The Poovai Soccer League 2.0 is expected to take place in July this year in Penang, with great hopes that more female football players will emerge through this platform. Previously, when the Penang Indian Football Club hosted the Poovai Soccer League, only six teams competed in the tournament. But since the Malaysian Indian Football Association (MIFA) has joined in as the main organiser this year, more teams are expected to partake in this exciting opportunity.
Sri Shankar Sivalingam Raman, Head of Penang Indian Football Association, shared on RTM TV Tamil Seithigal that for the first year of the tournament, they had received the blessings of MIFA to organise the Poovai Soccer League. MIFA had also witnessed the success of the event throughout the opening and closing ceremonies, inspiring them to collaborate with the Penang Indian Football Association for this year’s Poovai Soccer League. 2.0.
Sri Shankar states that it was after witnessing the meticulous and productive way in which Poovai was conducted by the Penang Indian Football Association that MIFA decided to collaborate with them to develop the platform further.
Poovai will be different this year because MIFA and the Penang Indian Football Association will be collaborating in organising this tournament, with MIFA being the main organiser. We are expecting to start the tournament in July because, for the first year of the tournament, we had organised the event in July. We will most likely give out our announcements after Thaipusam is over. This is so teams can be given time to receive proper training before they compete in the competition.
– Sri Shankar Sivalingam Raman, Head of Penang Indian Football Association
Penang is the first ever state to concisely organise a football tournament for girls. Their labour for creating a space to foster the growth of female football players has been immensely fruitful, as now they have gained the support of organisations such as MIFA, which can greatly aid in expanding this platform for female players.
According to Sri Shankar, there are currently 365 Indian football players in Malaysia, and most of them are concentrated in Selangor, where there are more facilities and clubs accessible to players. A platform such as Poovai would aid in greatly increasing the number of Indian players to be selected to perform in the national team. The organisation also believes that it will not be long before Poovai emerges as a substantial name in the international arena.
Source: RTM TV TamilSeithi
