Jewel in the crown

Overcoming all the odds to win their first Santosh Trophy, Manipur's footballers are on a roll. And, as Aminul Islam writes, there's plenty more where it came from

These days, it seems all a Manipuri has to do is kick a ball, lift a barbell, shoot an arrow, throw a punch and he/she will win a medal. It's been that kind of year for this north-eastern state which otherwise rarely figures in public consciousness. After winning medals at the Commonwealth and Asian games, Manipuris have added another feather to their cap: their maiden Santosh Trophy win, on home ground to boot.
That it's taken so long is actually a bit of a surprise: over the past decade or so, Manipur has supplied a steady stream of top-notch players to the national football side. Names like Rennedy Singh, Bijen Singh, Dharamjit Singh, Gunabir Singh, Khemtang Paite, L James Singh have rolled out of the state.
In the Santosh Trophy's 1999 edition in Ooty, Manipur recorded their previous best by making it to the quarterfinals. There, they were up against Services and Bengal in the pool. They took care of Services all right, but Bengal proved too strong.
Three years later, there has been a sea of change, in performance and in fortunes.
The win is all the more creditable given the infrastructure - or lack of it - in the state. "There are no academies or institutions that can nurture talent", said Rennedy Singh, a key member of the national squad and a member of the victorious Manipur team. "There's nobody to guide us, yet we have done it. It is a story of hard work and dedication", said Rennedy with a surge of pride.
True. Manipur is too small and too remote a place on the AIFF calendar. Kolkata, Goa and Kerala always got preference as the choice of venues for AIFF tournaments, while Manipur was considered to be a 'far-off place'. The AIFF mandarins probably weren't even aware of Manipur's potential in football or about a state that breathes football.
Actually, it's a state that breathes any kind of sporting activity. Deprived of creature comforts and saddled with insurgency, drugs and AIDS, they turned to the one thing they knew best: sport. Dingko Singh, who sparked off a sporting revolution by winning the Asiad gold in 1998, says: "There's nothing else for youngsters to do here; no money, no business. So they get hooked onto some sport because that's the only way they'll find a job."
"Going out of the state wouldn't have been possible", agrees Tomba Singh, who scored the golden goal in the Santosh Trophy final against Kerala. "Nobody took us seriously. It was only in the early 90s, after Gunabir Singh and Kiron Khongsai made it into the national side, that the passion for the game developed in the state."
Tomba, who hails from Nongmeibung, played for Air-India from 1999-2001 before signing for Salgaocar this season along with Manitomba. The duo are the new faces of Manipur as well as for Indian football and recently even impressed India's chief coach Stephen Constantine during the LG Cup and the subsequent England tour and Asian Games.
Manitomba comes from Achanbegei, a suburb of Imphal, and played for Neroka Club in the capital before joining Army Boys, a SAI-sponsored school in Shillong. In 1997 he joined the Services for two years (1997-1999) before leaving the state for greener pastures. "Both Tomba and I received offers from Air-India. Actually, it was through Khambiton (Singh), who was an Air-India player, that we got there."
Those Manipuri players who were engaged with top clubs acted as recruiting agents. In Manitomba and Tomba's case, Khambiton brought them to the competitive market of Indian football. For others, either Tata Football Academy (TFA) or SAI's Special Area Games gave Manipuri players the opportunity to parade their talent in Kolkata, Kerala and Goa.
"There is no money in Manipur. The leagues are not very popular, unlike those in Bengal or Goa. So naturally players like us would always want to move to a better place where we could earn a better living", said Manitomba.
And play better football. Browse through the names of the national squad, Manipur have representatives in the senior, junior and sub-junior teams. There is no denying the fact that Kolkata and Goa have the best of clubs at their disposal but Manipur possess the players. Today, most club officials make the trek to the North-East state to hire their footballers.
Indeed, there's been a shift in power even in the blue-riband IFA League. After Manipur's historic win, Bengal cannot claim to be the sole bastion of Indian soccer. Except a few of their home grown players, club officials in Kolkata rely on outstation players; the Singhs have outpaced the Chatterjees and Banerjees. What makes them so good? "Manipuris love football and they are very speedy. This alone has helped the state to bring out the talent. Moreover, the TFA and SAI did an impressive job in scouting talent in the state", said Mohun Bagan coach Subrata Bhattacharya.
Veteran coach Amal Dutta compares them to Nigerians. 'What they lack in skills they make up for in toughness and speed. But success gets to their head too early. They lose balance and become erratic and then gradually fade away." But even then Dutta believes the sheer pace of Manipuris can be of great help to any side. "You cannot have a team of 11 skillful players. There must be at least one with blinding speed. Every team needs to strike a balance between skill and pace."
And the good football doesn't end with the men. If the boys won the national championship for the first time, the girls have won eight out of the 10 nationals held so far; they currently hold both the junior and senior titles. The national teams always have eight to nine Manipuris on a regular basis. Players like Tababi Devi and Bembem Devi, who was named the Woman Footballer of the Year last year, have become household names in Imphal.
As Rennedy puts it: "Watch out for some more names in the next couple of years. Soon, Manipur will be be-all and end-all of Indian football.'
The jewel in the crown, so to speak.