The novelty of it all is beautiful.
So also the setting up of an academy to promote football, ‘the beautiful game’ to borrow a phrase from the King of the game, Pele.
The efforts need to be noted and lauded.
Coming close on the heels of 8 players from Manipur making the cut to represent the country in the U-17 FIFA world Cup and this makes the Kuki Football Academy and the night football tournament underway at D Phaihel village in Kangpokpi district all that more meaningful.
It is much more than the razzmatazz of a football tournament held under flood lights in the night but about giving a unique touch to the understanding of promoting football.
What makes the initiative at Kangpokpi more interesting is the fact that the tournament is held away from Imphal and that too not at a district headquarters but a small hamlet which has just 14 houses.
It is this which makes the ongoing night football tournament at D Phaihel village all that more interesting and the brain behind organising such a tournament and opening the academy should be acknowledged and feted.
Hope the All Manipur Football Association is listening.
Night football tournament should also be seen beyond the understanding of a football tournament underway in the night but should also be seen through the prism of promoting a sort of night life, especially in the hill villages where life comes to a halt as soon as the Sun sets.
It is also a statement on how the law and order situation is assumed to be better now, so much so that today there is a football tournament held under flood lights way after the Sun has set and night time has descended.
Sixteen teams in the first edition of the night football tournament.
This is not a bad start at all and as time goes by and if everything works out well, the tournament should ideally start to attract other football teams, football teams which are names to be reckoned with in Manipur.
This is how a tournament should grow and expand.
Perhaps this is where the organiser, Kuki Football Academy, may study the possibility of rescheduling the tournament for as things stand now, the State League is underway and if at all the tournament hopes to attract more teams, it should be held at a time when the other teams are not into any other major tournaments.
It is here that the organisers may get in touch with the All Manipur Football Association and see how the next edition of the tournament may be scheduled.
At the moment, the focus seems to be on the Kuki players and teams, but for the tournament to get bigger, better and more meaningful the organisers have to cast their eyes wider.
A night tournament underway and the novel move should be noted and acknowledged by all concerned, more so by those who love the game of football.
The tournament should also give the needed impetus to the Kuki Football Academy in their quest to produce world class footballers.
It is commitment like this which is needed.
Source: The Sangai Express
