The Ambedkar Stadium in the Capital, hosting the North East Tamchon Trophy, has been home to partisan crowds, speed, thrill, goals, cards and perhaps all the ingredients of a riveting football contest over the last week or so. Matches producing 18 or 12 goals, for a side, and deadlocks have been off and on through the ten days so far, but there have been no complaints about the energy and commitment levels on the field.

Most of the 20-odd teams, however, don’t have a registration or a player of repute, somewhat dampening the profile of the event and the interests of a common football fan.

G Kamei, a Railways player and representing his community through a club named after it — Zeliangrong FC-asserts the tournament has a different relevance to the people of the “rising” north east. And once he is on the field, it’s more than just the game of football. “That’s why you won’t see too many individuals over here even though there are a few former national league players playing. Each team is representing a tribe from the north east and that’s why you will see the supporters changing for every match. And they are not here to support any individual but the whole team,” Kamei says, speaking to Sportline. “For a professional player like me, it becomes a bit difficult to play an unrecognised tournament but for all players belonging to the Seven Sisters, this tournament is important, irrespective of whether we are professionals or amateurs. You can judge that from the competition levels here, there's not a single inch of free space,” the striker says pointing to the 4-3 result in favour of his team against SSPP (Paite) on Monday where his opponents came back from 4-1 down.

... contd.