Manipur and Football

-
In its long history, the game of football has been an integral part of every manipuri. The game is in the blood of every manipuri. Just as Latin America is crazy about their football, we are not behind them when it comes to fan following and the love of the game.
Every year the pologround in the heart of Imphal is jam packed on every day of the famous CC meet football tournament. Fans of both the teams and true lovers of the game converge to enjoy every match. The popularity of this game is so much that every locality has a football club. The amount of talent this tiny state possesses is enormous, so much so that half of the major Indian clubs are filled by players from the state. Sometimes the scouts go nuts on whom to select.
But the recent controversy in the Santosh Trophy has left the people of Manipur feeling ill treated for the game that we love so much.
The incident happened after Manipur's Tomba Singh scored Manipur's first goal from a beautiful free kick, the best free kick that I have ever seen taken on Indian soil, The Manipuri players went berserk and celebrated wildly, then all of a sudden on the other end of the ground another goal was scored against Manipur. The whole controversy is that the referee re-started the match while Manipuri players where still in the opponents' half.
And the Manipuri players are right in every sense of the game, the referee cannot re-start a game until and unless all the players are in their respective sides. In this case some of the Manipuri players were still celebrating in the opponents half!!!!!!!!!!
And then all hell broke loose, The referee was surrounded by the manipuri players while the culprits of the other team quietly looked on. Now if the other team(GOA) who proclaim to have the biggest love of the game, has that much of gamesmanship than they must have waited for the manipuri players to return to their side and then re-start the match. Goa has lost the respect of all Manipuri football lovers, all we want is to play the game in the spirit of the game. We cannot tolerate laws being broken in a football match. Thats the whole issue.
But as far I saw, the match was not handled well by the referee in question.
As a reaction to this, the state of Manipur observed a 22 hour statewide bandh, the All Manipur Football Association has threatened to pull out of all future football tournaments and the President of All India Football Federation has decided to look into the matter personally sensing the utmost sentimental outrage shown by the people of Manipur. Condemnation from every corner is coming through everyday, but the reality is that Manipur has been treated with the utmost disrespect.
For a state who will not stop producing highly talented footballers, who will love the game till the end, this controversy has stung so deep that it will always return everytime Manipur come on the field.
We all love the game and we will have our revenge on the field, ONE DAY.
Munxcat

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Infosys Times

-
Muhen, we are looking at you leaving for Mysore on the 25th of April. That’s what my manager told me on the 23rd. traveling is a part of my job, so Mysore it is then. No complaints, just pack your bags and leave. Finish the work and come back, that’s the way it is. For how long is the assignment? Hmmm a good question with no definite answer. Who is the client? Infosys; Great!What do I do then? Nothing; just go there, spend some time, get the work done, come back and repeat the grind again. Sounds easy right?The KSRTC bus was supposed to leave Bangalore at 4:30 in the morning. It left at 5:30 instead. Perfect Indian timing, isn’t it? Anyways, the bus ride was smooth. Thanks to the good roads. 8 A.M., Mysore.Well, everyone seems to know Infosys out here. What I was told was that, when I get down at the bus stand, just ask any auto drivers and he will surely take me to infosys, you don’t have to tell him where it is. Damn, nice. So, how much is the charge from the bus stand to Infosys? 12
Read more

The Bengaluru to Imphal Drive (part 1)

-
Image
The Bengaluru to Imphal Drive 25 th  July 2015 to 2 nd  Aug 2015 It was December 2000, when I first reached Bengaluru. I had just graduated from my PG Diploma course. Things were new and things looked pretty exciting. My brother and I moved into a house in Lingarajpuram and that is where it all started; our Bengaluru sojourn. Cut to 2016, and this city had given us both the freedom and all the moments that one could ever ask for. From bad to good to worst, it was all there. I got into a world where I thought I could never be. Made some lifelong friends and collected almost a million years worth of memories. It was a life that had its own pros and cons. While it was good in socializing and having a great time, the warmth and love of a family was always missing. Here we were, two boys, completely cut off from the feeling called family. The family “connection” was only through phone. And it had taken its toll by the time I realized. I was way far disconnected from my parent
Read more

The true Indian

-
Let’s see, this one might be a little controversial, but what the heck. J This one is about how true an Indian are you. Does not mean to be right or wrong, just an opinion. Here we go, You are at a traffic signal, you are at the 3 rd or the 4 th row of the stop, the lights turn green and the moment it turns green you start honking to glory as if you are the only one who is in a hurry or the only one who wants to move. If you do that you are a true Indian. You like going to a pub and flirt around with girls, talk about them whether she is looking at you and stuff. You look at a girl and say check her out man to your friend, but at the same time you will not take your sister to a pub, super; you are a true Indian. You talk about individualism, freedom of expression, freedom of choice and what not but end up getting married to a person of your parent’s choice, god damn, you are a true Indian. You are at a movie hall, you read the message which says “please switch off
Read more