After the massive success of the Tri-Nation tournament in Imphal, the capital of Manipur, where thousands of fans gathered to watch the Indian Football team perform and in which seven talented players from the north-eastern state represented our country. Amidst their success, the players are now facing tough times for the past few months, due to Manipur Violence.
According to the Manipur football officials and football professionals, who also were a part of the Manipur State League(MSL), there has been a migration issue of players and others are now in the vanguard to protect their villages from the rioters.
A professional who also participated in the state league told TOI that he was at his village border for several nights with a licensed gun to protect the villagers from attackers.
The professional who is pursuing his graduation degree from DM University in Imphal further added that he had joined the village group that takes turns to guard their village at the border. A group stays on for 2-3 days and is then replaced by others.
There has been steady progress in the condition as the Indian Army is also helping them to protect their village.
The young professional is planning to move to Bengaluru for a new start of his football career, he further added that a few of his friends already had moved there.
A former football professional from Manipur also stated that many players are caught in this violence.
Most of the players are at their home and others are at locations where they are forced to pick up their licensed guns to guard their hometowns, he added.
A football official said TOI reporter that the number of players who are opting for state transfer is growing rapidly. Last year the MSL had a huge number of 19 clubs and up to 570 players.
According to the Manipur football association, a large number of players moved out as the violence continued.
All Manipur Football Association (AMFA) official said he acknowledges that 70-80 players including have moved out of Manipur SA seeking transfer. He further added that a huge number of players are moving to Bengaluru, Tripura and Jharkhand.
They are not aware when the league will begin, their priority is to assemble the teams for National Games to be held in Goa, he added he also hopes that things will be normal in the coming months.
A 22-year-old professional also moved out who had participated and represented the team at the national and international level, including, Suborto Cup, Khelo India and Asian games.
The right-wing player from Bishnupur who had recently arrived at Bengaluru in the first week of July said that players are coming here including Klasa FC the last year’s league champions.
The right winger had represented North-East Sporting Union (NESU) during the state league last year.
How Manipur violence affected the professionals:
Chinglensana Singh, an Hyderbad FC and Indian Team professional has decided to put his football career on hold to stay with his violence-affected family.
According to his statements to sportstar, he said that when he switched on his phone after his game on May 3, he had got a lot of missed calls from his home in Churchandpur. As soon as he called back, his mother started crying and their lives were in danger.
Sana said he was shocked when he heard from his mom and didn’t know how to react, thinking he would lose his family. He further stated that there were gunshots in his neighborhood and many houses were also set on fire.
To keep himself fit, the 26-year-old stated that he is currently able to go to his nearby Gym and football pitch and he hopes his family also restarts to rebuild and have a normal life.
