Named after a locality, the Wahingdoh Sports Club was founded in 1946. The club had its share of fame and laurel as it had won numerous titles, but with its financial coffer almost dry coupled with lack of professionalism the club found it difficult to compete with other newer clubs with more resources and its decline began. In 2007 the club was almost relegated to the 2nd Division League in the regional league in Shillong and the Wahingdoh residents realized that if it had to recapture the club’s lost glory then it must embark on a new approach.
With its new found objective the club turned professional in 2008 by merging with Royal Football Club and was rechristened as Royal Wahingdoh Football Club under Dominic Sutgna Tariang. This decision proved to be a boon when in the same year they bounced back and claimed the third spot in the 2nd division regional league igniting hope for better future. The club’s fans were delighted with Royal Wahingdoh’s performance in the first division 2009 season when it created a record by winning all the games it played in the 1st division and scoring 52 goals. This performance earned the club a promotion into the Shillong Premiere League.
After a hiatus of many years other football clubs suddenly feared Royal Wahingdoh Football Club and its young, exciting and attacking players. Little wonder that the club is at the top in the Shillong’s Champion Club. In the 2010 season on its debut in the Shillong Premier League it became a new champion and this new record will be hard to be broken.
As far as Meghalaya and Northeast is concerned the Royal Wahingdoh Football Club is one of the top teams, however it has been little unlucky as they are still trying to make their presence felt as far as Indian league is concerned.
In 2011 Royal Wahingdoh Football Club joined the newly structured I-League 2nd division. The club is being coached by Carlton Chapman. Under him the club won its opening match 3-1 and went on to beat Chandini FC 3-0 in the second VASCO SC 2-1 in the third and 3-1 against VASCO SC in the fourth match. The club continued its winning campaign by defeating Eagles FC 3-2 in the fifth match. The club has the longest winning streak in 2011 I-League 2nd division. They won all their matches in Group C and qualified to 2011 I-League 2nd Division Final Round.
The opening game for Royal Wahingdoh Football Club in the final round was not encouraging as it two and drew one out of the three games it played. Only after six rounds in the final round it won the only match and lost 3 of them and was placed fifth with 5 points. In the 2012 second division final round played in Siliguri and Sikkim the club open their campaign in a style by beating Aizwal 3-0, Mohammedan Sporting 3-1, Kalighat 1-0, drew against Vasco 1-1, beaten by United Sikkim 0-2. However the club will never forget its March 16, 2012 match, which had derailed its winning streak by default. Until that moment the club was at the top of the table.
In the March 16 match against ONGC the Royal Wahingdoh Football Club was leading 4-1 and confident of clinching the match they put up a foreign substitute in the final moments replacing an Indian when it had already fielded three foreigners. As the match ended the ONGC protested over the fourth foreign player. The AIFF penalized the team by awarding three points to the ONGC that helped the team qualify for the I-League dashing Royal Wahingdoh hope as it finished fifth in the table with sixteen points.- By Suraj Joshi
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