As it continues to sink in that Aizawl FC are the new
champions of the I-League, fans who have come to be a part of the historic
moment are slowly making their way back to Mizoram and other cities across
India with pride and joy, content with the knowledge of the achievement of the
club from their land.
It is only befitting that a state which is so passionate
about football should have the trophy in its hearth, acting as a constant reminder
for its people that the sky really is the limit if they work as hard for
anything as they have for football.
For a people with an obscure history that relies heavily on
oral traditions for its reconstruction, recognition at the national level in our
great land of “unity in diversity” cannot be just a football thing; it is a
matter of pride, a way of reasserting their worth and capabilities.
A close knit community, the Mizos had traditional
institutions called “Zawlbuk” which served as dormitories for young men past
adolescence. There, they were taught everything they needed to know about life
in their beautiful hills even before they were introduced to modern education.
They learnt as a group and performed almost all activities as a group which,
perhaps, is one of the reasons why the Mizos are so zealous about the game
where teamwork is one of the most important aspects.
News of Mizoram or the Mizo people are rarely heard or seen
in the national media, and even the ones that do would often have the capital
city of Mizoram, Aizawl spelt incorrectly. Hopefully that will change now that
a club based in the city has been crowned champion. Even if one cannot take the
trouble to check the correct spelling of a capital city in faraway Northeast
India, surely one can spare a few extra seconds to check the spelling of a
football club that has thwarted clubs from other cities that are easier to
spell.
For several reasons that could be understood only by the
Mizos themselves, or people from their sister states in Northeast India, or
anybody who has ever shown sincere interest in the people from the region,
football cannot be looked at as just a
sport or as a source of entertainment. It has become and has to be a narrative
of the Mizo people now that the club has helped garner interest in Mizoram.
Mizoram failed to capture the attention of mainstream media
in 1966 and the following twenty years when she fought for independence from
India, during which the people suffered all kinds of misery and torture. Though
Mizoram attained full-fledged statehood in 1987, it remains obscure to the rest
of India even today just as its own history was obscure. Apart from being
distanced from mainland India geographically, religious, cultural and
linguistic disparities have contributed to a feeling of isolation among the
Mizos.
With no proper platform to validate their identity, their
ethnicity and their culture in the national scene for a long time, when a Mizo
shouts AIZAWL FC or sings the state song RO MIN REL SAK ANG CHE at the top of
his or her voice during a match, it is not just for the football club, but for
Mizoram, for the Mizo people, for the Mizo culture…
Football, a game loved dearly by the Mizos has not just
entertained them or given them a sense of achievement this I-League season; it
has given them a voice. It has reaffirmed the identity of the small minority community
that has been sidelined for far too long though they have been standing in
attention singing the national anthem since 1950.
The more than 2500 fans travelling home with cherished memories
will not just tell their children and their grandchildren that they saw Aizawl
FC lifting an erstwhile I-League trophy in person, but will add with pride that
in 2017, they saw Mizoram being celebrated all over the nation because of the
game they love, football.
