Saturday was a bright day for the Indian women's football team as they registered their first win of the year against a lower-ranked UAE, after losing their previous friendlies against higher-ranked European teams. But it was a dark night for the followers of the women's game as they had to stay in the dark about the happenings of the match till a tweet on the final result on the All India Football Federation's official handle.
As has been the norm with the UAE federation, the friendly was designated to be a closed-door affair with no provision for live streaming, an arrangement that is the onus of the host organisation.
So while the Indian women, who have been preparing for next year's AFC Women's Asia Cup under new coach Thomas Dennerby for more than a month in Jamshedpur, were thrashing their rivals for a 4-1 victory in Doha, their fans in India were frantically looking for an update on the game online and their rage was evident in the flood of tweets and posts on social media.
"Live streaming was possible or not is secondary to me... No line-up, no update, nothing - how is anyone supposed to know?" tweeted a disgruntled follower of the women's game. "Not shocked. Just upset. The team and the fans deserve better and much more. This ain't it. No communication about it makes it so much worse," tweeted another.
The frustration was laid to rest only after the final whistle when the official AIFF handle tweeted the final result of the match. Indian women had won the tie 4-1 with goals from Manisha (20'), Pyari Xaxa (27'), Sweety Devi (41') and Anju Tamang (75').
While it was good news for a country slated to host the Asia Cup next year followed by the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the lack in coverage of the same seemed a long way from AIFF's promise of using the build-up to promote the women's game in the country.
TOI contacted AIFF media on the issue but could not get an official comment on the same. With the women taking on Tunisia at the same venue on Monday, there is still no official word on live streaming for the same.
