Considered the Durga of Indian Football, Oinam Bembem Devi has enjoyed an illustrious career with the Indian national team winning a host of accolades during her career. Now having hung up her boots, India’s second female footballer to win the prestigious Arjuna Award looks to build the nation’s youth system. In an exclusive interview with indiansuperleague.com, the former AIFF Women’s Footballer of the Year spoke at length about her thoughts on the development of women’s football in India as well as what she hopes to achieve in her coaching career.

That winning feeling!

The Indian women’s U15 team created history by recently winning the SAFF U15 Championship, beating Bangladesh in the final. As Assistant Coach, Devi recalled some of the emotions that went through the players’ minds in the days leading into the final as well as the efforts they made to overcome the hurdle. “The team is playing with a lot of confidence and I am very happy with the win. We had heard that the Bangladeshi women’s team is one of the toughest teams to face. We heard that they had been training regularly for seven months, touring overseas for matches. The entire coaching staff got together, and we tried to motivate our kids; we told them that there is no difference between them and us and we can win.”

“The team played extremely well, they gave it everything they had and played with so much confidence. They didn’t give up for even a second, until the final whistle of the match. They came and told me that they were completely out of breath by the end of it, but I assured them that I will pick them up each time they fall, but never give up and just focus on your performance and give your 110%. That is the only reason that we achieved success,” Devi beamed with pride.

Returning to the senior team as a coach

When asked about her future with the women’s national team, Devi shed light on her aspirations of coaching the senior team in a few years’ time. “Yes, I think I will. But I have to be an experienced coach because I have played for 21 years, I have a lot of playing experience, but not much in coaching. That’s why I want to gain some more coaching experience after which I will try to take over the coaching role with the national team.”

Infrastructure – then and now

Talking about the state of women’s football today compared to what it was during her playing days, the 38-year-old spoke about the gulf in quality with regards to infrastructure and exposure. “There were many difficulties we faced at that time. We never got the kind of facilities kids today get during our national camps. We had some, but it wasn’t as comfortable for us back then. These days, the young players get a comfortable hotel stay, with two players per room and attached bathrooms; but during our time, we didn’t have these luxuries. We used to have common bathrooms which players had to share.”

“We didn’t even have the quality food the kids get today; our travel used to be by bus whereas, in today’s time, players are flown in and out of camp venues. They have air-conditioned rooms which we didn’t have during our time. Nike has been sponsoring professional equipment for all (age) categories – training kits, match kits. In our time, we didn’t have any branded gear, it was very different,” she added.

The road ahead

Devi also spoke about the kind of steps that need to be taken to ensure that the Indian women’s football team can compete with some of the finest nations in the world.

“We are definitely trying but the coaching camps are very short-termed. The coaching should be longer, and the team should have more exposure to friendlies against higher-ranked teams and against the male teams. The more tournament experience the girls get, the better they will play and show results,” Devi assured.