Football coach leads girls from village fields to national stage

Bettiah: Football has changed the lives of hundreds of girls in West Champaran. What began on simple village grounds has grown into a steady stream of state and national players. At the centre of this change is 65-year-old Sunil Verma.

A resident of DK Shikarpur under Narkatiaganj and co-secretary of the Bihar Football Association, Verma has spent more than three decades promoting girls’ football in a region marked by poverty and social restrictions.


“I have been passionate about football since 1977, when I was in Class VI. In 1988, I travelled to Lucknow as a coach with the men’s football team from Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Bihar. There, I saw a women’s football match and met Rita Kullu from Ranchi. That interaction inspired me to promote talented girls from my Champaran soil,” Verma said.

The journey was not easy. “In 1989, Wajda Tabassum from Mahua village near Narkatiaganj approached me. She used to practice running at the local high school ground and expressed her wish to play after watching the boys’ team. Once she began playing, she was soon selected for the Bihar women’s football team,” he said.

A major boost came in 1996, when a national-level women’s tournament was organised at Narkatiaganj High School. Interest grew. Over the years, players such as Wajda Tabassum, Soni Paswan and Ansha Kumari represented India. Soni captained the Indian Under-14 team. Many others earned places in Bihar’s Under-14 and Under-17 squads.

Most came from poor families and trained without proper kits. What they lacked in facilities, they made up for with discipline. Govt schemes offering jobs for medal winners strengthened their resolve. Today, many former players work in the police, Railways and other departments.

Ansha Kumari, who represented India in China, Vietnam and Bangladesh, said, “Sunil Sir is no less than Guru Dronacharya for us. He travelled from village to village, convincing parents that daughters, too, can earn respect and employment through sports.”

Soni Paswan added, “This is social change. Through sports, daughters are becoming self-reliant and setting new examples.”

Ansha’s father said, “Sunil Babu changed our destiny. Today, four of my daughters who played football are working in the govt job.”