final of the tournament. In the final, Manipur defeated the neighbouring state 0-2. The side had finished atop (Group B) in the same tournament with four wins, and one draw. “It’s amazing that coaches and managers (accompanying the local team) are also getting called from other states,” said a local coach.

The organising secretary of CFA refused to say much on the issue. The organising secretary, though, said the players can take transfers to play for any state. The administrative officer (CFA) remained unavailable to comment on the issue, despite repeated attempts.

League postponed

The CFA has postponed the U-15 and U-13 Youth League for Girls that was scheduled to commence on May 15 at Sector 46 Sports Complex. It was claimed that due to less number of teams, the league has been postponed till July. A minimum of seven teams are required to start the league. “The association has been issuing notice for months now, but a day prior to the start tournament, the teams were informed about the postponement. Last year, the same thing happened with the girls’ league,” said a local coach.