Kolkata: Goal-machine Bala Devi, who Wednesday made history after being roped in by Scottish club Rangers FC, feels this exposure will further propel her to get better and she is confident of scoring a lot of goals in Scotland riding on her reservoir of experience back home.
Rangers FC announced the signing of Bala from Manipur Police Sports Club, subject to international clearance.
The 29-year-old will join the club on an 18-month deal after a successful spell on trial at Rangers in November.
This will make Bala Rangers’ first Asian international footballer.
“I had confidence. For 14 years, I have represented India, 17 years I played for my state (Manipur) and I have played in Europe twice. I feel, maybe, if I give my best I can do it. I know I can score goals there too like I do here,” Bala said.
“I scored twice in one of the games we played among the players at Rangers during my trial,” she said. “The coach played me in the attacking midfielder position that I play for India. He also gave me the No 10 jersey. It was very motivating for me and I was able to give my best.”
Bala is the current top-scorer for India with 52 goals. She also has over 100 goals in 120 games at the domestic level besides being two-time AIFF Women Player of the Year (2015, 2016).
Bala has also skippered the national team in an international career which began when she was 15 years old.
Bala who was born to a football-playing father, took to the field along with her elder brother. Inspired by her, more girls joined in and her hometown Irengbam soon had its own women’s football team.
“It all started when I used to play football with the boys back home,” she said. “I always believed girls could play, when in 2005 I played for India in Korea, scored goals, I felt we can do better than them too.”
Bala who has already had one stint in Maldives with New Radiants Sports Club, said at 29, the move comes at the right time in her career.
“It was very different (in Maldives). 25 days to one month in Maldives I spent with New Radiant Sports Club. That was one step in the right direction. We did not know what was a league and how it was played.
“I was very confident because I’ve been playing for the national team for 14 years as I said, so I felt that I can make it if I tried my best. We played a friendly there and I scored twice, and I’m sure I will score in the league as well,” she said about her trials in Scotland.
In Bala’s case, the onus was on the club to legally clear her contract as she did not automatically fit in the eligibility criteria to play in the United Kingdom. She was granted the UK work permit on a special exemption.
The eligibility rules for a woman footballer to ply her trade in the UK specify that the player’s country should be ranked in the top-40 of the FIFA rankings, and that the player should have played in a minimum of 75 per cent of international matches in the last two years. As per the latest rankings, the Indian women’s team is ranked 57th. Bala, thus, did not fulfil the eligibility criteria.
There was, therefore, a special appeal made to a six-member panel to the Scottish Football Association (SFA) wherein the head coach, technical team and a lawyer from Rangers presented the case. Bala’s case was also backed by the Indian football fraternity.
There was AIFF president Praful Patel, Indian women’s team coach Maymol Rocky, former Indian skipper Bembem Devi, icons Bhaichung Bhutia, Renedy Singh, and national team skipper Sunil Chhetri putting in their recommendation letters for her exemption.
Speaking about her trials with Rangers, Bala said: “I had given my best, so I wasn’t nervous. The coach there told me that he was pleased with the technical and tactical side of my training and I only needed to work a bit more on my fitness. Overall it was a good week of training for me.”
Talking about the growth of the sport for women in the country, she said: “There is lots of exposure now for the national team. We went to Spain. We are getting to play friendly matches and that is great for women’s football. IWL is also regular now,” she concluded.
Bala will now play in the Scottish Women’s Premier League 1, which is the premier division for women’s football in Scotland and will run from February to November, with eight teams taking part this season.
PNN/Agencies