After the Indian women's cricket team, it is now the turn of the other, even lesser known, women in blue—the Indian women's football team—to make waves. Over the past few days, #ShePower dominated the timelines of the Twitter accounts of Indian National Football Team and All India Football Federation. The reason: India senior Indian women's national team's friendly against Malaysia, away from home. The 60th ranked Indian girls won the match against a spirited but 80th ranked Malaysia 2-0 on Monday. This was the Indian team's first international friendly game after it beat Hong Kong 2-0 in its last outing, its lone victory while playing the qualifying tournament for the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup.
Indian women's cricket and football have had their rocky moments—both are plagued by lack of opportunities, backing and proper structure. While women's cricket in India has survived despite the odds and found its moment of recognition in the recent ICC Women's World Cup, Indian women's football is still fighting to rise above the challenges.
The sport was governed by the Indian Women's Football Association before the All India Football Federation took over; the sport's governing body FIFA and AFC had put pressure on the latter to do so. Needless to say, just like BCCI, the AIFF too reluctantly embraced women's football. It formed the women's committee—but its efforts leave a very large room for improvement.
The current team led by Bala Devi certainly had its moments in the sun. The high point for it have been the victory in the 2016 South Asian Games, the South Asian Football Federation Championship in February 2017. By the end of 2013, they had even achieved their best ever ranking of 49. But with very few international matches to play and the widening gap between the top 50 and the lower 50 in FIFA rankings, getting to play quality opposition is a struggle for the AIFF. The AIFF is reportedly trying to arrange a friendly with UAE.
The match against Malaysia was very important from the women's team point of view—this was the first time the women's team was being coached by a woman in an international match. Head Coach Maymol Rocky, who hails from Goa, replaced Sajid Dhar, whom she assisted earlier.
Speaking to THE WEEK from Malaysia, Rocky said, “Firstly, it is all about the girls. They should get the credit. They gave their 100 per cent in the match. That made me even more confident. It was an important win for me and the team, as it was my first match as their head coach.”
Speaking about the experience, Rocky, who prepared the girls for the outing in a 10-day camp held at New Delhi, said the focus was on the mindset. “I tried to work on the mental aspect of the game. The camp was very good. None of the girls hesitated—they shared and told me what they felt while training.”
Rocky emphasised on the need for more match experience, which is now a mix of both youth and experience. “You cannot replace match experience with any amount of training. The women's league is coming up. We are looking at a possibility of a few friendlies and then the Asian Games in 2018,” said Rocky.
The women cricketers' demand for a women's IPL may have just been aired, but the women soccer players in India already have the Indian Women's League. A start was made; six teams took part. However, only one team each from ISL and I-league formed their own women's team and participated. These were Pune City FC and Aizawl FC. Pune City had a young team and even featured a 12-year-old player Senorita Nongpluh in its squad. National level clubs have not shown the keenness to start their own women's team yet.
Women players look for jobs outside, with football yet to become a fruitful career for many. The AIFF has also made efforts to hold the women's senior and junior nationals regularly in the last three years. However, a proper structured development from the grassroots needs serious effort and thinking.
