Mosammat Sagorika’s parents put bars on girls playing football.
There were also conservative people who had thought girls should not wear half-pant and play the game. They attempted to stop Sagorika more than once but she never gave up pursuing her goals.
They are now proud of Sagorika for being a footballer.
After netting her first youth international brace, Sagorika spoke at the post-match press conference with straight words on the social obstacles she overcame to steal the show in a football game.
It was Bangladesh’s first tie in the South Asian Football Federation Under-19 Women’s Championship held earlier this year in Dhaka.
Sagorika went on to score a stoppage-time winner during the crucial group clash against India before adding another in the final. She was adjudged the player of the tournament and joint top scorer.
Sagorika comes from a low-income family of Rangatungi. Both his father and mother run a tea stall to earn their daily bread.
They had no land of their own but did have a girl with sheer willpower.
Her parents were found busy handling the customers during a recent visit to Ranisankail Upazila to explore the factors behind the explosion of footballers in the much-talked Rangatungi village.
While father Liton Ali was cleaning the tea cups, her mother Anzu Begum was serving. It was a road-side tea stall comprising dry food as well.
A pair of wooden benches and some plastic chairs stood for the people to sit and drink. A TV hung on the wall.
Sagorika’s parents got this television as a gift from electronic goods manufacturing company Walton after Dhaka Tribune reported that her guardians borrowed a TV to watch the game where their daughter struck that sensational brace on debut.
The stall became overcrowded whenever Sagorika’s game was on air, said Liton.
He added that the villagers gave him money to buy sweets and distribute to the public after victory over fierce rivals India.
All thanks to Sagorika, who found the back of the net on both the occasions Bangladesh faced their superior neighbors.
“We never imagined Sagorika would go this far. When she went to Rangatungi academy, many village people said it is bad if a girl plays sport. They used to say playing in shorts is not good. They also said our daughter would become a bad girl,” said Sagorika’s mother Anzu.
“I didn’t want her (Sagorika) to join Rangatungi academy but my girl was determined to go. That is why I didn’t talk to her enough. I didn’t want to see my daughter play football. I felt bad because of various words of the village people, questioning girls playing the game. Some tried to convince me to allow my daughter to play as she used to go to the field without informing me and they discovered raw talent in her. I told her mother that if she goes to the field I would stop talking to both of them,” said Liton.
He now feels guilty.
“After Sagorika’s name spread across the country, people came to our shop and said they watched Sagorika on mobile. I feel good hearing this stuff,” said Anzu before urging for further assistance for Rangatungi women’s academy so that it can produce more footballers like Sagorika in the coming days.
Most recently, Sagorika was called up to the senior Bangladesh team.
She scored a hat-trick on debut after coming on as a second-half substitute. It was the first match of the two-game FIFA friendly series away to Bhutan.
She scored another in the next match. In both ties, Bangladesh came from behind to win.
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Part 1: Like a revolt near distant border
Part 2: The key man and the hurdles
Part 3: The rise of indigenous sisters from poverty