Breaking Stereotypes

The first match was against a team from Delhi, and all odds were stacked against the team from Kashmir. “Girls from Kashmir were not even supposed to be playing the game,” says Soliha Yousuf, the captain of the girl’s rugby team from Kashmir.

That they had reached Pune to play in the ‘All India Senior Girls Tournament’ held in August, was a big achievement for them. Most of the players in the team aged between 14-16 years of age had started out playing rugby just to “chill out”, but soon fell in love with the game.

At home, the team did not even have a permanent rugby playground to practice on, but they made sure that whenever they got free time, they put it into the game.

“Sportsperson’s life is practice but here in Kashmir, our rugby team has only Sunday’s for practice and for that day also we first have to seek permission. We have to play in field meant for other sports, since we have no other choice.” says Dhuha Qazi, a player.

But all this was not visible in the game against Delhi Lions-a Delhi based team, who were taken by surprise completely. “When we play, we play for pride, and give it our best try. When we went into the game against Delhi, we forgot everything else and gave it our best try,” says Soliha.

The team won against the much fancied team from Delhi, and went on to win two more games, against “much trained” opposition. “The win against Delhi boosted our confidence, and we did not look back,” adds Soliha.

The team qualified for the finals against Bangalore. The match was progressing well and both the teams were equally poised. But as ill luck would have it, two players from the Kashmir team got injured and Bangalore had a narrow win. “I think we would have won, if there would have been no injuries,” says Bisma, a player. “But even reaching up to the final was a big achievement for us,” she adds. more