Alakhpura is the epicentre of women's football in Haryana. In the senior nationals last year, almost half the team came from this sprawling, Jat-majority village in Bhiwani district.
Sometimes, the girls arrive at the ground after collecting water for home, just like the older women at the hand pump. But unlike them, they have goals of their own. They can dribble, tackle, feint and foul. And they dream of playing in bigger grounds before bigger crowds. Some of them already have.
Like striker Sanju Yadav, who scored 15 goals in the inaugural 2016 India Women's League and became AIFF's Emerging Player of the Year. Like Samiksha Jakhar, who delivered the telling cross that led to India's lone goal against South Africa in the BRICS U-17 tournament in 2017. Like Nisha Bagaria, who fired 18 goals in the 2015 Subroto Cup (U-17) and was declared Player of the Tournament.
There are many others, literally dozens, who have turned out for Haryana in different age-group tournaments. It's almost an assembly line of footballers. The village even hosted a "baby league" of U-8, U-10 and U-12 girls last year.
A former midfielder, Sonika Bijaria, runs the show. A trained coach from NIS, Patiala, her daily schedule is tougher than her wards'. Morning practice starts at 0530 hrs and ends at 0830 hrs. The afternoon session begins at 1500 hrs and extends beyond 1730 hrs. Wards are divided into age groups : U-14, U-17, U-19, seniors. "We work on everything - fitness, strength, skill", she says.
You Tube , home to hundreds of videos on football skills, is a handy aid. Video clips are downloaded on mobile phones and played back during training. "Sometimes she also shows us videos of Messi, Neymar and Ronaldo", says defender Ravina Yadav, member of the Subroto Cup-winning team in 2015.
It isn't just football. Sonika also deals with pushy parents, keeps clippings of every triumph and maintains a register of contributions. For instance, the Haryana government supplied footballs and the education department presented dumbbells.
Mangali(Hissar district), Bhambheva(Jind) and Manas(Kaithal) are three other villages which have made a mark in football. But Alakhpura is a cut above. Its Government Senior Secondary School lifted the Subroto Cup (U-17) two years in a row - 2015 and 2016 - though Hissar's Government Girls' Senior Secondary School was the first Haryana school to claim the coveted national trophy among girls.
FC Alakhpura even played in the inaugural Indian Women's Football League in 2017, losing in the semis, In a preliminary-round game, they humiliated Royal Wahingdoh 18-0; Sanju Yadav scoring 7 of them.
Football has become a gateway to jobs here. Eight girls have found employment in the paramilitary and railways through sports quota. "Haryana is known for boxing, wrestling, athletics, but the state had no history in women's football. But these young girls from Haryana, especially from Alakhpura, have put the state on the map of women's football."
Rather ironical, considering that the village's child sex ratio is an unhealthy 813, lower by even the state's abysmal average of 834, the 2011 census shows. And the gap between male and female literacy is a yawning 27% - 85% (males) and 58% females.
Alakhpura's incredible story started in 2006 when some schoolgirls told their physical instructor, Gordhan Das, that they wanted to play a sport. Das gave them a football. Impressed by what he saw, the former kabaddi player decided to coach them even though he knew little about the game's finer aspects. What he lacked in skill, Das made up in commitment and enthusiasm. :When it rained and the field felt like slush, he would take us out running cross-country", recalls Tanuja Jakhar, a marginal farmer's daughter who enjoys playing full-back.
In an area where patriarchy reigns, it wasn't easy to let girls take up a sport. Das would go to a girl's home if she didn't turn up on the field and find out why. He even sought the help of a local footballer, Vikas, paying him Rs.10,000/- from his own salary.
When Sonika came to the village as an appointee of the Haryana sports department in2014, the two became a team. Since Das' transfer in 2017, she has the task of training over 150 girls every day, with a little help from physical education instructor Bhupinder Singh, who's in charge of the U-6 and U-8 teams.
"Now every parent wants his daughter to play for Haryana. Tell me, when there are 30-40 girls in each age group from our own village, how's that possible?" Sonia asks. In Alakhpura, football has demolished stereotypes and swept past gender barriers.
India will host the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup next year. This will be the second FIFA tournament India will be hosting, after the U-17 Men's World Cup in 2017. The venues to host the mega football event will be decided soon. As host country, India automatically qualifies for the 16-team event.
* Adapted from the ToI.
Tailpiece.
Got up with the alarm, went through our chores. Went to Amigos and young, Sajish gave me a good haircut and massage. Had a lovely breakfast of appams and stew on return.
The heat is really becoming unbearable!
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