In the Darjeeling hills, where female football
tourneys are not regular events, Chamong Tee Exports Private Limited
partnered with Germany-based supermarket chain ALDI and another Germany
organisation Fairtrade International to hold Durga Dutta Lohia memorial
football tournament.
The women soccer tournament had one team each
from 16 tea gardens of the Chamong Tee’s group — 13 in the hills, and
Maud, Sewpur and Tonganagaon estates in Assam.
As the finals were
in progress at the Gorkha stadium in Darjeeling on Sunday, Chamong Tee
chairman Ashok Lohia said: “Everybody is talking about women
empowerment. But tomorrow, I think tea garden women are going to take
over everything because the men are now moving out of gardens.”
In hill tea gardens, “65 to 70 per cent” of the workforce consists of
women. Chamong Tee is the largest group in the Darjeeling Tea industry
and the first to organise an inter-garden women football tournament in
the hills.
“One cannot only work. There has to be cultural
exchanges, sharing of views and interaction. This is why we also
organised a cultural show,” said Lohia.
“The supermarket chain
ALDI came up with a suggestion with Fairtrade to do something different
from the daily routine for workers. They wanted a partner and we were
approached,” said Lohia.
The tournament, which is named after
Lohia’s grandfather, had a budget of more than Rs 40 lakh and the
expenses were equally borne by the Indian and Germany partners.
The
format of the tourney was unique. A round robin league was organised at
the Maud tea garden in Assam and on Soom, Marybong and Nagri estates in
Darjeeling.
“The top two teams were selected for the gold plate
tournament, while the others competed for the silver plate.
Quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals were held for both the
categories,” said Indranil Ghosh, director (plantation and operations),
Chamong Tee.
While Lingia beat Pussimbing to lift the silver
plate, Maud defeated Tonganagaon to emerge as the winner in the gold
plate category. Both the finals were held at the Gorkha stadium in
Darjeeling on Sunday.
Women garden workers were seen fervently cheering their teams, with some breaking into spontaneous dance.
Dipasha
Rai, a Class X student of Ghooms Girls Higher Secondary School, and a
resident of Pussimbing tea garden, about 20km from Darjeeling, said: “I
have always played football. Women football is slowly picking up and we
have more women teams. In the current year, this is the second
tournament in which I am playing.”
Although the tournament was a
seven-side event, Ghosh said it was mandatory that 11 players were used
in each match to earn extra points during the round robin. “This was to
provide a platform to all players,” said Ghosh.
“It is quite an
achievement that Chamong group managed to get a team from its all
gardens. This would encourage women football in the hills,” said a
spectator.
https://www.telegraphindia.com
Post a Comment