CHILD BRID Football is giving hop
BONDED by a love of the beautiful game, these girl footballers enjoy a kickabout like kids the world over.
But this is a team with a big difference – all the players are child brides.
Some were as young as five and still playing with dolls when they were married off by their elders.
When considered old enough, they will be sent to join their husbands to consummate their marriages and start a family.
But the sense of empowerment and independence the girls feel by playing football gives them another perspective.
They are shedding their fears and restrictive clothes to play the game, just like children all over the world.
More than 250 girls in Rajasthan, northern India, have taken football as part of two charities’ project to protect them.
Among the players is 13- year- old midfielder Payal Prajapat, who was married at seven but now wants a future standing on her own two feet.
Pride
She said: “When my parents saw me play football for the first time they were shocked. They couldn’t believe my talents. They could see I loved it. So they’ve agreed not to force me to join my husband for many years yet. “I’ll keep working on them and eventually I will try to annul my marriage so that I can become a professional football player.” Payal, the team’s leader in Ajmer, had to persuade her parents to let her play sport when members of the charity MJAS, Mahila Jan Adhikar Samiti, came to their village. Co-ordinator Karuna Philip said: “It has changed these girls’ lives. Some have just gained confidence, others have used the sport to fight child marriage and educate their parents on opportunities in life. “It gives us immense pride to see these girls in shorts and running around freely when they were forced to keep their faces covered under a scarf for so long.” Karuna and her team first faced huge resistance when they visited villages suggesting a football academy for young girls. They faced a stereotype that it was a males-only sport. MJAS, running the scheme with charity HAQ – Centre for Child Rights – took weeks convincing families and village heads to let them organise a ten-day football camp. On the last day of training, in May 2016, the girls invited their parents to watch them play. Karuna said: “The parents were stunned. They were all very emotional and proud to see their girls playing football so well. The girls picked up the game quickly and showed great fitness. These families had never seen anything like it and it ignited something in them. It made them want something better for their girls.”
But many older members of the community took a lot longer to accept such change. One grandmother went to the ground and hit everyone with a stick. Karuna said: “She was adamant girls were not supposed to wear such clothes, play such games or laugh loudly.” The girls spend two hours a day after school practising football before going home to their duties.
They don’t even have the money for proper goalposts but it has not dampened their passion. Payal said: “Football has become my passion and it has taught me about my own confidence. I’m determined to do well, and I know I will.”
She has told her parents she will call the cops if they force her to join her husband.
Payal was made to attend her wedding and said: “They tried to force me to wear a dress but I refused. I wore jeans instead. The ceremony still went ahead.
“I don’t want to join my husband. I’ve not seen him since. My dream is football and I will fight for my dream.”
Coach Aarti Sharma said: “These girls were raw when I first met them. It took time an ent spo
D tod ad
H hu It t lov 1