Changu, Mangu and a Story of Soccering Hope

In a balmy Friday morning, Franz Gastler, sporting a stubble, striped shirts and faded jeans, stood close to the sidelines of Delhi's finest football ground, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

A former consultant for the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), who has made Ranchi his home, watched his team, the girls of Super Goats, play a friendly against a crack team from the United States which had earned both fame and cash in world football.

Gastler, who helped the girls win a trophy in faraway Spain late last year, has drained his savings, over the years to keep Yuwa afloat.

This trip which he said, was a "necessary exposure" was generously sponsored by Goal for Girls and Anglian Football.

His girls were outplayed, outnumbered by the trained girls from the US. They lost the match.

The famed visitors from across the Seven Seas had lemonade and iced water in the half time and pizzas after the match. The Super Goats had bottled water brought by a friend.The gap looked huge.

But Gastler won on spirits.When he had won the football trophy in Spain, there was not a single Indian to cheer the Super Goats. Friday afternoon, he was greeted by a barren Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, where young girls, who had also come for a game of soccer, played I-Spy in the crimson lake tracks that once hosted the legendary Carl Lewis ran before a packed crowd.

"It is the effort that counts," Gastler told Tadpoles.

Not just the game, he had other things on his mind. A whopping Rs. 15 lacs to keep Super Goats running, and an additional Rs. 30 lacs to take the girls to the United States for an important tournament."We will have to raise the money, so that these girls can travel to America," said Gastler.

Close by, the girls sat in a huddle, unhappy at the loss. "Cheer up, tum jeetega next time," Gastler shouted in broken Hindi which he said he picked up, during his stay in Ranchi, home to the Indian cricket skipper MS Dhoni and India's champion archer, Deepika Kumari.

                  

Almost single handed, Gastler - who grew up in Minnesota, groomed the girls who - otherwise - would have been married off by their impoverished parents in a state known for girl trafficking.Today, nearly three fourth of the women's football team come fromGastler's Super Goats.

"Football is a medium to prevent child marriages and human trafficking. The girls are living a dream. They practice 6 days a week and love spending more time with their teammates than their families," says Rose Thompson, Project Co-ordinator forYuwa.

The match was a great leveller. And the girls from the US loved the matches they played against Yuwa and also a team from Haryana, a state where girls hardly get chance to go to the playgrounds.

"The Indian experience has been fantastic. This team is a group of girls that didn’t meet till they came to India. Some were from the West Coast and some were from the East. They assembled in Chennai. The Yuwa girls are doing something really commendable, I only hope it spreads. India is sitting on a gold mine," said Cindy Parlow, coach of USA Elite Girls.The mandarins of football should know that.

Tadpoles