Everyone has their own point on view but I feel that KDFA did the right thing to allot the Kohima slot for the up coming NPL to Life Sport, which is the only professionally managed club in Kohima with registered contract players and full time coaches. No doubt teams like New Market, Excel United Club, Naga Boys Club, Penguin Club, Puliebadze Club etc has proved their worth as good teams in the local tournament, but we can call them far from a professional club. Selecting just a handful of good players few weeks before tournaments will make a good team but not a professional club.
NPL has been set up with an aim to send local professional clubs to participate in national level tournaments like I-League and Federation Cup, but this level of competition demands not only professional players but also professional clubs. Praful Patel, President AIFF, in one of his speech during the beginning of the I-League this season has said that there no doubt a pool of talented players in the northeast but due to lack of registered professional club in the region, all this players and clubs have been overlooked. Except Manipur, Assam and Meghalaya, the rest of the other north-eastern states do not have professional clubs eligible to participate at higher levels. Nagaland Police, one of the best and most decorated team in Nagaland were not eligible to play in the I-League since they were a police team and not a registered professional club, so they had to be contended with tournaments like Mullick Police Cup and other smaller tournaments.
My point here is not to discourage the other clubs but instead of crying foul, they should learn from Life Sport, who within a very short time of its inception, has become a very professional and discipline club. Maybe they haven't been rewarded well with many trophies yet but I certainly feel that they are the future of Naga football. NPL has given the Naga football players and clubs the right platform to be become professional, and the clubs should grab this with both hands. As we all know that it is an accepted trend for the football players in Nagaland to be spectators for eleven months and play for one month in a year, this has to stop! Baichung Bhutia, the former Indian National Captain and the biggest name in Indian football has retired from national level only to start a professional club, Sikkim United, with an aim to compete at the I-League. This year they participated at the Second Division and I am sure we will see them in the I-League next season, so shall we see our own Naga team in the coming seasons!!!
Keneilhouzo Sekhose, Kohima
NPL has been set up with an aim to send local professional clubs to participate in national level tournaments like I-League and Federation Cup, but this level of competition demands not only professional players but also professional clubs. Praful Patel, President AIFF, in one of his speech during the beginning of the I-League this season has said that there no doubt a pool of talented players in the northeast but due to lack of registered professional club in the region, all this players and clubs have been overlooked. Except Manipur, Assam and Meghalaya, the rest of the other north-eastern states do not have professional clubs eligible to participate at higher levels. Nagaland Police, one of the best and most decorated team in Nagaland were not eligible to play in the I-League since they were a police team and not a registered professional club, so they had to be contended with tournaments like Mullick Police Cup and other smaller tournaments.
My point here is not to discourage the other clubs but instead of crying foul, they should learn from Life Sport, who within a very short time of its inception, has become a very professional and discipline club. Maybe they haven't been rewarded well with many trophies yet but I certainly feel that they are the future of Naga football. NPL has given the Naga football players and clubs the right platform to be become professional, and the clubs should grab this with both hands. As we all know that it is an accepted trend for the football players in Nagaland to be spectators for eleven months and play for one month in a year, this has to stop! Baichung Bhutia, the former Indian National Captain and the biggest name in Indian football has retired from national level only to start a professional club, Sikkim United, with an aim to compete at the I-League. This year they participated at the Second Division and I am sure we will see them in the I-League next season, so shall we see our own Naga team in the coming seasons!!!
Keneilhouzo Sekhose, Kohima
