scorecardresearch
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeFeaturesIn Delhi’s Sangam Vihar, teenage girls live and dream football. Even if...

In Delhi’s Sangam Vihar, teenage girls live and dream football. Even if it means taunts

In Sangam Vihar, the girls have cleaned a trash-dumping ground to make a football field. And they won’t take no for an answer.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

Every day is a new hurdle for the teenage girls from Delhi’s Sangam Vihar who play football–from lack of funds to parental pressure and even clothes. Saloni was recently taunted by neighbours for wearing shorts to her football practice.

“When I left home in the evening, an aunty asked me, ‘You have grown up, why are you still wearing shorts?’” Saloni says. The 18-year-old didn’t care and walked away.

Girls after evening practice session | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
The girls gather after the evening practice session | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

In Sangam Vihar’s ‘Pahadi ilaka’, 4 pm means that Neha, Pooja, Nisha and Shama are getting ready for their ‘recovery session’ at Ruchi Yadav’s house. The girls have an important match coming up. Phones are continuously buzzing. Ice chips have to be picked up from shops and the new jerseys have just arrived from the tailor. There is also a pep talk scheduled before the practice match at 7 pm.

Some people continue to dump waste on the the corner of the playground | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
The girls play in a field that’s part dumping ground| Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

Recovery is a post-match session for low-intensity exercises.

Girls during recovery session at Kusum’s house | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
A recovery session at Kusum’s house | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
Girls wrap ice using brown tape | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
Girls wrap ice using brown tape | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

The Sangam Vihar girls are no ordinary school-going kids, they are trained football players. Some of them have been playing for five years, some three. But for the longest time, they lacked funding. Then several families in the locality came together to support the girls. They may come from economically weaker sections, but that doesn’t stop their football dreams.

Sapna during a practice session | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
Sapna during a practice session | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

While the girls get ready for their session, women sew dupattas sitting at their doors. The men are mostly daily wage labourers.

Caption: Beauty’s mother adds finishing touch to the dupattas, she has to supply them to the nearest factory | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
Beauty’s mother adds finishing touches to dupattas. She has to supply them to the nearest factory | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

Sometimes the evening food for the girls is cooked at Ruksana’s home, a long-time resident of Sangam Vihar. Ruksana’s 16-year-old sister and 14-year-old daughter Shama are part of the football circle. Kusum’s lawn becomes their classroom for football strategies and Ruchi’s terrace doubles up as the space for their recovery session. Kalpana Devi’s empty second-floor room is used for storing equipment.

A thick chicken stew with lots of vegetables has been prepared for these girls | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
A thick chicken stew with lots of vegetables has been prepared for the girls | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

Sangam Vihar does not have a designated building or space that the girls can call their football institution. “It’s a school without a building,” says Anirban Ghosh, their coach and co-founder of Khel Khel Mein Foundation.

The food prepared has to be shared in the shame bowl by one group sitting together during the classes | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
The food is shared in the same bowl during football strategy classes | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

In 2017, the NGO decided to introduce football as a community sport for the children of Sangam Vihar. It worked. As the tournaments and participation increased, Anirban realised the potential of the sport as a support system for children from Delhi’s marginalised areas.

Kusum’s house that was the chosen place for evening class | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
Kusum’s house where the girls gathered for an evening class | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

“We brought down the number of students from 8,000 to 500 so that we could work more closely with the community. And shifted the model from school-based to community-based so that the interaction time can go up,” says Ghosh. It’s a nine-year-long programme now. Children as young as 7-8 years sign up for it.

One group girls went to the vendor to get newly made jerseys. The girls coordinate among each other to get all the work sorted | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
One group girls went to the vendor to get newly made jerseys. The girls coordinate among each other to get all the work sorted | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
Girls are really emotional about their jerseys. The new jerseys had printing mistakes which had upset a few of them. But they managed to salvage it by using paint brushes and colors. Jerseys are now left for drying up | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
The girls’ new jerseys had printing mistakes, which upset a few of them. But they managed to salvage it by using paint | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

Ghosh’s Khel Khel Mein Foundation worked on two projects – football in Sangam Vihar and kho kho in Aya Nagar. But the Aya Nagar programme had to be stopped due to the Covid pandemic. “Students dropped out and we were facing problems managing our resources,” says Ghosh.

There are currently 40 children who are part of the football initiative, 70 per cent of whom are girls. Neither parental pressure nor school homework can stop these girls from going to football practice.

Girls leave for recovery session | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
The girls leave for recovery session | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

“My day starts at 5:30 am when I wake up for school. After school, I eat lunch and run for practice. I finish my homework late at night and go to sleep,” says 16-year-old Julie Kumar.

The routine is hectic, but the girls insist they don’t get tired. “We want to play football,” says Kusum.

As Shama gets ready for recovery session, mother Ruksana looks at her daughter | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
As Shama gets ready for a practice session, her mother Ruksana looks at her | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
There have been a lot of hurdles for these girls | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint
There have been a lot of hurdles for these girls | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

The initiative has opened a window for several girls in the team. Nisha Khan’s football talent and achievements have ensured she gets easy admission to schools. There are currently seven national-level football players under 17 from Sangam Vihar and around 14-15 players at state camps.

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular