Aizawl FC's maiden I-League win has brought a new dimension to Indian football.
I was in Shillong on Sunday evening to witness history being unravelled in front of my eyes, and I must say it was a surreal feeling for me as a footballer from the North-east. I started playing I-League in 1996. North-eastern players have been dominating Indian football for long now, and North-east India has been a powerhouse of Indian football. There are six-seven players in the national team, and so many playing in all other clubs in the I-League.
We always had good players but we never had a good, organised club. Budget-wise, we still can't match with the big clubs in the league, but at least we are organised now. I was ecstatic that Aizawl FC became champions, but we shouldn't forget that Larsing Ming, the owner of Shillong Lajong FC and president of Meghalaya Football Association, started this.
Football was never a profitable business, and it still isn't, unless you are a Real Madrid or a Manchester United. But it was Ming who started his club long time back. After that, Aizawl FC has been there for the last five years.
So, this fairy tale is not just one or two years old, this has been happening for the last five years. And before that, Ming envisioned that it's not only Goa or Kolkata who can have a club, people in North-east can also run a team with a low budget.
Seeing that, even Aizawl felt they can go the Lajong way. And look where they are now. They are the champions. I'm happy that the I-League trophy has come to the North-east. People of North-east India deserved this trophy, with the amount of support they shower. The whole state was behind Aizawl FC. It's not like in Pune, where 200 people come to watch you play. Here, 15,00-20,000 people cheer for you. That makes a big difference.
Local leagues have also played their part. In Mirozam, there is a local league where all the matches are shown live on television. All the matches. There's another club from Manipur called NEROCA FC, who is leading the table in the second division of I-League. They have a big fan-following here in Manipur. So, this Aizawl victory will have an effect on them as well, giving them confidence that even they can repeat history in the big stage.
As for the larger impact of Aizawl's success story, it shows that Indian football is not only about Mohun Bagan or East Bengal, clubs that have been ruling Indian football for the last 30 years. Football is spreading out now. I want to see a club from Kashmir, from Kerala, from Gujarat, from Rajasthan, from Hyderabad. The more football is spread out, the better it is for the sport. It should not be only about Bengal and Goa. It has spread out to the North-east now, and maybe in a few years' time, it could come to the states I mentioned above.
Another big takeaway from this is the success of Khalid Jamil. Before, the focus was only on foreign coaches. Everyone would say only foreign coaches can take teams to the title. But it's good to see Khalid doing well now, and for a club like Aizawl. It wouldn't have been easy, I'm sure.
This is big learning lesson for Indian football. It is not just about money, because I'm sure Aizawl haven't spent anywhere close to what Bengaluru FC or Mohun Bagan did. Now, clubs from smaller states who don't have big funds can afford to dream, if they have their structure in place. People who wish to own a club must be thinking: If Mizoram can have a club, why can't we?
I don't know what is going to happen with the merger of the leagues (I-League and ISL). There are so many things being said right now, it is all haywire. All I want is for them to not think of just the main areas and big clubs. If you want to have a team from the North-east, this is the best time to have it. And why one? Have more teams from there. All in all, Aizawl's victory is a big lesson for Indian football: be organised, and everything will fall in place.
Renedy Singh is a former India footballer from Imphal, Manipur, who played for the national team from 1998-2011. He is currently the assistant manager of ISL club FC Pune City. He spoke with Rutvick Mehta
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 "Renedy Singh, I-league, Aizawl FC, Shillong Lajong FC, Football, Mohun Bagan, Khalid Jamil")
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