Gokulam Kerala captain Dangmei Grace remembered the conversations she heard when she had gone for the opening ceremony of the 2023 Indian Women’s League season.
Odisha FC, the Indian Super League club, had made a splash ahead of their debut appearance in the IWL, signing some big players including star India forward Bala Devi, to become serious contenders for the title. Former champions Sethu Madurai FC, Eastern Sporting Union and Kickstart FC were also gunning to end Gokulam’s reign in Indian women’s football.
“When I went for the opening ceremony, whoever was there, they weren’t talking about Gokulam at all. Nobody was praising Gokulam,” Grace told Scroll.
“I don’t want people praising the team but everyone was talking about the chances of other clubs. But I thought to myself that we’ll see and just prove it. And then I just came back and I told my teammates that we need to prove that we are the better team,” she added.
Gokulam went a step ahead and proved they were the best team in the country by a distance, as they romped to their third-straight IWL title by defeating Kickstart FC 5-0 in the final. Such was their dominance that Gokulam scored a whopping 64 goals while only…
Read more