Beyond The Goal

In pre-independence India, while hockey players have invariably been Anglo-Indians, Muslims, Sikhs and tribals, Indian football was enthusiastically embraced only by the elite sections of society. The immortal IFA Shield winning Mohun Bagan team of 1911 had Hiralal Mukherjee, Bhuti Sukul, Sudhir Chatterjee, Manmohan Mukherjee, Rajen Sengupta, Nilmadhav Bhattacharya, Kanu Roy, Habul Sarkar, Abhilash Ghosh, Bijoydas Bhaduri, Shibdas Bhaduri who belonged to the bhadralok (gentleman) community in the pre-independence India. The failure of hockey is a sign of the inability of the nation to accommodate its minorities. But it remains a mystery as to why football has also failed at the national level. As in the case of hockey, the game flourished in the immediate aftermath of independence, with tournaments like IFA Shield, Rovers Cup and Durand Cup attracted large crowds and featured clubs from all over the country. Many of these teams -- Andhra Pradesh Police, Punjab Police, BSF to the recen...

I had read about Syed Abdul Rahim when I was 10. From that precocious age till now, his name continue to stirr a lot of interest among the aficionados. With his small frame, Rahim was and is by far the most successful Indian coach. We talk about Bob Houghton's angrezi style. Rahim was simply desi. Yet he was hugely successful and churned out more glories for Indian football than any other coaches. During my conversations with his son SS Hakim and his famous students Peter Thangaraj (who passed away last year), Chuni Goswami, PK Banerjee, Balaram, Yusuf Khan, Syed Nayeemuddin and others, one thing was clear to me. Unlike Bob, he was modest and down to earth and an Indian who wanted to give his best shot. Not many would know, Rahim used to write couplets framed around football techniques. He was a qualified physical trainer and a referee. Hence, Indian team didn't require a physio during his era. His teachings were simple and to the point. No wonder he had produced a genre of foo...