Girls Football for Social Change
Football has always been taken as a team sport. It always has its supremacy over other sports for the reason it has achieved the level of commercialization, it’s fan flowing, and the money that has been invested for its development and promotion. There are professional players who get everything in their life by just playing football. Football has always been linked with its pure skills and the amusement it provides to the audiences. Very few studies have been made about its social aspects. Sometimes there arises some genuine questions ‘Can football really change the community? There are some incidents that prove that ‘Football can really change the community.
In the year 2013, a girl football team from Mugu got an opportunity to participate in a National level football tournament. Their victory didn’t get them the trophy alone, it helped them change the traditional perspectives of people towards women.
The women in the traditional community of Mugu were taken as second class citizens providing them less respect and opportunities. They were generally deprived from education and forced to support their mother in her household chores; collecting fodders and firewood from the jungle and taking care of their younger siblings. They are even married off before they reach their puberty. They spent all their life in discrimination, exploitation and exclusion.
After the girls became the champion in the national level football tournament, the girls get the respect that no women got it before. They were taken back to their village in the horse back. Horse riding was limited to the men alone because of some traditional perception. They were welcomed as hero. The community people started to see women as the men who can bring name and fame for their family and the community if provided them the opportunity.
Few of the team members including Sunakali, who was the highest scorer of the tournament, got an opportunity to continue her higher studies in the prestigious colleges at Kathmandu in scholarship. She even got an opportunity to visit Europe and share her experience with the women’s football team of famous European Clubs.
From her inspiration, the girls team of under 14 from Mugu got an opportunity to participate in the Donsti Cup Football Tournament at San Sebastian, Spain in 2018. The girls are the first Nepalese women to participate in such international football tournament, not even the girls from the National Team.
The opportunities the girls get in their life because of playing football has tremendous impact in their community. They have achieved name and fame for themselves and for their family and community which was not achieved before by the men.
Every girl in the community of Sunakali dreams to become like Sunakali. She has become the role model for the other girls and parents as well.
Motivated from the achievement of Sunakali and other girls, the parents in the community of Sunakali and the girls started sending their daughters to schools for their education.
A documentary entitled ‘Sunakali’ made on the stories of these girl footballer was a massive successful in the national and international film festivals bagging 26 major awards and numerous nominations. Inspired from the impact of football in making social change, the director of sunakali documentary, Mr. Bhoj Raj Bhat, president to Rara Foundation was awarded with the Dream Asia Award 2019.
Motivated from the recognition and support we are receiving from the people and the Asian Football Confederation, we are planning to develop the football as a tool to empower the most marginalized people in our community specially women and help them change their community to make it a better and safer place for them to live in.
Our interventions:
- Explore the aspiring amateur players and develop their skills
- Provide paid and paid-off trainings to the interested amateur players
- Coordinate and collaborate with local youth clubs; community schools, football related committees; associations and confederations
- Manage trails for the aspiring players in the football clubs and help them participate in national and international football tournaments
- Work for the development of football grounds and stadiums
- Promote the sports tourism for sustainable tourism in the local communities
- Explore the local stories of football and promote it through media
Our Recent Projects:
- Grassroots Girls Football at Mugu
- Grassroots Girls Football at Kailali
- Professional Football Training at Kathmandu