Neidilhoutuo Sechü
KOHIMA, APRIL 28
Here’s an upcoming Naga footballer who is determined to become a professional someday. This promising soccer player is just 17 years old, yet, a glimpse at his achievements, till date, speaks volume of what is in store for this young man who has the ambition to play at the top level of football in the country, if not more.
The soccer player in discussion is NeithovilieChalieu alias Neitho, son of Zhagwelhou and KezhalenoChalieu, hailing from Tsiepama village of Dimapur district. He is the fifth child among the seven siblings.
Recently, Neitho got selected to join the reputed North East Football Club, ShillongLajong Football Academy as an Under-18 player. He has been selected as a goalkeeper.
The journey just started, and it’s too early to be commenting on his success, nevertheless, this aspiring footballer needs recognition in order to garner motivation and support from all corners.
Nagas are proud in producing a couple of footballers in the past who have achieved at higher levels including Dr T. Ao, who captained the national football team at the 1948 Olympics and RokoAngami, who played for Mumbai based club Mahindra & Mahindra in late 90s and even represented the U-16 national team in Israel and Nepal. There were also other Naga footballers who have played for some prominent clubs, yet, we regret that many of those talents failed to achieve higher.Like many other northeastern states, even for the Nagas, it’s no doubt football is considered as the most popular sports event. Yet, when football is rated in that category, a concern strikes us immediately that we have failed to excel for so long in the most popular sporting event of the State. Comparably, leaving aside Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and other northeastern states including Manipur, Assam, Meghalaya, Sikkim and of late Mizoram, have all gone ahead of us in producing football talents.
For those who are yet to know this upcoming footballer, he started getting recognition since the last two/three years. He represented Nagaland U-14 team at the Subroto Cup, at New Delhi in 2012. The Nagaland team emerged as the champion after they defeated West Bengal in the final via tie break. To his credit, Neitho was adjudged the ‘Best goalkeeper’.
Neitho, a student of Government Higher Secondary School, Medziphema and Chakhroma Baptist Mission, Medziphema, spent a year at the SAIL (Steel Authority of India Ltd) Football Academy, Bokaro, Jharkhand, in 2015. Just before joining the ShillongLajong Football Academy, early this year, he attended the India U-17 camp at Goa for one-and-a-half month, wherein, he was picked by the ShillongLajong coaches to join the academy. Along with Neithovilie, another Naga footballer TemjenWati (Dedender) was also selected to join the ShillongLajong Academy. However, it was informed that, Temjen is still attached with the Guwahati Town Club, waiting for the NOC (No Objection Certificate) from the club.
To his credit, this budding footballer Neithovilie had played in more than ten states representing different clubs. Apart from Goa, Jharkhand and New Delhi, Shillong, other states where he played are Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab (Chandigarh), Bihar, Chhattisgarh and majority of the northeastern states. Here in Nagaland, he represented the Naga Tornadoes at the Nagaland Premier League.
Talking to EM over the phone, State football coach Mughato was happy that Neitho got selected for the ShillongLajong Academy.
“ShilongLajong is one of the major upcoming football clubs in the country, and I see I bright future for Neitho, provided he strives hard and remain steadfast to his goal and ambition,” Mughato said.
Coach Mughato, who trained Neitho for some years, regarded Neitho as a ‘well disciplined’ and ‘hard working’ student. He prayed for Neitho’s success, while wished for a bright endeavour.
Another State football coach RokoAngami, who has also been observing this upcoming footballer over the years, merited Neitho by his performance.
“He can do better and has the potential to go a long way,” RokoAngami said maintaining that “hard work, commitment and dedication is the key to excel.”
Nagaland and football fans across the State, as a whole, are happy with the rise of promising footballers in recent times. Going by records, Nagaland has number of times lifted the Subroto Cup, a football tournament for junior category. And this speaks enough to proof that we have football talents in the State. But we regret to see that we have considerably failed to mould and nurture these talents, noting that the Nagaland Senior Football team has not come up to the mark at the national level.
It is worth to note that many footballers from neighbouring northeastern states were selected to play for the ISL clubs (Indian Super League) during the first two ISL seasons, however, not a single Naga footballer was selected to represent any of the clubs at the ISL.
As for Neithovilie, though we are happy with his talents, only time will tell about his future as he ventures out to make a mark in football. We pray that he surely will do us (Nagas) proud.
