Second chance saloon

It has been a tough week for Robert Royte, the owner of Aizawl FC. The build-up to the league title and intense focus on the team had been building through the week. For a man who has seldom been in the limelight despite all the good work he has done for Mizoram football and resurrecting Aizawl FC, it was a stamp of validation.

It was, as they say, written in the stars. A fairy tale though it may seem on the face of it, Aizawl’s story goes beyond that. Beneath the surface, it’s one of second chances.

It all started in 2011 when owner Robert Royte and Co. decided to revive the club following 13 years of dormancy. Breath new life into the side. They earned promotion into the top division and in the 2015-16 I-League, their first ever, only to be relegated on a technicality as last-placed DSK Shivaj-ians were immune from relegation under corporate entry rule.

Unfortunate but their show in the Federation Cup where they reached the final showed glimpses of what this team could be. At least for those who wanted to see. ‘Protesting with their performance” was how the then coach Jahar Das called it.

While initially protests fell on deaf years, three Goan clubs pulling out of the I-League was the catalyst. A second chance for the team from Aizawl to show what they could do with a shoe-string budget, hardcore fan base and local talent that may well be the best across the country. But first they needed to get the basics right. Out came the think tank.

“Aizawl’s performance and the reason for their relegation was mainly inexperience. The players and coach,” Royte revealed. “Knowing that fact, we decided to hire someone who has experience behind him.”

Enter Khalid Jamil. “I said only one thing to the team at half time (during the last game in Shillong) — you will not get another 45 minutes. This is the last. Go out and put in a last extra effort, together. If you think about this, you can do it.”

Those words will go down as the most important half time talk in Aizawl history.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves here. As fate would have it, the Kuwait-born former India international was unattached when Aizawl came calling as Mumbai FC, had just severed a seven-year relationship with the coach. Jamil, they felt, lacked the ambition.

Ah. the irony…“After leaving Mumbai FC, I was desperate for a job,” came the simple answer when asked about the decision.

“I was scared because I had to do well. I didn’t know the players, the city. Aizawl was outside my comfort zone.”

While as shocking as the change was for Jamil, on the pitch and within the club there were similarities to which he could hold on; Few things in the know amidst all that was alien.

An astute player manager, the 40-year-old knew how to instill his sense of no-nonsense football as the base for the talented local lads to turn on the style.

For that he needed trusted stalwarts. Someone on the inside who could be the eyes and ears on the field. In came Ashutosh Mehta and Jayesh Rane. “Jayesh and Ashutosh had played with me previously. So they could help the team in understanding my methods,” Jamil said.

In fairness, the duo needed a new lease of life to their careers as well.

“I didn’t have a very good season with Chennaiyin FC in the Indian Super League. So the key thing for me was to get playing time in I-League and Khalid guaranteed that,” says Rane.

Mehta was also in the same boat. “We were aware of the difficulties we would face moving to Aizawl. The weather, food, culture, lifestyle it was all different... The coach was the only reason for the move,” he added.

With his lieutenants back at his side, Jamil needed a marquee man. And in Mahmoud Al-Amnah, he found one.

The midfielder, capped 81 times for Syria, had gone under the radar during his time with Sporting Clube de Goa last season. With the Goan side no longer in the I-League, Jamil jumped at the chance, speaking to him in Arabic and convincing him to swap the sun and the beaches for the more moody and green state and even take a pay cut.

Others followed. In came 23-year-old goalkeeper Albino Gomes, ever the second fiddle in Mumbai City FC seeking regular football, striker Bayi Kamo Stephene, from the Goan league, and an unknown quantity in defender Kingsley Obumneme.

Hardly world beaters at first glance, but all with a point to prove. This curious blend of old and new went through the season unbeaten at home with eight wins and a draw. Cheered on by fanatic supporters, the team that played commendably but always conceded last season, evolved into a stoic side that built from the back and attacked with flair.

They scored just enough and decisively while conceding just 14 goals as Jamil’s influence took hold. Most importantly for the team, Rane evolved from a winger to a center midfielder, partnering yet another attacker convert in Jaryan, as the duo learned defensive know-how, selflessly providing the attackers, specifically Amnah, the platform to go and do the damage.

Others rallied alongside, doing their duties with due diligence.

Jamil, himself once an outcast, had turned the script on his head. ‘One game at a time’ became the mantra. Amna, Mehta, Rane and Jaryan became household names. Bayi Kamo a fearsome hitman. Gomes in line for the best keeper of the year.

As for those who came through the ranks, Lalramchullova, Lalruatthara, Laldanmawia R., Brandon Vanlalremdika among others are now knocking on the national team doors.

A champion team with no players ever having been part of another champion side. A team taking the same emotional journey with no one with wiser about the next turn or trap as they shattered one glass ceiling after another, driven by a coach who cajoled performances, one after another, with remarkable consistency from his men.

Yes, it’s a fairy tale for the ages. A sharp alarm bell for all who believe that money is key to success. A testament to the unpredictability of sport. It is all that and more. But perhaps, at its purest, Aizawl’s story is one of renaissance and resilience.

After all, it is fitting that a club that got a second chance bestowed the same for the others. That, is poetic justice.