Football World Cup in Brazil is getting attention of sports lovers from all over the world but not from soccer crazy YUWA girls of Ormanjhi! The victorious tribal girls at international stage despite numerous odds on previous occasions still lack in basic facilities that include a decent television set to watch matches besides, other boosters like playing ground and infrastructure.
The disenchantment towards the biggest sports extravaganza is not unwarranted, especially when the donation seeking girls are making themselves ready for yet another international outing—the USA Cup in July.
“Apart from the matches being played late in nights it is also lack of basic facilities to watch football is the reason behind lack of craze among the girls. It is bizarre for the team to miss most of the live action of the football World Cup which would have proved beneficial to them. We sometimes download footage of the matches and watch them later in our small office space,” said Neha Baxla, coach of the team YUWA.
The reason apart, craze for the tournament is also low among the young and deprived girls due to the intrusion made by land hawks into their original practice ground which is vitiating the atmosphere.
“The girls are feeling disturbed as heavy construction works have been started on the ground we used to play and practice. All the lands have been sold for constructing buildings and housing complexes. We are reduced to a smaller piece of land which often gets waterlogged in rains and is very small in size,” explained Baxla.
Worth mentioning here is the ill-treatment the girls had been subjected to when they were abused and forced to sweep floors by some Government officials when they went there seeking documents like birth certificates before leaving to Spain. Though, the inhumane behaviour brought attention of the system back on them but only briefly.
All the efforts to get a decent stadium or residential sports complex for the girls have also been shattered. “We have no information in this regard from the Government side. I am not aware about the status of the proposal which is pending with the Sports Department at present,” said Franz Gastler, mentor and founder of YUWA India; the US based NGO which is working to empower the tribal girls through football.
latest information suggests that the project to build a residential sports complex for the girls at Dahu village of Ormanjhi has virtually been dumped now. It is when the Ranchi district administration had allocated five acres of land for the purpose in the village long ago.
“We were interested not in building a stadium but a residential complex. But the MoU with YUWA did not materialise. We wanted the girls to represent the State in national and other tournaments on which they were not agreeing. When the Government is going to spend its money then it should also get something in return,” said Sports Secretary Vandana Dadel.
Though the Team YUWA has its own apprehensions before agreeing to the condition put by the Government. It is about safety and security and proper management of the teenage girls by the system and also the fate of brand YUWA.
In this scenario only sense of encouragement the girls have in the form of a team bus, donated by former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh from his MPlAD fund.
The bus takes the girls once in a while to bigger ground in Rukka or elsewhere for better practice.
“We need it badly as we are preparing for the US Cup. This is more important for us than the World Cup and the girls are focusing on that,” added Baxla.
Moreover, the journey once again is not an easy one for the team. Besides seeking donations for participating in the tournament, which has reached about Rs15 lakh till date, the Team YUWA is sweating hard in getting passports and visas for its nearly 24-member team.