I-League: Four reasons why Football crowds in Shillong are diminishing

#4 – Lesser number of Khasi players in the playing eleven

Aiborlang Khongjee is one of the few local talents on display for Shillong.

During the first season of Lajong in the league, an average of six to seven Khasi players would start in a match. This seems to be working well for the fans since the very word Lajong means “our own”. With each passing season, the team has come to be dominated with young talents from Mizoram and Manipur.

Fans seem to have not taken this too well with many making their voices heard in social media and asking the management to give importance to local talents. At the moment Aiborlang Khongjee who is also the captain of the side and Samuel Shadap are the the only local lads with regular starts for the side. The same can also be said about Royal Wahingdoh and Rangdajied United which had few local lads in their team.

With this year season coming to a close and Shillong Lajong FC still fighting to avoid the drop, it will be interesting whether the fans would turn up for the final home match against East Bengal on 24^th of March.