Meluri Town FC win Pangolin Cup as football pushes pangolin conservation

Meluri Town FC have won the second edition of the Pangolin Cup, a football tournament in Nagaland's Meluri that is built around saving one of the world's most trafficked mammals. They beat Knight Riders Club from neighbouring Phek district in the final, Morung Express and Eastern Mirror reported on Saturday.

Eight local teams played over six days at Meluri Local Ground. The champions took home a trophy and Rs 1 lakh, and every player received a medal and certificate.

Football with a message

The Pangolin Cup started in Senapati, Manipur, in 2025 under the Wildlife Trust of India's (WTI) project to counter pangolin trafficking along the Indo-Myanmar border. This year's edition was hosted by the Meluri Range Sports Association with support from the Nagaland Forest Department, the Pangolin Crisis Fund and the Serenity Trust.

Alongside the matches, WTI ran drawing competitions, talks and workshops for about 620 students from St Xavier's School and Christian Higher Secondary School. WTI project lead Monesh Singh Tomar said more than 1,000 people turned up over the six days, according to The News Mill.

'Protect them together'

Phek Divisional Forest Officer Tokaho Kinimi said pangolins play an important part in keeping ecosystems in balance and warned that illegal wildlife trade was pushing their numbers down. He asked communities to take shared responsibility for protecting the animal.

Makezho, executive chairman of the Yimkhiung Tribal Council, spoke of the tribe's long ties with the pangolin. He said elders once drew on the overlapping pattern of its scales in traditional prayers, especially in years when rock bee honey harvests failed. He urged Naga communities to unite to conserve pangolins and other wildlife.

Village resolutions spreading

WTI manager Saymanti B said the organisation's work in Manipur began in 2023, and that the Tangkhul Naga community, across 242 villages, had since passed resolutions to protect pangolins and fine those who harm them. Those commitments have since been widened to hornbills and gibbons. She also thanked the Pochury Hoho for its own resolution on pangolin conservation.

Winning captain Atsiatho Nyuthe said the discipline and teamwork of football went hand in hand with the players' duty to protect wildlife from hunting and trafficking.

Why it matters

Pangolins are hunted for their scales and meat, and the Indo-Myanmar border is a known trafficking route. Both species found in India, the Chinese pangolin and the Indian pangolin, are protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act. WTI says its border project combines community outreach with training for enforcement officials.