The abandoned goldmine of Indian football

On Wednesday, April 5, an AFC Cup match will be held at the IGA Stadium in Guwahati, Assam. The home club is not Assamese but Aizawl FC. Other than geography, there is little that is out of the ordinary in Aizawl FC travelling nearly 500km out of Aizawl to Guwahati for a 'home' game. AFC criteria require matches be played on natural turf and maintaining a top-quality grass pitch in Mizoram is close to impossible.
The footballing incongruity lies close inside that new 'home': Assam, the region's...