Girl’s got goal(s): Women’s football team in a struggling society

“You score one goal and all the fear, caution and concern just disappear,” says Saba Parveen, one of the important voices in the documentary aptly titled Khule Asman Ke Niche (Under the Open Sky). Five years ago she didn’t know how to kick a ball, let alone score. Today, the 26-year-old is a PT teacher in a Thane Municipal Corporation Urdu medium school in Kausa, Mumbra, where she coaches girls how to defend, dribble, pass and shoot.

Muskaan Sayed too experienced a liberating feeling in her tryst with football. “Once we start playing, we don’t pay attention to who is looking at us,” says the 18-year-old whose doctor father and entrepreneur mother were encouraging from the start. She remembers the day when, plagued by self-doubt, she kicked the ball for the first time. “When the coach called out my name, my heart started pounding. I was supposed to take a shot, and I was extremely nervous. But then, I did it right, and it helped immensely to shore up my confidence outside the field,” she says.

The battle of acceptance

Even then, it was far from easy for Muskaan and the forty-odd girls from various schools in the neighbourhood who had enrolled for free football coaching, organised by NGOs Parcham and Magic Bus in 2011. There were perceptions to battle and inhibitions to shed before coming out on the field. After winning five tournaments in as many years, that battle has eased a lot. Along with victory has come acceptance and admiration from the town’s predominantly Muslim community that was initially opposed to the idea of girls running after a ball under the open sky. “It took me a year-and-a-half to tell my family that I was playing football. I could summon courage only after winning the first trophy,” says Saba.

“The primary challenges were to find an open space and convince the parents,” says social worker Aquila Khan, a member of Parcham, who, along with colleague Sabah Khan, set out to overcome the seemingly insurmountable hurdles. “Sabah’s goodwill in the area worked wonders in convincing parents and with the help of a women’s self-help group we got a vacant plot near a Shiv Mandir,” she says.

With the land near the temple converted into a parking lot, the venue shifted to the TMC school in Kausa where a pebble-strewn patch was cleared and levelled in two days, just before the Fatima Bi-Savitri Bai Football tournament held on International Women’s Day. “Here the girls play and practice every alternate day, including on Sundays,” says Saba. All the stakeholders in the initiative had a common thing to say: Girls need to play for their physical and intellectual development.

The reel image

The documentary made by Shilpa Phadke, Nikhil Titus and Faiz Ullah of the School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, in association with Parcham, is an ode to the girls and women who fought for a dream they believed in. In its 35-minute duration, Khule Asman Ke Niche, captures several facets of the football initiative, including the bitter reality of ever-shrinking open spaces and the difficulty faced by girls to reclaim their share in that diminishing space.

However, the enduring images in the documentary are those of girls enjoying their moments under the sun—their faces radiating joy and satisfaction. What is particularly inspiring is their commitment to football, evident in the warm-up sessions and their zeal on the field as they egg each other on.

“My main takeaway from the film has been that women and girls want and need to claim public space to play, engage in sport and have fun while they do,” says Phadke. “While there are particularities to the situation of Muslim women/girls in Mumbai, their situation in relation to playing in open maidans reflects broadly the realities of women across the city of Mumbai. An organisation like Parcham that is explicitly feminist, engaging in football is invaluable to the larger political goal of expanding women’s access to public space.” The film is available on YouTube.