It has been well over a year since Gokulam Kerala FC won the Indian Women’s League (IWL) title. Since then, the team members have not kicked a ball together. This is the case with most teams that took part in the IWL, the top division of women’s football in India, in February 2020. But speaking to coaches of women’s teams that take part in the IWL, there is a sense of acceptance about the current state of women’s football in India. “It has been this way through the COVID-19 pandemic,” Priya PV, the coach of Gokulam Kerala, tells TNM.
Women’s football is among the sports hit hardest by the pandemic in India. The IWL’s fifth edition was set to be held in April 2021 but it was postponed due to the second wave of COVID-19 cases and in July, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) wrote to the clubs involved informing them that the tentative timeline for the league was March-May 2022, more than two years after the last one was held. The reason cited for this was the coronavirus pandemic and the risks posed by it.
Even this timeline is only tentative and is subject to changes. “We informed the clubs that this is the tentative timeline. We will assess the situation and we will see if we are in a position to organise it and then take a call,” says Indu Choudhary, Manager of Women's Football division at AIFF.
The women’s game in India has come to a standstill during the pandemic. The IWL is one of two major club competitions in the country alongside the India Women's Football Championship which was last held in September 2019.
Gokulam Kerala FC at the IWL in January 2020
This is even as their male counterparts have continued training and competing in the two main national level leagues. The 2020-21 Indian Super League (ISL) season was hosted behind closed doors in Goa over five months between November 2020 and March 2021. The I-League, another top tier football league in the men’s game in India, conducted the 2020-21 season behind closed doors between January and March 2021 in West Bengal.
This week, the AIFF released the calendar for the men’s game for the rest of 2021 with a national camp set to begin from August 15 this month. The women’s national team’s future is unclear at a time the team is set to host the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup and the 2022 FIFA under-17 Women's World Cup in 2022.
The lack of training and competition among women footballers has led to uncertainty over the process of choosing the national squad. “That was the entire point of organising IWL before the Asian Cup but it was unfortunate we could not organise it in the window. We are thinking of alternatives (for choosing the squad) and we are confident we will come up with the solution for this,” says Indu Choudhary.
If choosing the squad was a concern, the AIFF was jolted by a bigger problem in July when the coach of the national women’s team Maymol Rocky stepped down from her role citing personal reasons. The team is now without a coach and without a calendar, less than six months away from the AFC Women’s Asian Cup which India is hosting in January 2022.
Teams in the IWL have largely stopped training and practising together. “We stopped after the league last year. It does not make sense for us when there is no league or tournament to train for. We don't get monetary benefits from the association. We are without a calendar and practising together in such a situation is impractical. In this view, it is fair that the league was postponed,” says Kamal B, who is with Bengaluru United Women.
Bengaluru United FC Women at the IWL in January 2020
“If there are a lot of competitions, we can keep the women together and practise. But if there is just one league competition, it is not possible to have the women together and practising, especially when the dates are not finalised,” he says.
His views are echoed by Gokulam Kerala's Priya PV. “We have not trained together because some of our players are from places like Manipur and Jharkhand. We are planning to get together in September but it is not yet finalised,” she says. “In the present situation, it is tough to conduct coaching camps and play games. There is a massive gap that the women’s game needs to overcome, and some players are not practising. They are doing fitness work but players are not receiving regular coaching or game practice,” she adds.
Gokulam Kerala FC at the IWL in January 2020
Both Kamal and Priya raised concerns about the lack of sponsors and managing the budgets when there is no competitive football to be played. “The longer this goes on, clubs will look at what costs them money,” says Priya.
Some fans of women's football say that the sport is facing an existential threat. “We are hosting the AFC Asian Cup and the U-17 World Cup next year. The pandemic is affecting the women’s league but it is not affecting the men’s leagues which are being held in bio-bubbles. If there really was an intent to promote women’s football, the leagues would be held since they are shorter leagues in comparison,” says Jenisha Rani, a Chennai-based fan of the women’s game.
Gokulam is now planning to train together before representing India in the first ever women’s continental club football tournament — the AFC Asian Women's Club Championship in November 2021. “This will be the first time in over a year that we will be together and we are hoping there are no issues with players coming together to train,” says Priya.
The future maybe uncertain but for those within the game, the anxiety is not new. “We have accepted that this is the way with the women’s game. Keeping the women together for months and practising will be difficult, but we hope that we can get things back on track soon,” says Kamal.