Our Village Rongo and It's Love for Football

This is the time every year when my village would be engrossed in football as the Inter village matches would be on but this year due to the COVID 19 the people will miss the action. For 15 days Rongo would be divided into Maidan Gaon, Dhap Gaon, Gurung Goan, Pakhrin Golai, Sangam Gaon, Dokan Dara, Tanki Dara, and so on. I might have missed out on a few names as the last Inter village tournament I saw was in 2013 when I was the Manager and Coach of our Ground Gaon Team.

I will have have to admit I don’t have much idea about the history, of football in Rongo, this will require time and effort if it has to be done in a proper way, but since I was a little kid I can remember watching matches at the ground which is officially called the Rongo Janata Ground. I think the very first football match I saw was in Rongo, during the days when the 3 defenders never left their place and the goalkeeper was allowed to catch the back pass. Oh yes, the defenders were called simply “Back” and the cheering for them would be like “Back Kasto Bhitta Jasto” and the famous one for the goalkeeper “Keeper Kasto Chumbak Jasto”.

Once I had also played in the Inter Village Tournament for Ground Gaon during my college days. We had won the first game easily with Laxman (Lacchay) and PC playing from their heart. Laxman who plays as a left-back was running up and down and PC who was our stopper even went in for the sliding tackle with his head. We were in splits when he had got up with his face full of slush as the ground was muddy due to the rain. Unfortunately, in the 2nd match, we were knocked out as I made 2 silly mistakes and both were converted into goals by the other team I think It was Gurung Gaon.

One thing is for sure Football has been played at my village for a long time. My grandfather used to tell me some stories about the game during his younger days and also my mom who shared some funny stories like the goalkeeper saying “I won’t catch any ariel balls” and the referee being chased away by angry players. Yes, the Rongo Folks really enjoy the game and a healthy rivalry which it evokes, but sometimes things did get out of hand like once, though I was not there, a huge fight had broken out between the boys of 2 different teams and one player was badly beaten up. In the 1990s Rongo Sporting Club had started hosting a tournament named KB Rai Memorial Gold Cup If I remember correctly this was held for four years and after that, they could not continue. I still remember that impressive trophy with a hand of silver catching the ball of Gold. Many good teams from across the region used to come and participate and it used to be like a festival.

Rongo has also produced a number of good footballers over the years but due to the lack of opportunity, most of them could not make it big. The ones that I am aware of and have seen them play are Samir Subba, Santosh Khawas, Saroj Rai,Kamal Thapa, Kishor Gurung, Bikash Daju (Can't remember his surname), Puran Daju the Goalkeeper, Phurba Lama, Kaptian Gurung, Bidur Thabe, Sang Lama, Laxman Rai. These are the names I can recall at the moment. Most of these boys now men used to be hired by different teams mostly from Sikkim and I can faintly remember some of them telling me about their annual sojourn of going to Jorethang and playing for Jorethang Truck Drivers Association. Phurba Lama and Kaptian Gurung reached till Delhi to play in the NCC Nationals Football Tournament and I remember Phurba daju telling me that they liked the grass at the stadium so much they had slept on it for a while.

I am sure most of them would have turned pro if they had got the right opportunity but those were hard times and all of them choose other fields. In the present times too football is played with vigor in Rongo and I'm sure in future a star will be born from there. In Goa, many International footballers have come up from the Inter Village Level so you never know what future might hold for the young players from Rongo. So all the best to the present generation of footballers from Rongo.