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Gender | Boots, not burkha: Mumbra girls take over football field -Marcus Mergulhao

Boots, not burkha: Mumbra girls take over football field -Marcus Mergulhao

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published Published on Aug 10, 2017   modified Modified on Aug 10, 2017
-The Times of India

A group of girls, almost all in shorts, are dancing after a wonderful strike that fetched them a goal. The goal wouldn't count much, in fact it doesn't count at all during a coaching camp. But for these girls, it's much more than just the sight of the ball crashing into the net that brings delight.

For years, these girls from Mumbra have braved odds just to be able to kick the ball, openly. They are all part of Parcham, an NGO that was formed with the idea of training teenage girls in the locality in 2012, and are now playing outside the state for the first time.

"We are all loving it here. There is so much to learn. We have realized that there are so many good players (in India) and we are nothing compared to them," Simran Deol told TOI at the Duler stadium in Mapusa, Goa, on Wednesday.

Simran is among the younger players in the Parcham squad that is here to take part in the week-long Women's Football and Women's Rights Festival, organized by the German-based Discover Football.

Simran has been lucky too—her family, she says, is "open minded" but not everyone in Mumbra thinks similarly.

Ask Mulla Afreen. Part of Parcham since inception in 2012, Afreen knows the mindset of those around her better than anyone else. "Because Mumbra has an overwhelmingly Muslim population, the mentality is different. People don't want you to go out (and play), certainly not in shorts and with a football in your hand," said Afreen.

To beat suspicion and jeers from those in the locality, the girls would drop the football in a bag and walk out of their homes, dressed in their regular attire. For a majority of them, it would mean burkha. "It was only when we reached the ground that we would change into our football gear. Nobody wore shorts. We had to make do with tracks," said Afreen.

There were more problems to encounter at the ground. Mumbra doesn't have too many open spaces where these girls could play. The only ground in the locality was taken over by the boys who were not receptive to the idea of girls playing football. "At first, the boys never allowed us to play. They used to hit us with the ball, but none of us left the ground. We continued kicking the ball around. They thought we would be scared but our determination to play football was fierce," said Sonali Chaudhuri, a non-Muslim player in the squad.

The ground is located just outside Sonali's house and, when it all started, she found the sight of girls playing football strange. "I was not used to that," she said. She was soon convinced by the girls to join them.

When Parcham started, it took them about six months to find enough girls willing to play. There were nine of them to begin with and the number has now risen to 40.

The boys no longer trouble them. They have the ground to themselves on Sunday evenings. If only they could dance and celebrate a goal like they did in Goa.
 
 
The Times of India, 10 August, 2017, please click here to access

The Times of India, 10 August, 2017, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/boots-not-burkha-mumbra-girls-take-over-football-field/articleshow/59995219.cms


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