As many as eight female footballers of Bangladesh’s Saff Championship winning squad hail from Kalsindur and adjacent areas of Mymensingh. Having overcome social obstacles and indifferent attitude towards women’s football, the eight girls have gone from strength to strength, dominating the local scene before reigning supreme in international competitions as well.
Here is the second part of the two-part special series on the Kalsindur girls as Shishir Hoque looks into the reasons why the eight triumphant footballers have had no rightful successors:
Social and personal life as well as family condition of eight national female footballers from Kalsindur school have enhanced big time but due to decrease in number of coaches, they have no notable successors from the same institution to follow them with same vibe.
Bangladesh Football Federation currently has 69 female footballers of different age categories in the residential training camp but none from Kalsindur except those eight players.
It was learned that no new girl from Kalsindur school managed to make it into the national camp since 2017 and all eight footballers were already called up by this time.
Shamsunnahar Jr was the last member from Kalsindur school to get chance in the national training camp in 2017.
Since then, some two-three players have been called up for the trial but none could make further progress.
But there was occasion when a total of 12 players from Kalsindur school represented a youth national team during AFC U-14 regional championship in Nepal in 2015.
Also Read: How the lives of Kalsindur girls changed after triumphs
That was the time when Kalsindur girls flourished collectively as they became hat-trick champions in the Bangamata Gold Cup primary school football tournament starting from 2013.
During that time national camp members hailed mainly from few districts like Mymensingh, Rangamati, Khagrachhari, Satkhira and Tangail but later it spread to more districts like Rangpur, Magura, Lalmonirhat, Kushtia and Cox’s Bazar.
Things got more competitive to get into the BFF camp.
The reason behind the downfall of Kalsindur school in supplying a steady line of players however, lies elsewhere.
Before going into that, it is relevant to discuss briefly why and how this school produced such number of national stars.
Kalsindur and adjacent villages are located on the borders of Garo foothills of Mymensingh.
Here, in Kalsindur school, persists cultural harmony as students from different ethnic and religious minorities study there.
The geography, social structure and family context of the girls of the concerned area enable them to be hard working and gain a level of fitness which sets them apart from the rest.
Yet, many negative words had to be heard by the people of the locality when women’s football began its journey there.
Kalsindur primary school headmaster Minoti Rani Shil cites a number of factors for the decline in number of talented footballers being produced by the school But Mafiz Uddin stood firm against all odds. Mafiz is the main reason behind the rise of Kalsindur girls.
As a sports devotee, he liked acting as referee for different games since childhood.
He learned football coaching by watching youtube videos which proved to be enough to teach the young girls the basics of the game.
It was under Mafiz’s guidance and coaching that the Kalsindur girls clinched the treble in school football tournament.
He was the assistant teacher of Kalsindur Government Primary School and also worked as dedicated football coach of Maria Manda, Sanjida Akhter and Co.
Mafiz had two assistants – Jewel Miah and Suranjit Ray Rajib.
On occasions, coaches from Mymensingh district, namely Makbul Hossain, Sultan Ahmed, Borhan Uddin and Salahuddin were hired to train the girls before competitions.
This trend came to an end five years ago when Mafiz and Suranjit left the school.
Mafiz got promoted and moved to Ranasinghapur Govt. Primary School as headmaster while Suranjit joined Jamalpur College.
This closed the finest pipeline of women’s football in the country.
Also Read: An exemplary initiative behind the rise of CHT girls
Jewel, a young and inexperienced coach, is an employee of Kalsindur High School and College.
He has been training the girls and boys of both Kalsindur primary school and high school but couldn’t leave behind any significant achievements like the predecessors.
“Three of us used to train the girls but now there is only one. This is why quality players are not coming out,” Mafiz told Dhaka Tribune.
“When I was coach, we used to train around 60-70 girls but after I left, the number decreased to 20-22. Around 200-250 people watched our practice sessions every day. Now people show less interest.”
Minoti Rani Shil, the headmaster of Kalsindur primary school, also echoed the same tune.
She told Dhaka Tribune, “Jewel became alone after Mafiz left the school. My son Rajib (Suranjit) also left. It is difficult for a young man like Jewel alone to produce good players.”
Back then, due to “village politics” distance was created between primary and high school which saw Jewel switch to high school coach, leaving the primary school without a coach for quite some time.
Since then there has been no notable success in the Bangamata Gold Cup.
Jewel could not be reached over phone despite repeated attempts.
Minoti however, is hopeful that the good days of Kalsindur school will return.
She concluded, “We will take steps to get a new coach. We need a permanent coach. We are trying to bring back Mafiz as well. We want to bring back the reputation.”
