Manipur — Growing granary of football

Somatai Shaiza, Romesh `Bulu’ (Churchill Brothers), Renedy Singh, Kiron Khongsai, Ratan Singh (East Bengal), Gunbir Singh, Joy Kabui (Mohammedan Sporting), James Singh (BMFC), Surmony Singh (Salgaocar), Sanaton Singh (Dempo), Khambiton Singh (Air-India), Balin Singh (RCF)….the list is endless.

“If at least half of these players had played for their home state, who knows, we would have won the Santosh Trophy hands down,” said Shanti Kumar Singh, coach of the Manipur team.

The coach added that these players could not be blamed. “What else can they do? It is too difficult for any footballer to make a living from the game in Manipur. There is no great encouragement at the government level either.”

This isone of the reasons why Manipur sides perform exceptionally well at the sub-junior and junior levels, while the senior team fails to emulate them in the Nationals.

This year too, the flow is set to continue. At least four or five from Manipur have already had talks with the major clubs. Tombo Singh, one of the most promising players to hit the State’s soccer scenario in recent times, is reportedly set to join Air-India.

“Sports is a religion for us, and soccer a lifestyle,” said Shanti Kumar who had earlier guided Manipur to a title triumph in the Junior Nationals (under-19). “There used to be huge turnouts for soccer matches in our State. We conduct two major All-India tournaments for men and women annually — Sir Churachan Memorial and R K Priobratta Open Tournament. There are a number of local tournaments too.

“Though the Manipur players are short-statured, their physical fitness, muscular power, speed and endurance are almost unequalled at the domestic level. Since we are short, we are able toregroup quickly and organise combined moves easily. There are some drawbacks too, mainly in the defence, where the rivals often beat us with high crosses. We are forced to play the wall passes, and reduce operations in the air,” pointed out the coach who has undergone specialised training courses in Brazil, Germany and Malaysia.

“The secret of success of our team in the junior Nationals, I feel, was the adoption of a brand new 3-5-2 system,” said Shanti Kumar. “It is an uncommon system in our country, where most of the clubs and State sides adopt either 4-3-3 or 4-2-4. The 3-5-2 is a midfield-oriented pattern, where both the wing halves have the additional responsibility of moving up and down, to bolster the defence and also to initiate attacks. The wing halves will automatically turn attackers while their team is in possession of the ball, and will defend while the rivals hold the ball.

“This system was adopted mainly because we are short of good defenders. However, the quality of our midfielders issuperb. Our game plan revolves around these talented youth,” said the coach.

Shanti Kumar added the state is looking forward to the future. “Perhaps, we may not make much waves in the Nationals this year. But you will see a different Manipur side next year. A team which would go places.”

Incidentally, Shanti Singh’s eldest son Socrates, named after the legendary Brazilian, was a member of the Mamta Modern Senior High School team which won the Subroto Cup last year.