Young Female Footballers Of Alakhpura
Alakhpura, a village of 2,000 people in Haryana’s Bhiwani district, is a hub for young female footballers.
More than 200 girl trainees practise football in Alakhpura twice a day—two hours in the morning and three hours in the late afternoon. Earlier, parents hesitated to let their daughters out of the house alone and the idea of girls playing a sport was frowned upon. Today these girls are breaching social taboos.
It all began when Gordhan Dass, a sports teacher posted at the government school, introduced football for girls in 2006. He encouraged girls to play the sport. If some families refused to let their daughters participate, Dass would take his daughter along to explain to them that there was no shame attached to football and that they should take pride in what their daughters could achieve. This approach worked and the families relented.
Initially, what motivated the girls was the scholarship money for playing well in competitions. But when football became the means of securing a government job, every family began pushing girls to play football—some have landed government jobs in the Indian Railways, the state education department and paramilitary forces such as the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). This has helped the girls become financially independent and support their families, many of whom live below the poverty line. As a result, Alakhpura’s residents no longer view daughters as a burden but as assets.
In 2017, the villagers officially registered the Alakhpura Football Club (AFC) with the All India Football Federation. While the Haryana government paid for the coaching and equipment, the villagers crowdsourced funds to cover the team’s expenses. The responsibilities of the club are divided among some of the villagers. Whenever the trainees need financial support, the entire village comes forward.
Today, at least half of the players of Haryana’s women’s football team hails from Alakhpura. Overall, 75 girls from the village have played in national-level competitions in different age groups and 12 have participated in international-level events. With their dedication and determination, the Alakhpura girls have firmly carved a space for their village on the country’s sports map and have become an inspiration for girls in India.
