Hyderabad: Starting at a young age with children -- boys and girls -- in her locality, Vivek Nagar, Dola Ghosh decided to take a step forward to make her football known outside her locality at the age of 27. Though it was late, she was not willing to give up her dream to play at the highest level. She was always true to her dream. So, on her own initiative, she moved out of her locality to play for Dharmatala's Itika Memorial in 1994.
"My parents never objected to my decision to play football. They always encouraged me. But people in my locality looked at me with an eye of suspicion. At Dharmatala while playing I noticed many people assembled to watch football, but they used to laugh seeing a girl playing among 21 boys," Dola Ghosh, who played at stopper back position, told Etv Bharat recollecting the days of her hurdles.
As it happened, Dola, despite being born and raised in a conservative society, was not willing to be bogged down by the societal pressures and evil eyes of spectators.
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Her decision to play at Maidan was bold and courageous as she was coming off to play at a place where no other girl was visible, neither at the ground nor on the sidelines. Dola had no choice but to play with boys to keep her passion afloat.
Dola's dedication and commitment to football eventually worked wonders as she made it to the Calcutta University (now Kolkata University) and Bengal team and in the very next year, after she started playing in Maidan in 1995, she got a call from the All India Football Federation to play for India women's senior team in the AFC Women's Championship. The tournament turned out to be a disaster for India. They returned home losing all of their three group stage matches to Japan, South Korea and Uzbekistan. They had conceded an average of four goals in each game.
After another year with the Indian women's team, Dola left everyone surprised by hanging her boots up. The obvious question that came on her way was why did she take retirement so early?
It was nothing but a marriage that made her convinced to give up playing. A month before the India women's team's tour of China and Japan in December 1997, she got married to former India international Subir Ghosh and took a call on her career.
Her sudden retirement left the Indian women's football fraternity surprised. Dola discovered that playing football wearing shorts with vermilion on her forehead and bungles in both her hands was giving her a bad feeling. It was an odd match, according to her. "I didn't like it. Sakha, sindoor and shorts and jersey can't go side by side. It doesn't give a good look. At the same time, we had nobody to look after our two children. So, I decided to become a homemaker. If I had not given up playing, Subir would have faced problems in continuing his office," Dola said.
"Situations have changed now. Nowadays, girls don't think the way we once used to think. At the same time, people are also becoming more aware of women in sports. This change in outlook towards sports playing a key role in more women's participation in sports. I feel really nice to see more, more girls taking up football and playing for various age group teams of India," she added.
Asked whether he had any problem with his wife playing football, former footballer Subir Ghosh said, "I supported her all through, even though I wanted her to continue post-marriage. But we both were against playing since we had nobody here to look after our family. So, she had to give up given the circumstances," says Subir, who played for the India youth team in the now dysfunctional Rajiv Gandhi Gold Cup in 1991 and Nehru Gold Cup in 1993 for India senior team.
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Sadly, Dola's career was over even before it took off. She had to give up football to look after her family, a common south Asian problem that forces women to stay indoors all through their life.
However, though her promising career got over like a flash in the pan, Dola didn't forget football. Until the COVID-19 pandemic grappled the world she was training children at the Javadpur University ground alongside her husband Subir Ghosh.
With the coronavirus situation improving now, she is rearing to train budding female footballers to make them ready for women's leagues taking place across the country and the senior national team.
-- By Sudipta Biswas
