October, 2012 will go down in the football history of Mizoram as ‘the month that was’, it literally rained football. The sequence of events ran something like this : training of coaches by world renowned German coaches, Referee Refresher Course by All India Football Federation (AIFF), the first FIFA Grassroots Football Course in the entire country and finally the much awaited and the first ever football league in the Mizoram – Mahindra 2 Wheelers Mizoram Premier League (MPL). Credit for all this goes to Mizoram Football Association (MFA) for their missionary zeal in the promotion of the game. Their efforts for the past several years have paid off, as these events taking place, one after the other, only show that AIFF is pleased with the growth of football in Mizoram and AIFF is fully supporting the endeavours of MFA.
 
Two renowned German coaches – Felix Imm and Lutz Pfannenstiel conducted a week long (1st – 6th October) coach education course comprising of on-field and off-field classes for 27 selected coaches of various football clubs of Mizoram. This training was made possible by untiring efforts of MFA who had requested the German Consulate in Kolkata to help them in the promotion of football. The Consulate forwarded the request to the Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund (German Olympic Sports Confederation) who in turn sent it to the Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DSB), the German football Association. Commenting on the Mizo coaches, Lutz Pfannenstiel said ‘The Mizo coaches are really very eager to learn, they pick up fast and so I think they have a bright future ahead. They should think of football beyond the state and take up coaching career outside Mizoram too’.
 
Next in line was the week long Referee Development Course Course (8th – 13th October), conducted jointly by AIFF in association with MFA at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium at Mualpui. The Head of the Referee Department of AIFF, who has been a FIFA referee and at present is a FIFA Match Commissioner, Col. Gautam Kar alongwith Chief Instructor Pradip Nag, Instructor SC Mohanty and Fitness Instructor Rathin Mukherjee conducted the course. Theory and practical classes in various aspects of refereeing were given to selected referees.

Col. Kar remarked ‘AIFF is happy with the way football is growing in Mizoram, various departments of the federation are aware of the developments and very often Mizoram is discussed’. He said ‘There is no reason why Mizo referees cannot stand in national and international matches as referees, it’s only a matter of time’.

FIFA has been doing a lot to promote football at the grassroots level in Asia and one such attempt is the FIFA Grassroots Football School. This is an attempt by FIFA to coach young children in the game and Mizoram has selected by the AIFF to start first ever FIFA Grassroot Football School in the entire country, which is expected to be inaugurated later this year. To kick start this initiative the ‘FIFA Grassroot Course’ to train ‘Grassroot Trainers’ was inaugurated by the Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla on the 15th October at the I & PR Auditorium. The Head of the Coaching Department of AIFF, Australian coach Scott O’Donell conducted this Course for 28 selected coaches and footballers till the 19th October. These trainers now, will train young children between the ages of 6 - 12 years under the guidelines and norms laid down by  FIFA and AIFF. If the initiative is successful it is expected to be replicated in other states too.

The much awaited mega football event of the year in Mizoram – Mahindra 2 Wheelers Mizoram Premier League was finally kicked to a resounding start on 24th October at Lammual in the presence of the energetic and dynamic Sports & Youth Services Minister of Mizoram, Zodintluanga and the Technical Director of AIFF, Rob Baan who praised the efforts of the MFA and the Government of Mizoram in uplifting football and lauded the effort of Sports Minister for constructing three artificial turf grounds – two in Aizawl and one in Lunglei.  Eight First Division Football Clubs of Mizoram will be playing to be the numero one football team in the League. It will be the clash of the football titans of Mizoram with the total prize money in the League coming to around `25 lakhs.  In July this year MFA and ZONET Cable TV Pvt. Ltd. signed a deal for 5 years for `1.25 crore for the Mizoram Premier League.

The poster boy of Indian football Baichung Bhutia was in Aizawl for the kick-off ceremony of the MPL held on 22nd October at the Chanmari YMA Hall. Addressing the gathering Baichung Bhutia said that with many young Mizo footballers playing for clubs in the I-League, Mizoram Premier League in a few years time will soon become a hunting ground for scouts looking for talent.