The 2nd Elephant Football Cup, was held on the border of Assam and Meghalaya yesterday as part of celebration of World Elephant Day.
The event took place at the village of Neopali, which lies on the border of the two states. The match was held through the joint efforts of the Assam and Meghalaya Forest Departments, conservation organisation Aaranyak and the British Asian Trust with support from the Darwin Initiative and the district sports associations of Goalpara and West Garo Hills.
It was not elephants who were playing football (such a thing does exist) but humans.
The football match on World Elephant Day was organised to facilitate close coordination between the states’ Forest Departments as well as people across the inter-state boundary for conservation of Asian elephants in the greater area.
Tankeswar Rabha, Chief Executive Member of the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council, and Khanindra Chaudhary, District Commissioner of Goalpara, graced the event as the chief guests.
The football match greatly enthused the local populace, with over 1,000 people from the surrounding villages coming to enjoy the match, an Aaranyak press release said today. The event was enriched by the performance of the traditional Wangala dance of the Garo tribe.
The prize distribution ceremony followed the event to celebrate the performance of the winning team of Garo Hills (Meghalaya) and runners-up Goalpara (Assam).
Members from the local communities Pradip Daimari, Ramu Rabha, Tirtha Lochan Das and Amol Hajong were felicitated in the event for their relentless contribution towards the efforts for elephant conservation and HEC (human-elephant conflict) mitigation.
Last year the Elephant Football Cup match was organised in Thakurbilla in Goalpara district. Last week, another football match was organised between the forest officials of Goalpara and Garo Hills at the Chanmari Stadium in Tura in the run-up to the celebration of World Elephant Day. That match was won by the Goalpara team 4-1.
