Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
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A silent revolution was started in 2009, when a little known club called Shillong Lajong FC from Meghalaya gained promotion to India’s top tier I-League to become the first ever club from the Northeast of India to play top level professional club football and many more have followed since.
Other teams from Shillong in Rangdajied United FC (Ar-Hima FC) and Royal Wahingdoh FC followed in the coming years before United Sikkim FC came along and then Aizawl FC from Mizoram gained promotion in 2015 and in the 2016/17 season they sensationally won the I-League and now in NEROCA FC, the first club from Manipur will be playing in the I-League next season.
In NEROCA’s promotion, teams from three Northeastern states in Mizoram (Aizawl FC), Meghalaya (Shillong Lajong FC) and Manipur (NEROCA FC) would be represented in the I-League for the first time ever, if nothing untoward happens.
The rise of the India’s Northeast football clubs into the I-League along with the success of Bengaluru FC as a corporate entrant are some of the big gains of Indian club football.
And this also proves a point that the I-League and the Second Division League despite all the issues and problems both these leagues have faced in recent years, in one region of India in the Northeast, the I-League and Second Division League has caught the imagination of clubs, owners and fans.
Shillong Lajong FC are now an established, mainstream Indian football club with Aizawl FC’s fairytale run to lift the I-League after last season actually being relegated but due to the AIFF having to fill up numbers was allowed to stay in the I-League has also given the league a boast. Aizawl FC with their unexpected success has raised the profile not only of the club, but of Mizoram football in general and also Mizoram as a state across India and even outside of the country.
Now NEROCA FC will look to emulate their Northeastern rivals, but there is another factor which is often forgotten. The Northeast of India has been a talent base for clubs and the national team for over two decades with Manipur having been in the lead with Mizoram and Meghalaya catching up.
Now the Northeast is no longer just a place to find and sign talented footballers, but boys have options to play top level football at home or in the region rather than having to move to Kolkata or further away across the subcontinent.
It is a welcome sign, which will hopefully spread to other states of the Northeast and across India as club football needs to spread for the growth of football in India.
