With Manipur clinching the title, the Senior Women’s National Football Championship (SWNFC) held at Pasighat in East Siang district has concluded. First of all, the Arunachal Pradesh Football Association (APFA) deserves appreciation for organizing such a prestigious event in the state. Despite all odds, the football association managed to successfully conduct the tournament. However, the tournament ran into controversy when the ground conditions started to deteriorate because of the heavy rainfall. Allegation of players being injured was reported in the media, though the organizers, including the APFA and the All India Football Federation (AIFF), denied the report. The decision to conduct the championship during this time of the year, when the monsoon is still active, was perhaps a wrong one.
Further, in future the APFA or any other sports association should be careful while agreeing to conduct sporting championships in the state. Unless they are sure about the infrastructure, they should avoid hosting events of such huge proportions. Also, the tournament has exposed the engineering fault of the sport infrastructures coming up in the state. The Pasighat stadium, which was the main venue for the championship, had to be abandoned after the ground condition deteriorated due to heavy rainfall. It later emerged that the stadium did not have a proper drainage system and this badly affected the ground condition. The state government, particularly the sports department, should emphasize that all upcoming stadiums should have proper drainage systems. For now, let rejoice the successful conduct of the SWNFC and hope that more such national level sporting events are conducted in the state in future too.