 "Manipur violence: How beautiful game suffers in India's football nursery")
In March 2023, when India played Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar in the Hero Tri-Nation series, six Manipuri footballers represented the Blue Tigers. Imphal's iconic Khuman Lampak stadium hosted three matches of the Tri-Nation series. The stadium was packed to the brim, with nearly 30,000 people shouting ‘India-India’ in the first-ever outing for the national team in the football-crazy state in northeast India.
Cut to four months later in July and one of those six players, Chinglensana 'Sana' Singh is stuck in his village of Churachandpur, 62 kilometres from Imphal in the violence-hit state to guard his family against the rioters.
The state has been engulfed in violence since May 2023 and it has massively affected football. Not only have national players like Sana returned to the state, youngsters are forced to move out to try and continue playing the sport they love.
This has led to the downfall of the beautiful game in India’s football nursery. There is no news of the Churachand Singh Trophy, the FA Cup-style tournament, open to all registered clubs in the state. The hopes of seeing the start of the 19-team-strong Manipur State League (MSL) are also dwindling with each passing day.
India player Chinglensana’s family forced to vacate house, take shelter in another district
In an interview, Chinglensana, a Hyderabad FC player in the Indian Super League (ISL) narrated the horrific incident in which his neighbourhood saw incidents of arson and loot and where houses were burnt and his family was made to feel scared for their life.
“When I switched on my phone after the game (Hyderabad’s AFC Cup qualification match against Mohun Bagan SG), there were a lot of missed calls and messages from home in Chuarchandpur. The moment I got back to my mom on the phone, she was crying. She said there were attacks on the houses and their lives were threatened.
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I was in shock, and I didn’t know how to react. It was terrifying. I thought I would lose all of them. There were gunshots, attacks, and burning of houses in the neighbourhood closeby, where we reside,” Sana, 27, was quoted as saying by Sportstar.
National coach Stimac concerned
Igor Stimac, the Indian football team head coach was concerned about the situation in Manipur. A citizen of Croatia, 55-year-old Stimac is fully aware of what war feels like and what living in the fear of not knowing which bullet has your name does to a person.
"It is not easy to focus on football when you keep reading or hearing of disturbing news about where you and your loved ones live," Hindustan Times quoted Stimac (who was a young footballer during the Balkan war) as saying.
No teams from Manipur in Durand Cup 2023
After fielding two teams in the last season’s Durand Cup, Manipur won’t be able to have even a single club representing the state in Asia’s oldest football tournament this year. This is happening despite the tournament being held in the neighbouring states of Assam and Meghalaya.
Speaking on the issue, a NEROCA FC administrator told Imphal Free Press, "Manipur, known as the football powerhouse of India, has a rich legacy in producing talented players, who have represented the country at various levels."
"The absence of their clubs in such a prestigious tournament is indeed a setback for the entire football community in Manipur," he added. NEROCA had punched above their weight and made it to the Durand Cup 2022-23 quarterfinals.
The tournament featured top football clubs of India including Bengaluru FC, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan SG.
The exodus of young players to other states
Mohammedan Sporting Football Club of Kolkata has housed seven players from Manipur and their families after they managed to flee the violence-hit state. These players already played for the club in the Calcutta League, played during the Manipur football off-season.
Now these players are not willing to move back. Several others have joined the mass exodus of football players from the state.
In the 2022-23 edition of the MSL, 19 clubs registered around 570 players. Now, almost 70-80 of them have sought transfer from the league. They are moving towards Tripura, Bengaluru and Jharkhand to continue pursuing their dream of playing the beautiful game at the highest level.
"I understand there are already 70-80 players including the youngsters who have moved the Manipur SA to take a transfer. A large number of players are moving to Bengaluru and Tripura and Jharkhand,” a top official of the All Manipur Football Association (AMFA) told to Times of India.
Football nursey of India under threat: A great loss for the leagues
In the last season’s ISL (India’s top-division football league), the total number of players from Manipur was 37, the highest for any state in the country. The state is football crazy, and it was evident from a child answering ‘football’ when Rahul Gandhi asked him what he wanted, while the political leader was visiting a relief camp in the riot-hit state.
Manipur fielded two teams in the I-league (second division football league), the only state in India to do so without any legacy clubs like Bengal and Goa. Apart from Sana, Haokip Semboi and U-17 player Thanglalsoun Gangte are significant names who have suffered badly due to the ethnic riots engulfing the state.
Former India captain Renedy Singh feels things would not have been so bad had this been any other state. "If these things happened in any other state, in a bigger state, this would be news every time, every minute. Because it is in the northeast and because it is in Manipur," Singh was quoted as saying to Hindustan Times.
The cost of every necessity has heightened in Manipur. To be able to run football academies in such times with both the coaches and the players under fear as well as a shortage of food, has become very difficult.
"Things were just being built, and now we have gone back five-six years,” David Suantak, a school teacher and founder of a football club named Football4Change (F4C) in Kangpokpi district told Hindustan Times. F4C were to apply for accreditation to the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for their club to participate in the AIFF Youth League this season.
With footballers unable to play and forced to guard their villages with machetes and rifles in their hands, instead of the ball under their feet, the Indian leagues would lack quality players in all three divisions (ISL, I league and I League second division).
Footballers want normalcy restored ASAP in Manipur
Post the incident, Sana’s family shifted to fellow footballer Salam Ranjan Singh’s new house in Manipur’s Bishnupur district. Sana had built a home for his family and football turf for children in the neighbourhood of Churachadpur, 63 km away from the capital Imphal. It is all destroyed now, but Sana’s hopes are still alive.
“I hope that we can restore peace and humanity once again. I truly wish that we can return to Churchandpur and peacefully coexist together.”
While Renedy feels, “Football will come last… our so-called big leaders should react, come together and solve the problem so that we can live a normal life like the rest of India.”