ARMY XI LIFTS THE DARJEELING GOLD CUP

The finals of the All India Brigade of Gorkha Gold Cup Football Tournament  between the Kolkata League first division side Southern Samity and Army XI  was played today 21^st November, at the St Joseph’s College (School Department) Ground. The match kicked off at 2 pm amidst a huge turnout of football fans. The tournament had started on the 12^th of this month with 12 teams in the fray.

It was Army XI’s day and the final score read 2-0 in favor of the soldiers. The Army men dominated the match with their quick passing football and took the lead through Gordon Zoramthanga in the 19^th minute. They had some more chances to score but could not capitalize. Southern Samity on the other had only one chance which their forward squandered.

The half-time score read 1-0 in favor of Army XI.It was the same story in the second half with Army XI creating most of the scoring chances. They scored very early into the second half, in the 59^th minute Gordon Zoramthanga,struck home yet again  after a one two with his fellow striker he tapped in an easy goal, which was enough for his team to lift the Darjeeling Gold Cup.

The second half  also took a physical turn with players from both the sides going in for some tough tackles, but the referee had total control on the match and he didn’t allow the situation to turn ugly.After the final whistle. The Chief Guest, G.D. Goutam,Additional Home Secretary Government of West Bengal along with other honored guests gave away the prizes to the two finalists.

On the larger context, the revival  of  this tournament after 25 years  has given a new hope to the football in the Hills of Darjeeling. Hope this will have a positive impact and give the players in that region a platform to showcase their talents at the National level. Although this is not confirmed at the moment. The Finalist, South Samity of Kolkata is said to have been impressed by two boys playing for Darjeeling XI.In my view this tournament has a dual role. Firstly to provide entertainment to the football loving public of Darjeeling and secondly to give its players a platform.

Hope this tournament will continue without disruption from now on and put Darjeeling on the footballing map of the country once again. A special thanks to all the people involved with the revival of this prestigious tournament.

Photo Courtesy- Bidhan Goshai (Darjeeling)

Information Courtesy- Swarnim Rai (Darjeeling)

Nirmal and Sanju

After Bhaichung Bhutia, Sikkim was struggling to find new players who had the caliber to go all the way and and perform at the highest level of Indian football. The Government of Sikkim realized this and in the year  1998 a scheme aptly named “Search for more Bhaichungs” was launched under  the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs. Coaches were sent to all the four districts of Sikkim and trails were held for the boys under 14 years of age. Even I can recall attending the selection trails at the West Point School grounds at Gangtok.After attending the camp for 15 days I was not found good enough but I enjoyed every moment of the sessions we had there.

All the selected boys from this scheme was put up at the Namchi Sports Hostel (Namchi  is the South District headquarter) where they were imparted quality training and education. Slowing it started showing results. Many boys who passed out from this Hostel started getting offers  and some of them went on to represent India at the various age group tournaments.

Nirmal Chettri and Sanju Pradhan were also part of this band of boys who were on course to change the footballing fortunes of Sikkim. I recall hearing a lot about Sanju Pradhan and his antics on the field but had never seen him play. I don’t exactly remember the year but it was during the Chief Minister’s Gold Cup which is held annually at Namchi that I got to see him play. The local cable channel was showing the recording and I sat back and started watching the match and there I saw the Boy who I had heard so much about and got blown away by the way he played. Now at East Bengal he is mostly employed as a  right winger but back then he used to play as a Central Midfielder. He was I guess around 16 year old that time and the game he displayed was far ahead of his tender age. After that I came down to Kolkata and lost touch with Sikkimese football. But these two boys were improving day by day.

In 2006 during my Part II Graduation final exams preparation break, I had gone back to Gangtok and a tournament called the Mini SAARC  was being held. Forgive me I don’t remember the official name. The tournament had Academy teams from across the country and one each from Nepal and Bhutan. It was there again I saw these two boys in action. I don’t remember the group matches but during the finals against Nepal, I remember vividly how well Nirmal and Sanju played. I will have to mention about Nirmal here. He played a brilliant game as a stopper and I was amazed by his technical understanding of the game at such a young age, another thing I noticed about him was his commanding presence on the field. He was always communicating with his teammates and sometimes even shouting at them. He had that leadership quality. Later he proved me right on this by captaining the India under-19 team on their tour of Germany. Years later in Kolkata I found out through Nirmal himself here in Kolkata that he had played as a stopper for the first time during that match. One of their regular stopper was down with fever and the coach had asked Nirmal to take his place. This proves how gutsy he is.

Then in the All India Governor’s Gold Cup, these guys were on fire. The Sports Academy of Sikkim team brushed aside many good sides and reached the quarter-finals. They even got the better of Army XI in the quarterfinals league but eventually lost to Air India. I remember in that game Sanju scored a wonderful goal from the right side of the 18 yard box. He ran into the Army XI side back, got the better of him with an overstep and fired a thundering shot which went in like a rocket into the Army XI goal post. I was so much impressed that I even wrote an article about Nirmal and Sanju for a local newspaper called the Sikkim Express.

The performance at the Gold Cup was enough to impress the Air India coach Mr Bimal Ghosh and the boys packed their bags and left the hills of Sikkim for the unknown shores of Mumbai to join the Air India Club. The Sports Academy of Sikkim had prepared them well and they did not disappoint even at the highest level of Indian Football.

I used to watch there matches on television and one particular match I remember in the I-league.Nirmal and Sanju were playing for Air India in their home match at Mumbai.Sanju had a brilliant game showing his array of Skills and I remember the commentators saying “this boy has a bright future in Indian Football” and Sanju has proved him right. I must admit here that after Ronaldinho,Sanju is the only other player when he gets the ball I expect him to do something unexpected with the ball. He is such a complete Mid-Fielder. It’s always a joy to watch him in action.

Although I was there fan since the first time I saw them, I had never got the opportunity to get myself introduced with them. The moment came when Air India had come down to Kolkata for an I-League game. I was working as an intern then with Zee Sports had we had to go to their hotel and interview Nirmal about the game. That was for the first time I met him and it was a pleasure. Later on I got introduced to Sanju through Nirmal.

After a couple of seasons with Air India both of them joined East Bengal and continued with there good performance. I remember a press conference after a match with the Bayern Munich Under-19 team, where Gerd Muller said that he was impressed by East Bengal number 3 which was Nirmal.He might have felt really proud about those comments.I also felt very nice.

Next I was involved with a project for Zee Sports. It was a package on North-East Football so I had to interview Sanju and Nirmal with regards to a segment on Sikkim. I called them up and fixed up a date. They wanted to do it at their flat. So I went there. We had  good fun doing the interview and also joked about the fact that three people who were fluent in Nepali trying their best to sound good with their Hindi. I am not sure whether they saw the package but they sounded and looked good.

Now these two boys have become a Star. But I must add here they have no starry airs about themselves. The area where I live in Kolkata has large number of East Bengal supporters. Even my land lord is a big fan. These people had organized a puja last year and asked me to invite Nirmal,Sanju and Alvito for the opening ceremony. I  was bit hesitant and I told them that the season is on and they are really busy but they would not listen. So I asked them to get the invitation cards and hand it over to them. They did that and I called all three of them and informed them about the invitation and to my surprise they obliged. I was really impressed by their kind gesture and more than me the people of my locality went berserk when they finally arrived at my place. People whom I never knew came into my room to shake hands with the stars and a few of them got confused and thought I was also a player and shook my hands too.

Both Nirmal and Sanju have come a long way from the dustly fields of Sikkim to the Maidans of Kolkata. But still they have a long way to go and I am sure that they will taste more success in the near future. They are never over-confident about their skills though they have achieved so much in such a short span of time. Some months back I had met them and had a chat regarding  trying their luck in the European Leagues. Both of them were quick to respond that they are still learning and they will take another two to three years, to think about that possibility. This proves how well they are aware of their abilities and how much they want to improve further.

Now after Bhaichung Bhutia,though we want him to continue playing the game for eternity.Nirmal and Sanju are the new torch bearers of Sikkimese football and have a huge responsibility on their shoulders. Like Bhaichung who inspired a generation of footballers now the onus of doing that is falling upon them. But I am sure Nirmal and Sanju knows this and I was happy to note that they are already planning an Academy in Sikkim. So come on boys keep on playing the game, keep on working hard and keep on climbing the stairs of success.

MY MEMORIES WITH BHAICHUNG BHUTIA

There are millions of football fans in this world and I am also one of them and I am of proud that. Football for me is more than just a game. It’s like a feeling and Indian football, well I can talk and talk about it and bore people around me. But today I would like to talk about a player who has taken Indian Football to the next level single handedly and is still going strong and whenever he is on the field he has never bored us. Even people who don’t follow football knows his name.

You might have already guessed who I am talking about. Yes its none other than Bhaichung Bhutia whom I call Agya (means brother in Bhutia dialect).He was my senior in school,Tashi Namgyal Academy, Gangtok and he was already a Hero in our school as he had achieved so much success at a very young age- getting selected for the School Federation camp, being the best player in the 1992 Subroto Cup, getting a call up for the India Under-16 team and he used to play for the number one team in Sikkim called the Boys Club. This is my most early memories of Agya Bhaichung in School, I can remember me and my friends running around him and trying to talk with him at school.Oneday I guess it was during lunch break we had gone up to the ground and Agya came out of the Hostel which is perched just above the ground and a group of us got excited and asked him in nepali (Note- TNA is and English medium school but back in the days Nepali used to be the first language, I guess barring the teachers nobody spoke in English)  Agya kata janu bhako? Agya wher are u going? He looked at us smiled and replied with a hindi song -Main toh chala jidhar chalay rasta- I am going where the road goes.Nowdays I have not seen his lighter side that much but I am sure his boyish sense of humor is still intact. As I see him making comments on the photographs of his friends on facebook and they are most of the times funny.

The next episode I remember about Agya is a match during the All India Governor’s Gold Cup Football Tournament in Gangtok ,which bagged him his first professional  Contract  with the East Bengal Club. The year was 1992 and I had gone down to the Paljor Stadium with my Grandfather to watch the Semi-Final match between Sikkim Football Association (Blue) and Mohun Bagan AC.My grandfather was a big football fan and was a decent player during his younger days. Now coming back to the match. The atmosphere was electrifying and the stadium was full as after many years a local side had reached the quarter finals.Agya playing for SFA (Blue) had a wonderful game. Now I understand that he didn’t play as an out and out striker like he does today but as an Attacking Midfielder. He was running,sliding,winning the balls, making runs into the Mohun Bagan half and I recall here that he gave a very tough time to one of the Mohun Bagan defender. If I am not mistaken he was an African player named Christopher.Mohun Bagan scored an early goal and SFA although they tried their best could not score the equalizer in the first half but in the second half SFA got a free at the edge of the box, If my memory is not failing me here I guess Agya had won that free kick .Devendra Gurung another good player from our school stepped in to take the free kick.All the spectators were waiting in anticipation that he’ll score and that’s what he did. He took an in swinging shot, practical example would be like that of David Beckam.The ball curled in and the Mohun Bagan goalkeeper had no chance. The whole stadium erupted in Joy and I remember hugging my grandfather. But the joy was short lived as Mohun Bagan scored later and SFA’s run in the Gold Cup ended. But another story of Bhaichung Bhutia was about to begin,A star was born that day.I still remember my Grandfather telling me after the match-tero Dhaichung lay pura naam kamaocha,bahut ramro khelda raicha-your Dhaichung will earn a lot name he is a very good player. it’s funny he used to pronounce Bhaichung as Dhaichung.

Now my memory jogs back to that school assembly which was like a farewell for Agya.Within a year everything was finalized with East Bengal and he was ready to leave his beloved Tashi Namgyal Academy. The assembly was held at the football ground that day instead of the Auditorium. Quite symbolic as one of its best footballer was leaving the School and the Assembly was held at that very ground where he trained and played the matches. After the school song Agya was invited by the Principal to share his thoughts with the students. I don’t exactly remember what he said but it was a short speech in the lines of “I will miss the school”- he was looking very sad and downcast. May be I was too young, I did not go up to him and wish him luck and watched others doing that. But in my mind I did that. After he went down to Kolkata our school’s notice board would have the paper cutting’s of his matches and we used to read those with interest. Even I pasted some of those and we all used to feel proud about his achievements. After Agya established himself at East Bengal the paper cutting’s at notice board  got fewer and fewer as he used to hit the headlines almost every match and I guess every student of TNA or for that matter whole of Sikkim was aware of what he was doing simply put he had become a Star now and his paper cuttings on the notice board was I guess no more needed.

By 1997 Agya had become a big star of Indian football. I was also with my School Under-14 team and we were playing in a junior tournament at Gangtok .We had reached the finals and to our joy we heard that the Chief Guest will be Bhaichung Bhutia.The day came and  we went down to the Paljor Stadium for the Final match. The Captain of the team had asked us to put on crab bandages and as that was for the first time I had used those. I put it up very tightly. I could feel my foot going numb as we were moving towards the ground in our school bus. By the time we reached the stadium the numbness had lead to pain. We got off the bus and all my teammates trooped in for the warm up and I was there in the corner removing the carb bandages from both my foot. Agya had also arrived by that time and the coach after shaking his hands shouted at me-What are you doing? Hurry up. To which I replied Sir- My blood circulation has stopped due to the crab Bandage.Agya found that funny smiled at me and said- Bhai ko blood circulation baadh bhayo haray? I gave him a nervous smile. That was for the very first time he had directly talked with me. Then during the photo session I tried my best to stand next to Agya and succeeded (I still have that photograph) after that we went in, won the match and got certificates signed by the man himself Bhaichung Bhutia.I also remember giving a tough time to my Mum after the finals going around Lal Bazar looking for the same kind of shirt that Agya was wearing. I succeeded but got a poor replica of that.

Then in 1999 Agya went to England after he got a contact with Bury FC.I guess he had come back to Sikkim during off-season. Whenever he is in Sikkim he makes it a point to visit his Alma Mater and sometimes even trained with the school team boys. That year he was taken around the different classes in School and he interacted with the Students. He came to our class too followed by some teachers. We all got up when he entered and he smiled and gestured us to sit down. We sat and one of the teacher told us to ask questions to him. Nobody had any question understandably we were all nervous. Some of the boys nagged me on to ask something. So I got up nervously and asked him-How much do you earn in England? Of all the questions I came up with that silly question. Later on I found out how closely guarded secret is a professional player’s earning in India. But Agya smiled back and said- I get around 1000 pounds per week and things are very expensive there and I can’t save that much. I am not sure whether he told me that in lighter vein but it would have been quite an achievement if I was a journalist to get that information out of him.Soon our date with the Star was over. He was ushered into the next class.

I am not sure weather it was during that visit or the next he also played a game with the School team. Even the ESPN crew had travelled with him that time to make a package on him. The coach informed us that he will be playing and we all got really excited.Agya’s team consisted of all the Ex players of TNA and there was lot of excitement in School as football is really big in our school. After lunch classes were cancelled and all the students turned up for the match. I was not in the starting eleven but in the second half the coach pointed at me and asked me to warm up. I got really excited and started the session then the coach called me and within no time I was in the ground playing against Bhaichung Bhutia!.A sort of dream come true kind of feeling hit me.I played in the midfield and I must say here though it was a friendly game Agya was not taking it lightly. I saw from the close range the way he runs with ball, blowing the air out from his mouth. When he makes those runs I am sure he sends a chill down the defenders spine. It did more than that to me. Then I suddenly found myself face to face with the man. He took the ball in the midfield and I went in from Behind to tackle him. He went for a sharp turn and tried to put the ball between my legs but I didn’t allow that to happen although he won the ball which is obvious ,he gave a disappointed grin after passing the ball and I was just happy that I did not allow him to put the ball between my legs. I don’t exactly remember the shoreline but Agya’s team won the match. After the referee blew the final whistle a funny incident happened. I went up to shake hands with Agya and said the words which I still find embarrassing and funny “well played” and nearly patted his back as if I was the senior player. Funny things happen when your nervous. I still have those nervous break downs whenever I meet Agya.Years later I got an opportunity and narrated that incident to him but he didn’t seem to remember it.  

I completed my schooling and decided on Kolkata to do my further studies and It was in Kolkata I got a chance to come in touch with Agya in a more personal way. My first encounter with Agya in Kolkata was during my stint as the Sport Secretary of Sikkim Student Association. We had gone over to East Bengal Club to hand over an invitation letter for the North East Sports meet which we were hosting  that year. After training he came out and greeted all of us we just stood there with our President doing all the talking. He thanked us for the Invite and dropped in to watch our football match and We lost in front of him. The meet is held over five days so he again came and this time unannounced. We were all caught off guard. He went straight to the basketball courts where the match was on. We had no chairs so I quickly arranged for one and took it for him. But he said just leave it-how can I sit when all the other people are standing. Just one example of his humbleness. Then after I joined Zee Sports our encounters became quite frequent and Agya got a grip of my name and started to know me better.

After I was removed from Zee Sports It was Agya who came to my rescue and gave me an employment with Football Players Association of India which he is heading as the President. It was a pleasure working under Agya who never lost his cool on me even when I made some big mistakes but he used to tell jokingly-Administrative work is not your forte. When I decided to move on from FPAI he supported my decision and wished me luck.When he became a father of two beautiful twins. I got a text from him saying “We were today blessed with two beautiful twins” to which I had quickly replied. I forgot my exact words and months later on a personal visit I got a chance to see his cute and beautiful daughter-Keisha Dolma.

I think I might go on writing about him so I will have to stop here. In the end I would like to add a few more lines, Bhaichung Bhutia’s game never stops to inspire me and I consider myself fortunate that a legend like him knows me by my name.His humbleness has also touched me likes millions of his other fans. He is still the same Agya I know from my school days. I wish him all the luck in life and in football where he will be going to play in Asian Cup next year and I hope I will have many more memories with the Man and again I would be able the jot down more lines about him.

DARJEELING GOLD CUP MAKES A COMEBACK!

The beautiful hills of Darjeeling is all set to host the beautiful game. “All India Brigade of Gorkha Gold Cup Football Tournament,2010” or simply the “Darjeeling Gold Cup” makes a comeback after a gap of 25 years to this tourist town, much to the delight of the football fans there. From tomorrow i.e. 12^th of November all roads in Darjeeling might lead to the stadium, such is passion for football there.

All the matches of the tournament will be held at the Saint Joseph’s College (School Department) ground .The tournament will be held from 12^th to the 21^st of November .The last edition of this tournament was held in 1985 which was won by the Kolkata Giants, East Bengal.

The first edition of the tournament was held way back in the year 1975,National Club of India,Mohun Bagan had the honour of winning the first ever Gorkha Gold Cup. The tournament  ran continuously till 1985.After that it could not be held due to the Gorkhaland agitation which started from 1986.The credit for Gorkha Gold Cup goes to the Gorkha Personal serving in the British Army.

The  Gorkha Gold Cup is being organized by the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Sports Association in collaboration with the Darjeeling District Administration and the Government of West Bengal providing the financial assistance, The tournament is expected to draw huge crowds as Darjeeling has been starved of any quality tournaments for a very longtime now. The Governor of West Bengal has been made the Chief Patron.

It might be put forward here Darjeeling has produced many players of repute in the past, Prominent amongst them Chandan Singh Rawat who went on and  played for India and was an integral part of the National team in the hey days of Indian football in the 50’s and 60’s.With the revival of the Gorkha Gold Cup many young players have a chance once again to showcase their talents at the National level and get noticed to be picked up the big clubs of the Country.

So Darjeeling is ready to welcome back the Gorkha Gold Cup with open arms. It’s no doubt a positive development and the icing on the cake will be if the tournament with all the entertainment that it will provide to the hill folks also introduces to the country some promising footballers who can go on and become the torch bearers of Darjeeling football.