As Meghalaya turned 45, it took Shillong Lajong the same time in minutes to secure their first win in the I-league this season. They didn’t make it easy for themselves, as the crowd went from elation to relief towards the end of the game; their first performance at home not exactly sparkly, but enough to pacify.
Meghalaya Day had seen a crowd of 4,500 turn up to see Lajong attempt to stem the rot with a nucleus of Under-22 players, as many as eight of them, with Yuta Kinowaki and Asier Dipanda Dicka representing the only foreign interests for the home team.
Dwindling attendances
On the way to the stadium, one teenage fan was seen telling another, “Aaj Meghalaya Day bhi hai. Agar Lajong jeet gaya, toh danger after-party hoga (Today is Meghalaya day. If Lajong wins, there will be a massive after-party).
It was a day for all the locals to celebrate more than mere statehood, but the formation of an identity that they had strived to bring into public focus. An important part of this identity has been football but on this occasion, the prevalent levels of enthusiasm felt a bit flat.
En route to the ground, the Polo Grounds were also host to a carnival hardly 200 metres from the stadium where visitors engaged in merrymaking by watching all sorts of entertainment ranging from freestyle dancing to rock shows. Yet, their number rivalled that of those headed to the Jawarharlal Nehru Stadium on this, the most auspicious of days.
If a number of old-timers at the stadium are to be believed, the games three to five years ago saw crowds exceeding 15,000, those the heady days of two or more clubs from Shillong participating in the top two divisions of Indian football.
In all fairness, Habamutlang Lyngdoh, Lajong’s General Manager had warned me against expecting a huge turnout, “The team has lost the first three matches and the attendances also depend on our results, irrespective of the gap between our and the other team’s resources. If we win this match, then it might pick up again.”
Timing to blame?
Shillong had gone away to Bengaluru FC and Mohun Bagan – the two toughest fixtures first up and had drawn a blank. Stuck in last position with no points, perhaps Lajong’s play wasn’t the only thing to blame for the attendance.
One has to understand that this being a hub of football – not all fans of the game are the part of the young, well-to-do, urban, European league watching populace that exists in India’s big cities. Infact, Lyngdoh estimates that almost “60% or more of their fanbase consists of farmers, daily wage labourers and the like, and that many come from outside the city to catch the game.”
A 4.30 kickoff was always going to hinder this section of fans, as darkness descends quicker onto Shillong as compared to the other parts of the country and the hilly nature of the region hampers travel to a large extent, especially at the time the spectators make their way out of the stadium, by 6.45 or so.
Shifting the kickoff time to 1.30 would help the club cater to its largest fanbase, but instead they would be missing out on the office-goers; Shillong largely a city of six-days-working-a-week inhabitants. Hosting a game on Sunday would be tantamount to foolishness as the city by and large remains shut on that particular day of the week as most of its residents prefer to observe a day of rest.
Home team made to sweat late
Nonetheless, the game kicked off amidst some expectation from pounding red hearts against the similarly placed Minerva Punjab, also precariously perched in the table but safe from relegation due to a clause in AIFF’s corporate entry norms. Some in the crowd were hypnotised by the referee’s almost-neon colours and made many a wise-crack at the official’s appearance.
Like the last match, Lajong started the match in breathless fashion as the young tykes in red pressed high, Thangboi Singto having dropped Fabio Pena to ensure a faster transition from defence to attack.
This time, the home team finally did take advantage of the fast start, local boy Rupert Nongrum collecting a long ball, and drove to the edge of the box without any pressure and stroked it past Arshdeep Singh, sending the crowd into raptures. Dicka could have made it 2-0 just minutes later as by now, the viewing public were fully into the game, hissing and ooh-ing everytime the ball fizzed past the Minerva goal post.
They were not to be denied, as a miscommunication in the opposition defence saw Dicka stroke a long ball into an empty net. Whistles, applause and drum beats reigned forth as the crowd sensed that their team was beginning to turn the screw.
Frantic finish
Yet that was as good as it got for the home team, Minerva responding strongly and even going close on a couple of occasions in the second half. The Lajong skipper, young Nim Dorjee Tamang played his heart out and deserves special praise for keeping the big Minerva striker Ivan Filatov quiet all evening; the 21-year old from Sikkim challenging for every ball that came into his area.
The crowd, sensing a comfortable victory for Lajong decided to leave early with five minutes still left, as those that had come from far wished to avoid the post-match rush. Yet, some of them were stopped dead in their tracks as Loveday Okechukwu chipped host custodian Vishal Kaith from close to the half-line, reducing the margin of the deficit.
The visitors would have two more gilt-edged chances to earn a draw from the match as the six minutes added on made the crowd twist and turn uncomfortably. As they hung on, the tension gave way to light applause; a majority of the onlookers happy their team saw a tricky encounter through.
Singto was very skeptical of the team’s performance in the final 45 minutes, “We were tired in the second half, and there was a lack of confidence towards the end,” adding that age was not an excuse and these young players needed to grab their opportunities and that they needed to work harder to keep the ball better.
As the crowd dispersed into the night, Mumbai’s visit a week from now will determine whether Lajong and its faithful have truly got their mojo back.