A little known football club from Shillong reached the Federation Cup final this year, and now the Lajong boys have fans talking.
A few months prior to January 4th, this moment that Ming would always remember, would have been just that, a dream. Lajong, which means “our own” in Khasi, was formed in 1983 by Ming’s father P D Sawyan with the idea of it being a people’s club. Ming recalls the days when hardly anyone turned out for Lajong matches as they weren’t glamorous enough. But now it is the most supported club in the North-east and people from all over the region come to watch Lajong play. Their Facebook page has over 2,500 fans and there is animated discussion on the page between fans over tactics and players.
“It’s been very tough, yet we have managed to achieve our targets,” says Ming. The initial idea was to make the club big enough, first in the region and then to take it to the national level. So far, they have stuck to the plan. For a club of Lajong’s size, it’s nothing short of a miracle to have big names like Nokia, Adidas, Kingfisher and McDowell’s as sponsors. They also have a tie-up with IIM Shillong which helps the players to shape up psychologically.
These are things that are pretty much basic for any other football club, but Ming knows better than to take anything for granted. That’s because he remembers the time when they could not afford to stay in a hotel while on tour, or when it was difficult to make both ends meet. But he’s not one to dwell on the past and always prefers to look ahead to the future. He’s proud of what they have overcome in the last 10 years, and where they are today. Lack of funds, training facilities and even a proper ground to practice on has never deterred Ming and the Lajong boys. “The spirit among the players has always been exceptional, and the reason behind our success,” he says. In their debut season in the I-League, they surprised big names like Dempo FC, Churchill Brothers and Mohun Bagan on their way to the Fed Cup final.
If off the pitch, it’s Ming who does all the hard work, then on the pitch it’s the 42-year-old coach, Stanley Rosario. The coach joined the team last year and says that the boys were “raw but oozing confidence”. The team trains in a little village called Mawaksiang, 20 km from Shillong and play most of their games in Guwahati as they don’t have a ground of their own. “But that has never been a problem for me,” says Rosario. As long as they show commitment and passion on the field, Rosario feels the battle is almost won. He talks about the charge in the air the Lajong fans create when their team is playing. “It’s incredible, you can feel the adrenaline rush. These boys deserve all the commitment we can give them,” he concurs.
Despite a dream run, Rosario’s not taking anything for granted and knows how difficult it is to compete with the big boys. He has coached East Bengal and Salgaocar and knows that for Lajong, this is just the beginning of a difficult journey. He points out that unlike other Indian clubs, Lajong doesn’t depend on foreign players. They have their share but the real stars of the club are homegrown players like Gumpe Rime, Wailadmi Passah, Airbor Khongjee, Boithang, Niwano, Kryshan Lyngshin. Niwano and Boithang, he says, are the ones to watch out for.
Meanwhile, off the pitch, Ming continues to work towards getting more funds and launch a youth development programme for budding footballers from the North-east. He is encouraged by the support of sponsors such as Nokia and Adidas, but says that the money though good, is not enough to take Lajong to the top. But this is an encouraging beginning and for the moment, that is good enough. And Lajong is learning that in sport, as with everything else in life, triumph and disaster are both inevitable and both, as Kipling so memorably said, are imposters.