Vaibhav Raghunandan

AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: One of the unique features of a football tournament in India, is the diversity it brings to the table. Teams and team compositions within, will stretch the width and length of the country, many states covered to ensure diversity of colour.

In the Hero Indian Women’s League beginning Wednesday, this is not just true but also mandatory, seeing as it is the pinnacle of Indian women’s football, and brings together clubs, who qualify by virtue of winning their state leagues. In the 2022-23 edition as many as 12 different states will be represented, and for many it will mark a debut at this level of the game.

Among the debutant clubs — if not debutant states — is Mumbai Knights FC. “When we started the club, the idea was to give a safe and organised space for girls in Mumbai to come and play during the pandemic,” team owner Deepu Biswas says. “From there the idea grew to make a club that would play the qualifiers, the MFA Premier Division and go on.”

Biswas requested his men’s club (he is also the owner of I-League Division 2 side Ambernath Atlanta United FC) coach Steven Dias to take over the women’s team during the pandemic, seeing as there weren’t any tournaments being held for the men.

Dias gamely agreed, despite his limited experience with the women’s game. Under his watch, the Knights qualified for the Hero IWL, beating defending champions PIFA into second place. The win was a surprise for many, considering the Knights had only existed as a club for a year. But for team owner Deepu Biswas, it was anything but, and almost immediately he began planning for when the big league came calling.

Dias’s duties, first with the Maharashtra Santosh Trophy side and then Ambernath Atlanta’s I-League Division 2 season, meant he wouldn’t be able to take the mantle for the Hero IWL, and Biswas went looking for an able replacement, finding one in Rutuja Gunwant. Gunwant had experience in the Hero IWL herself having played for Sethu FC in the 2017-18 season.

For many, Gunwant’s age and lack of experience would’ve been a red flag, but Biswas took it as a positive, and thought it would create a better and more inclusive team environment. To ensure more of the same, the squad that has travelled to Ahmedabad consists mostly of players from Maharashtra. India Internationals Ritu Rani and Karishma Shirvoikar are the few out of states, who top off the list.

While some debutants have chosen to keep their squads almost entirely local, many others have chosen to mix and match in an attempt to put together the best squad possible. Goa will mark its debut in the Hero IWL courtesy of Churchill Brothers FC. While the Churchill squad is bolstered by the likes of veteran defender and captain Laura Estibeiro, they have also strengthened by including as many as 12 outstation players to their squad.

Estibeiro, 43, may well be the oldest player to play in the Hero IWL, and if her eye-catching performances in the 27th Hero Senior Women’s National Football Championships 2022-23 are an indicator, she isn’t there to make up the numbers. Estibeiro captained a young Goa side to a third place finish in Group C, and while it wasn’t enough for them to qualify for the Final Rounds, there was a lot of praise on offer. “But that’s now in the past,” she says. “I’m grateful to have been given a second chance to represent my state in some way and I hope to make them proud in the league.”

Pride of place, and pride for state is a driving force for many players, young and old who will play in Ahmedabad. While Estibeiro has blown standard existing notions of experience, age and longevity out of the water, another longtime veteran, albeit one 11 years her junior is keen to make a similar mark playing for her hometown club after a long gap away.

“When we heard Odisha FC were making a team, obviously it was a matter of huge pride and also rekindled hope for women’s football in the state,” Manisa Panna says. An India international, Panna wasn’t part of the squad when the club won the state league, but when they came asking in January it was too good a chance to let up. “I did not hesitate at all,” she laughs.

Panna has played for her home state in the Hero IWL before, in the first ever season, when she turned out in the colours of Rising Students Club in 2016-17. It was a memorable outing, the Odisha outfit topping the league stage before going down to Eastern Sporting in the final.

In the next season she switched sides and played a crucial role as Eastern Sporting reached the final up against Rising Students once again. Once again, she was on the losing side, as the Manipur outfit went down on penalties. Despite playing for three clubs who have won the league, somehow, the title has eluded Panna, something she hopes to change this edition.

“Having had that experience of playing in this league, of coming close, and yet missing out, I think I have a lot more to give to my side,” she says. “It’s been a long while since we have had a title come to Odisha and we have a lot of senior players from Odisha like Pyari (Xaxa) and Juli (Kishan), who will also be keen to make them proud. I’m excited for the season ahead.”