From dusty, litter strewn school pitches to playing with the creme de la creme of English football as part of Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham FC, Tanvie Hans has experienced every level of women’s football. In a candid, freewheeling talk at Gym-G, the former Women’s Super League star spoke at length about her motivation to continue playing, her early life in Delhi, and her footballing influences.
The talk got off to a rocky start with members of RadioAktiv imploring people to come for the talk while Tanvie herself sat dejectedly by the dias. However, once on stage, she addressed the lacklustre turnout with grace. It was an apt encapsulation of her career as despite her unrivalled success she has had to contend with indifference all her life. As Tanvi flitted between topics, discussing her progress through Delhi’s various age groups to purchasing a one-way ticket to London and finally taking the plunge into football, audience numbers swelled and she grew more animated. Rather curiously, she didn’t have footballing heroes growing up – it was Jassi from Bend it like Beckham who inspired Tanvie to even consider a footballing career.
Following her talk, Tanvie took questions from the audience, which proved to be the most entertaining section of the talk. Fielding questions ranging from Tottenham’s own competitiveness to India’s broken footballing system, Tanvie was in equal parts charming and measured. Despite her hectic schedule – she also played an exhibition football match and interacted with women footballers on campus – she was still up for an interview.
She continued where she had left off in the talk, as she explained how a British passport had prevented her from playing at any professional capacity in India. Despite her evident frustration at not being on the field, she has spent her time in the country productively, promoting girl’s football at the school level while also being the face of Cult, a Bangalore based fitness company. All these duties haven’t prevented her from continuing her own training regimen as she harbours a desire to represent the nation.
While footballing powerhouses like the UK have up to ten months of football a year with a separate pre-season, the women’s football season in India barely lasts a couple of months. Such is the paucity of matches here that Tanvie is forced to play with men just to keep herself match ready. Tanvie, who identifies as a feminist, believes that the issues facing women’s football in India are deep rooted and only concerted effort by a generation of women will improve the situation.
Her experience on campus has been enjoyable as she found the BITS girls team to be “very sweet” and eager to learn. One hopes that she represents the country soon and proves to be that one role model that inspires a generation of women to take up the sport.