Bengal: Through women's football, Jangalmahal shrugs off terrorism

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Kolkata, April 5: The grounds in Jangalmahal have the least amount of grass. It is as much frigid as it can be. Naturally, no soft part is there in the soil in this area.

All leagues special site; From Maoists to footballers

The grounds consists of stones with extreme level of cruelty. But that has not been able to build up any kind of anxiety among the bunch of determined fighters.

They are women footballers from Jangalmahal, the place in the West Bengal which came in the limelight even a couple of months due to continuous turbulence.

The anarchy was created due to terrorism. A few terrorist groups, mostly Maoists used to run the whole area and the common people had nothing but only to fright and fear.

They had to spend every moment listening to the sound of bullet and marching of military commandos throughout the day.

Amidst the horrible condition, those women, coming out of the fear, began to play football. They had formed a club named Dumdumi Brajen Sangha.

One of their senior footballers Keya Mudi was remembering those horrible days. She said: “We were threatened by the men with masks on their faces.

"They asked us to stop playing football. But we did not care. Commandos also warned us to stop playing football.

"There were days when after finishing practice in the evening we could not return home due to curfew. We had to live a single small room, beside the ground.

"We had to fill our stomach by drinking water only as we did not have any food with us."

The club is taking part in the ongoing Kolkata Premier Women's football league for the first time and in a bid to acclimatise with Kolkata's weather and atmosphere, the team came to Kolkata from Jangalmahal, travelling around four and half hours by train to practice early.

The team's coach Bharati Mudi said: “All the players are fighting against sheer poverty. Still, they want to get established in the society by playing football along with education. I hope one day some of these footballers will get a call in the national team."

OneIndia News