Rajasthan, comprised majorly of girls from economically backward Dhingsari village in Bikaner district, won the tier II of 2024-25 junior girls’ national football championship, in a classic tale of triumph over societal perception. New Delhi: For former footballer Vikram Singh Rajvi, convincing parents of Rajasthan’s Dhingasri village to let their girls play football was arguably a bigger task than winning tier II of 2024-25 junior girls’ national football championship. Not only are the people of the Bikaner district’s village economically weak but thir mentality remains steeped in primitive conservatism to the extent that they still prefer girls to be married off before turning 12 than allow them to play football wearing “indecent” clothes.
Even if some defiant ones still did, they would end up slapped mercilessly, getting their certificates torn and dumped in the bin and quickly married off to prevent fascination to turn into passion. Like it happened with Ranjana (name changed to prevent identification due to sensitivity), who paid the punishment to play in a district-level tournament and emerge as its best player by getting married aged 13. Not even seeing their child weeping through the night softened them up.
Son of former India captain Magan Singh, Rajvi’s academy that is named after his father, encountered many such instances of forced marriages to bury fledgling ambitions in the village. Rajvi’s persistence paid off gradually, for not only was he able win over the reluctant parents but through a victorious campaign capped off by beating Karnataka in the final, have opened their eyes to the prospect of ‘freedom’ for their girls. Now they are more than willing to let them play in the tier I of the national football championship, which is music to the ears of Rajvi, an Indian Railways employee who spends a big chunk of his salary to run the academy free of cost for girls.
‘Freedom’ “The parents have now realised that football can offer their daughters a brighter future; the girls are convinced that football is their window to freedom,” Rajvi told the-aiff.com . “Most of these girls were either herding goats or working on the farmlands as daily wagers from their childhood and were expected to get married before they turned 12.
We tried for years and could finally make them understand the importance of playing football.” The victorious Rajasthan team has 12 of 23 players from Bikaner district’s Dhingsari village. Photo: AIFF Funding woes remain but triggering a societal chance in perception is a fulfilling reward in itself, which no money can’t match for Rajvi, which led him to undertake the responsibility of a promising player, who played a pivotal role in Rajasthan’s triumph.
“There is one girl, who belongs to an extremely poor family. I was so impressed by her skills that I decided to take care of her needs. The girl’s family agreed.
In the Tier 2 NFC, she played a major role in Rajasthan’s triumph,” he said. Historic win A backwater in Indian football, it was Rajasthan’s only second win in the nationals at any age group. “This is Rajasthan’s first major win in 60 years.
The last title we won was the Junior National Football Championship for the BC Roy Trophy in 1964 in Ajmer,” Rajasthan Football Association’s secretary Dileep Singh Shekhawat told the-aiff.com . “In this team, 12 of the 23 girls are from Dhingsari village in Bikaner.
We will do our best for the entire squad. We will approach the authorities so that the girls get jobs in sports quota in different government organisations.” Rajvi want the recognition for the girls to lead to security of government jobs, which would enable them to follow their passion, for which he is willing to continue to pay out of his own pocket.
“We run the academy for free; we don’t even charge a penny. Even our academy isn’t equipped with the best of facilities,” he said. “But it’s good that people in our area have now realised the importance of women’s football.
Several facilitation functions were organised in honour of the team. “They received some cash awards, too. I hope the girls will be given jobs and other facilities so that more girls come forward to play the beautiful game.
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