Revision as of 10:48, 11 March 2014

The sources of this series of articles on Football in Mizoram include

The Times of India The Times of India The Times of India The Times of India The Times of India The Times of India The Times of India

Shylo Malsawmatulanga

Mama and his silent revolution

Siddharth Saxena | TNN

In November 2005, a team from Mizoram lit up a sleepy Santosh Trophy qualifying cluster in Thiruvananthapuram with bold, attacking football. The Mizo men seemed to possess that special ability to turn it on at will and let the style simply flow. For many unaccustomed to witnessing such robust display by a team which did not belong to the country’s footballing elite, made for riveting viewing as a lethargic Bengal among others twisted and turned in their wake.

Ever-running and standing no more than five-feet-five in his socks, the team’s coach, leader and guide was Shylo Malsawmatulanga —‘Mama’ to the world of Indian football. He was just 21, already an East Bengal mainstay and easily the best left winger in Indian football then. Jerry Zirsanga, Vanlalrova, Robert Lalthlamuana, Malsawma and PC Lalhmingliana all looked up to the gentle word of Mama, and ran like he did.

While Bengal played their traditional prima donna role at the tournament, it was a unique charm offensive from Mama’s men. The team from the Christian-majority state would stand in prayer after each game — win, lose or draw. Then they would walk over to the rival penalty area and shake hands with each of their opponents. Eventually, edged out from the main round in Kochi on a countback, Mizoram’s players departed for their clubs and later as the Santosh Trophy rapidly lost out in importance, the team — and the idea — seemingly fell off the map.

But the Mizoram experience in Kerala was not a mirage. Almost a decade later, they are national football champions and the man who kick-started it all continues to quietly ply his trade in his typically busy, hunched-over-the-ball manner. In a journey that began in 1998 with the Subroto Cup with Electric Veng Middle School via the Tata Football Academy, he’s back to East Bengal after stints with Salgaocar, Mohun Bagan and Prayag United.

“In 2005, we had half the team from the Mizoram Armed Police, some from the Assam Regimental Centre and the youngsters from TFA,” Mama told TOI over the phone from Kolkata. “We played our first practice match together only after landing in Kerala.

“The extent of preparation this time is an indication of how much progress Mizoram has made in terms of organisation and infrastructure. Vanlalthlanga, the head coach this time, was my childhood coach, so in a sense I have a link with this victory. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. Since Sunday, I’ve been feeling like I have won the World Cup,” he chuckled.

Mama was being his usual modest self. No Indian footballer, not even IM Vijayan for Kerala, has single-handedly played the catalyst for the sport in his state as Mama has. It must be noted that when Mama’s team was capturing the imagination in 2005, Sikkim was losing 10-0 to eventual winners Goa, and the state’s icon Bhaichung Bhutia was involved in a publicly televised spat with his former mentor and then national coach, Syed Nayeemuddin. “With Bhaichung in Sikkim, a lot could have been done,” said an Indian football old-timer.

“Mama was never the best footballer to come out of Mizoram,” said Lalnghinglova Hmar, the 36-year-old honorary secretary of the Mizoram Football Association, “But he was the first, and that’s the most important thing.

“As footballers, both Mama and Jerry are a coach’s dream,” said veteran coach Armando Colaco who coached Zirsanga at Dempo and now coaches Mama at East Bengal. “But more than that, they are big humans. Don’t get conned by their little size. There are players and there are leaders. These guys are both,” he says.

Before Mama made his silent revolution, hockey was Mizoram’s predominant sport. His brother Remruta was a state-level hockey player. There still isn’t a Sports Authority of India scheme with focus on football, yet Mizoram is all about football today, so much so that a football-mad government school teacher in Khuamgleng, a tiny Mizoram village bordering Myanmar, named his son after a rooster. Today, there’s a Zico in Brazil, and there’s a Zico — Zoremsanga — who is the toast of Indian football.

Football helped Mama leave his remote village Vanlaiphai and their fields and come to Kolkata’s maidan. He paved the path for the rest. Today, it’s raining Mizo footballers in India. Most I-League clubs and their junior sides have at least one Mizo player in their ranks; half of India’s age-group teams comprise Mizo footballers. Indian football’s technical director, Dutchman Robert Baan, is sold on their style and technical ability. Jeje Lalpekhlua, adjudged India’s best Young Footballer in 2013, is Sunil Chhetri’s striking partner in the senior side.

Hanging almost as an afterthought on India’s farthest north east, Mizoram is arguably the gentlest of the states in the region. Like the rest of the seven sisters, the idea of its football is providing identity but it contrasts with the volatile escape that it provides Manipur, Nagaland or even Assam. For the Mizo, it is the passport to livelihood in a state fraught with poverty.

“I realised very early that I had nothing to fall back on but my football. It was never easy. At TFA, it was so lonely, I’d weep secretly but knew there was no going back,” says Mama, “This is what I always tell the younger players from my state: ‘Always, the football should come first. The rest will follow’.”

Pachuau Lalawmpuia

LALAWMPUIA: A STAR WHO FADED

Whenever there is talk of Mizoram football, after Shylo Malsawmtluanga, the name Pachuau Lalawmpuia always crops up. While the former embodies all that is dignified about Mizoram, Lalawmpuia’s is a classic case where precocious talent can got wasted due to indiscipline.

When he burst onto the scene for Mohun Bagan player in 2008, the burly Lalawmpuia immediately caught the eye and was touted as the next

Baichung Bhutia. Sadly, despite sporadic burst of brilliance, he started grabbing headlines for off-field reasons. United SC signed him up then and took all measures to keep him focussed only on the game. However, things didn’t turn for the better and Lalawmpuia, who had put on a lot of weight, became injury prone and became a fringe player in the team. He shifted to Mumbai FC where he stayed for two seasons but was never able to cement his place in the starting XI.

It was learnt from sources that Lalawmpuia, after a short stint with South United FC in Bangalore, is back in his village in Mizoram and has not played for quite a few months. The striker is reportedly recovering from an injury. However, even after his recuperation, it will be tough for him to get a club of prominence.

It is sad that in this golden hour for Mizoram, Lalawmpuia has almost disappeared into the oblivion. TNN

See also

Mizoram: Football Mizoram: Football stars