Mizos say that football is in their blood. With the Mizoram state government declaring the day of the final, July 20, as a school holiday and giving a half-day for government workers, they may be right.
“Mizoram’s population is hardly 0.1 per cent of India’s, but people will be surprised to know that of all the professional footballers registered in the Indian Football League, 15 per cent are Mizo,“ said Mr Lalrengpuia, the secretary of the Mizoram Football Association (MFA).
Working with Reliance Foundation, the MFA started the Naupang league in 2022, where now over 3,000 children in four districts in Mizoram have access to licensed coaches and playing hours.
“This is a grassroots project, so it will take a few years to see the results, but it is a big step for Indian football,” said Mr Lalrengpuia, 47.
One of Mr Lalrengpuia’s sons, Thomas, believes that the football scene in India is still bleak. But as it improves, he believes Mizos play a big role. “One of the best players in India is Mizo, Lallinzuala Chhangte, so if India ever makes it to the World Cup, I hope to see four or five Mizos in the team,” said Mr Thomas, 20.
MFA’s work even earned Mr Lalrengpuia price-adjusted tickets to two matches at this year’s World Cup, provided by the All India Football Federation.
He and his two sons watched the eventual victors play live in Los Angeles and Dallas, through Spain’s battles against Portugal and Austria. “Spending most of my life in football, actually being in the stadium was a dream come true. I never thought I would be able to do this but here we are,” he said.
In Singapore, coaches of the Mizoram Christian Fellowship Singapore (MCFS) football team, Mr William Lalramtana and Mr Felix Mangminlian, watched the tournament from their phones.
Mr William, 34, said he and his friends were unable to watch the matches together due to odd timings and work shifts. Having been in Singapore since 2016, the past two World Cups were mainly watched through phones and iPads, as he or his friends lived in dormitories.
Mr William was rooting for Portugal. The team’s combination was not good enough to win, however, prompting him to shift support to France, who ended up losing to Spain in the semi-final match anyway. “Nowadays, it’s quite difficult to predict who will win,” he said.
The Chin Christian Fellowship hosts an annual football tournament on May 1, where different tribal Christian fellowships, like MCFS, can send their respective teams. Chins are a Burmese ethnic group, whose members are also found in the Northeast regions of India. MCFS has won the tournament several times, with the last win in 2022, with Mr William playing for the team.
“We don’t really have the professional training, so we mainly learned from iconic coaches of the past, like Alex Ferguson or Jose Mourinho. I have been planning to study how to become a coach in Birmingham but I can’t take leave for that long,” he said.
Mr Felix, 33, also a healthcare worker, became a coach for the team this year, after a physical injury made him unable to play. When he first came to Singapore in 2019, his manager helped him find football groups to play with till he eventually found MCFS.
He said the team’s WhatsApp group came alive throughout the matches, with lots of quarrelling and analysis.
“There’s a lot of controversy going on in this World Cup, people talking about FIFA and favouring Messi, like why Messi is always given a penalty shot,“ he said, “It’s really okay to take it personal and to get angry but, at the end of the day, it’s just a World Cup, and we all come together again as MCF friends.”
Though he plays for the MCFS, he is actually from Manipur, with his tribe being considered to be closer to the Mizo community. “Growing up, because of poor financial issues and bad infrastructure, our parents didn’t like us to be playing football, even though it’s most of our dream,” he said.
He hopes that he can introduce the love of football to his one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, who is currently living with his parents in Manipur. “I asked my parents to buy a football for her, and she plays with it sometimes, but later on it will be her choice,” said Mr Felix.
