My colleague Pratik Purakayastha and I drove to Haokha Mamang Leikai, a village just off the Indo-Myanmar highway, on a rainy morning in September last year. Every few kilometres we would spot a poster with an image of eight boys in the national football team kit, arms crossed in front of their chests. Wherever we saw these posters, we would stop to ask directions. At one such interval, a young boy crossed us on a bicycle, promptly turned around and motioned for us to follow.
Five days later, Amarjit Singh Kiyam and Jeakson Singh Thounaojam, boys the young cyclist had grown up with in Haokha, were announced as members of the Indian team in FIFA’s under-17 world championship. Eight of the 21 boys representing India were from Imphal and its neighbouring villages in Manipur. But Renedy Singh, a former team captain for India from Awang Sekmai—another village in the north-eastern state—told me that younger players in the state faced several difficulties. “Coaching and other football related facilities have improved a lot, but, still, no one tells them what they are supposed to do if they can’t make it as players or even what to do when their careers end at the age of 30-35,” he said. While residential academies have provisions for classroom education, according to Singh, it is often conducted as a formality and does not account for the fact that players are frequently on the move.
Haokha gets few visitors, and fewer still that arrive in private cars, so the boy knew where we were looking to go. He led us towards Thounaojam’s house. We passed by the Asem Gojendro Memorial English High School, where children in Haokha begin their education and play football on a small patch of mottled grass just outside its main gate. Deben Thounaojam, Jeakson’s father, was among a group of men standing around at a small corner shop near the school. Deben shook our hands and silently led us down a narrow, unpaved path. His house, like many others in the region, was made of brick and had makeshift partitions instead of inside walls. There was an abundance of sports memorabilia inside, including photographs, medals, trophies, newspaper clippings and a framed certificate of his daughter Jayalakshmi’s high-school graduation. As we drank tea and made small talk, Deben retreated quietly into the background. In 2015, the 53-year-old had a stroke that has made physical activity and speech extremely difficult.
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