Not
long back I remember seeing a banner that says something like '20/22 players, 2
in the morgue'. And when some sections of the people insisted on joining the
tamchon tourney, and when muvanlai and the sspp fc were slated to meet in the
finals my vision became clearer and clearer. That only 20 players would be
fielded at the beginning of the match and the banner displayed for the media to
take notice of.
the
sspp fc belongs to the paite speaking tribe while the muvanlai fc consists
mainly of the thadou speaking people.
In
this regard mention may be made of the fact that among the nine young men who
lost their lives in the turmoil in the wake of the passage of the 3 anti-tribal
bills on August 31, 2015 in the Manipur Assembly, Paulianmang (23) a Paite
speaking boy, is a fervent football player. Similarly Khaijamang (11) an eleven
year old boy speaking thadou too is no doubt, a lover of football.
I
imagined that these are the boys who the youngsters who put up the banner had
in mind while drafting it. My imaginative mine went to the extent of wondering
whether the semi-final matches were fixed. Under normal circumstances an 11
year old boy is not expected to be in the first lineup of a football match, let
alone sit in the bench. When Messi played with the senior side of fc barcelona
against espanyol on october 16, 2004, he was about 17 years old. But
imagination and a little bit of fact may work to show the world that the
Manipur tribals have a deep grievance against the state Government.
Tears
began to well up the inside of my ENT. What if both teams send 10 players each
into the pitch at the start of the match and the crowd holding out a banner
saying, "22 players, 2 in the morgue" !! The priority should be to
telecast the banner to the world and not the match necessarily. The winner be it
sspp or muvanlai, hardly matters. I didn't make any suggestions. Coz I trusted
the boys more than I trust myself.
If
materialized/implemented the match might even set the trend for a new kind of game
in the world of football, say like 'the 3 bills game'.
