New Delhi: Ngangom Bala Devi — former captain of the Indian women’s football team and three-time winner of the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) woman ‘footballer of the year’ title — was appointed as an inspector in the Manipur Police Department Friday.
Chief Minister N. Biren Singh attended the pinning and honoured the 30-year-old by giving her the rank at a small ceremony held at the CM secretariat in presence of top officials in Imphal.
“International football player Ngangom Bala Devi was honored by appointing to the post of Manipur Police Inspector while goalkeeper of the Indian football team Elangbam Panthoi Chanu was felicitated. We have been honoring the athletes for bringing glory to the nation & the state (sic),” CM Singh tweeted Friday.
This is not the first time the football star has shined. Bala Devi was the first Indian woman to sign a contract with a European football club. She signed on with Rangers FC in January 2020 and was handed the No. 10 jersey, becoming the first Asian footballer to represent the Scottish club.
It was reported that she was noticed by the foreign club after scoring a total of 26 goals in her domestic career in 37 appearances. Currently, she has the highest number of goals — 52 — scored for the country as a part of the women’s national team.
“Bala di playing for Rangers is a very big opportunity as it shows us the way to play abroad and for the next generation too. I hope the young generation gets inspired by her…,” Loitongbam Ashalata Devi, another Indian professional football player, had reportedly said.
Bala Devi had also won three South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship trophies in 2010, 2014 and 2016 before the contract.
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From strength to strength
Born in Irengbam, a small village 22 km away from Manipur’s capital city, Bala Devi has been playing for India since she was 15. She grew up admiring Brazilian stars such as Ronaldo and Ronaldinho but found her true idol in Manipuri woman soccer player Oinam Bembem Devi, known as the “Durga of Indian football”.
After a short stint in playing at district-level competitions for her club ICSA, Bala, at just 11 years old, got the opportunity to play alongside Bembem Devi in the National Games of India 2002. Eventually, after a series of consistent performances in national championships, Bala joined the Indian national under-17 team in 2005 that played the Pre-Olympic Qualifiers in South Korea and managed to score a hattrick.
“As a kid, I used to play with boys and then in my locality (in Irengbam) a new club ICSA was started for girls. I joined the club and slowly climbed my way up to play for the national team,” she recalled in an interview with The Times of India in 2020.
Bala was named the Women’s Player of the Year thrice in 2015, 2016 and 2020 by AIFF.
It has been reported in the past that the reason for Bala Devi’s rise was “the strong women’s football culture in Manipur” since as early as 1976, when the first state-level Women’s Football League tournament was organised.
Since AIFF started the Indian Women’s Football Championship in 1991, the Manipur football team has won it an unprecedented 17 times. Women have been encouraged from a young age to participate in tournaments that are held for various age groups.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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