The first edition of the Peren District Football League (PDFL) organised by Peren District Football Association (PDFA) kicked off on 4 October at Jalukie B village ground. The grand opening ceremony of the month-long tournament was graced by entrepreneur & co-founder YouthNet Nagaland, Kuchi Rangkau, as the special guest.

Impressed by the whole process of organising the grand and professional event, he encouraged the PDFA to continue upholding this tradition so that the grassroot level would grow. He also urged the PDFA to keep the consistency even in the future to progress in the field of football.

Citing some prominent football stars of the world, he reminded the Peren players that the famous footballers were also brought up and raised from the grassroot level, some of them with torn playing boots and socks.

Rangkau also reminded the players of the situation in Nagaland a decade ago when players had no access to big platforms and were able to play only in local tournaments. However, with access to many prominent leagues in the state level and national level, the present generation players have enough options, the special guest said and urged them to optimise their talents and skills to attain higher goals.

Special Guest Kuchi Rangkau speaking at the opening ceremony of PDFL. (Photo credit: putlangpicturesque)

Emphasising on the district football, Rangkau expressed excitement that Jalukie was coming up with a standard size astro turf football field which is expected to be completed soon, while on the state level, he also hoped that the standard size football field with galleries would be coming up soon in Kohima.

Rangkau expressed his hopes that that the Nagaland Premier League (NPL) would be revived to promote football in the state and wished the district football to grow to higher heights.

Altogether, eight clubs are participating in the tournament:

• Barak Football Academy
• Puiteng FC
• Native Feathers
• Benreu FC
• Lekie Mtei FC
• Prime FC
• Nsong Area Sports Association
• Northern Zeme Sports Association

The opening match was played between Puiteng FC and Barak FA where Puiteng FC defeated Barak FA 3-1.

The opening goal came from Wibonzibo (16) for Puiteng FC in the third minute of the game while the second came in the 62nd minute. The third goal was scored by Puiteng FC’s Kajiwi (17) in the 65th minute.

Puiteng FC dominated the game and took a comfortable win. The lone goal for Barak came from Kenumdi (17) in the 82nd minute.

In the second match, Native Feathers beat Lekie Mtei FC 3-2. Few minutes into the game, Native Feathers found the back of the net in the 9th minute by Lungmedau (9). The second and third goal for Native Feathers were scored by Khangkinwi in the 31st and 37th minute.

The first half was dominated by Native Feathers while Lekie Mtei FC was not in form till after the breather when they came back stronger and fought back.

The first goal for Lekie Mtei FC was scored by Isizaibe (30) in the 67th minute and the second goal by Haileuyibe in the 78th minute.

The match was a highly contested game as Lekie Mtei FC fought hard. In a thrilling match, Lekie Mtei FC got several chances for an equaliser but failed to make a breakthrough even as the referee blew the final whistle.

Credit: Iliegongbe Miliang, PDFA media cell