INDIAN FOOTBALL RECHRISTENED: EAST BENGAL WRITES EPITABH FOR KOREAN FOOTBALL :: AN " ODE " TO PKda

INDIAN FOOTBALL RECHRISTENED: EAST BENGAL WRITES EPITABH FOR KOREAN FOOTBALL

DELHI CLOTH MILLS TROPHY-: FINALS' TALE -: AN “ODE “ TO P K BANERJEE

The " HILSA " HAD GULPED THE " DRAGON "

Writing is an extreme privilege but it's also a gift. It's a gift to yourself and it's a gift of giving a story to someone.

The " ART " of writing-:

There are 30,000 days in your life. When I was 21, I realized I'm almost 8,000 days down. There are no warm-ups, no practice rounds, no reset buttons. Your biggest risk isn't failing, it's getting too comfortable.

Every day, we're writing a few more words of a story. I wanted my story to be an adventure and that's made all the difference.

Today the day is NOT only important for Indian Football and the APPLE as well as the CYNOSURE of everybod’s eye THE EAST BENGAL FOOTBALL CLUB but the day is well rememberd for East Bengal’s COACH of that time and that day the MASTER OF VOCAL TONIC, Pradip Kumar Banerjee as we called him as PRADIPDA who passed away just the other day at the age of 83

This article is a TRIBUTE to that LEGENDARY figure of Indian football also could be rechristened as PRINCE CHARMING OF INDIAN FOOTBALL

Today was the date when East Bengal created a FLUTTER some 47 years ago to win the D C M Cup by squeezing the foreign team which was a boy 10 times heavier and better than East Bengal. How did East Bengal do the impossible is what is narrated over here.

The 29th of October, 1973 , to 29th October 2013 was the 40th anniversary of arguably the finest performance by an Indian club side against a quality foreign team. Way back in 1973, on this day, East Bengal emerged victorious in the DCM tournament final against the mighty Dok Ro Gang of North Korea, which had six players who had excelled for their country in the 1966 World Cup.

The final on Sunday, 28th Oct, and the replay the next day, both ended in goalless draws. However, Dok Ro Gang refused to play extra time on October 29 and East Bengal were declared winners.

In 1973, the all-Indian East Bengal team played superlative football against a side which had destroyed the other Indian clubs on their way to the final. East Bengal has the best record against foreign clubs, having won 78 of the 191 matches they have played so far,till 2013, but their 1973 DCM victory was probably their greatest hour.It may be recalled that the DCM tournament held in Delhi was the first to regularly invite foreign clubs to participate. This trend started in the 1968 DCM tournament, when Ethiopian Airlines and Ceylon XI were the foreign participants. The first North Korean club side to play in India was Youngmen FC which annexed the 1972 DCM tournament.

The North Korean club (Dok Ro Gang) that contested the 1973 DCM tournament was awesome to behold. After they thrashed Leaders Club, inclusive of Inder Singh, Sri Kishen and Gurkripal Singh, 7-0 in the quarterfinals, many East Bengal players got overawed. Even the spirited " Bade Mian" "of the Maidaan, Mohd. Habib, felt they could not match the North Koreans. Many of the players including the phlegmatic Sudhir Karmakar and the hyperactive midfielder Gautam Sarkar felt that Dok Ro Gang was far superior to the North Korean club Pyongyang City Club that East Bengal had beaten 3-1 in the IFA Shield final in September 1973.

Many spectators and experts alike who had seen Dok Ro Gang whip Leaders club 7-0 on Sunday 21 October, felt that the North Koreans were the best club side that had ever played in India.

In the quarterfinal they led Leaders Club 6-0 at half time, with a devastating display of speed, power and sharp finishing. One of India’s leading teams at that time, Leaders Club was left chasing shadows in the first half. At half time, the assistant secretary of the DCM tournament, R.K. Gupta took Mr Novy Kapadia, who was covering this tourney for the Times of India, to the North Korean dressing room and asked him to tell them not to go all out in the second half and humiliate one of North India’s most popular clubs. The North Koreans then as now were a mystery but I managed to convey the message through an interpreter and they slackened the pace in the second half and scored just once.

However in the previews before the final, all the newspapers, in Hindi, English and regional languages had made Dok Ro Gang overwhelming favourites to win the DCM title. It was felt that all East Bengal could do was reduce the margin of loss. In the early 1970s, North Korea was considered one of Asia’s best teams and their club teams were also rated the best in the continent.

Pradipda : Surprise arm under the sleeve and a different MIND GAME PLAN  “” Vocal Tonic does the  “ Trick ”

 However the astute P.K. Banerjee had other ideas and ultimately had the last laugh. In the two days gap before the final, Coach P.K. Banerjee used innovative motivational tactics to get the players charged up. Tactical classes were held on the roof of Duke Hotel, in Daryagunj, where East Bengal was staying. PK bought some bangles and told the players to wear them if they were scared of a fight. Incensed at such verbal taunts, they got motivated and he explained his plan of

playing possession football in a 4-5-1 formation to deny North Koreans the ball and frustrate them. In the final this plan worked.

The East Bengal players were also highly motivated as the entire Ambedkar stadium cheered them vociferously, including the large section of Punjab supporters, known as “L Club” who were traditionally against all Calcutta based teams. This change in heart was also due to P.K. Banerjee. On successive evenings he met Banarsi Das, the President of Leaders Club and other supporters of Punjab clubs. Over drinks he convinced them that in the final, they should forget club loyalties and it was a matter of prestige to support the Indian club.East Bengal was the underdog in the final. However cleverly coached by the high profile motivator P.K. Banerjee, East Bengal outthought the North Koreans by using a flexible 4-5-1 system. Mohd. Akbar was the lone front runner and East Bengal’s packed midfield enabled them dominate play.

As East Bengal outnumbered their opponents in midfield it prevented the North Koreans from launching counter speedy attacks, which was their forte.In fact East Bengal had the better chances. In the 90th minute of the final, Bhowmick and Akbar played a slick wall pass at the edge of the 18 yard box. This move bisected the Dok Ro Gang defence and set Akbar through on goal. However he angled his shot wide as the North Korean goalkeeper advanced.


Why this match against the North Korean Team is illustration in Indian Football


The answer is simple. This North Korean team had as many as EIGHT players in their squad which played in the 1966 World Cup against Portugal at England in 1966 and were leading by 3-0 till the 78th minutes of the match only to lose that match by 3-5 to Portugal led by Eusobio who scored THREE in that Quarter finals and SIX of them were playing in this game against East Bengal.


Nobody even the East Bengal Coach was not sure to even play out a draw in this match but they did the IMPOSSIBLE. For TWO consecutive days, the played a GOALLESS draw and misses an easy sitter when Mohammed Akbar misdirected his shot near to the Korean goal in an empty goal.


The Korean were not interested to play the extra time in the finals on the second day and even when so many a request failed East Bengal were declared the WINNERS of the DCM Trophy 1973 by default.


THIS WAS A GOLDEN MOMENT FOR INDIAN FOOTBALL TO BEAT A WORLD CUP FIELDING SIDE AFTER PLAYING TWO SUCCESSIVE DAYS WITHOUT CONCEDING A GOAL

The North Koreans were so impressed with East Bengal’s display in both finals that their embassy in Delhi made recordings of the finals and sent them back to Pyongyang for careful study and analysis. The North Koreans feared that India, with six East Bengal players in their ranks would be their most dangerous opponents in the 1974 Asian Games.The historic East Bengal playing eleven in both finals were

:Goalkeeper: Arun Banerjee,

Defenders: Sudhir Karmakar, Ashok Lal Banerjee, Shymal Ghosh and Probir Mazumdar.

Midfielders: Gautam Sarkar and Samaresh ‘Pintu’ Chowdhury.

Forwards: Subash Bhowmick, Mohammed Akbar, Shyam Thapa Mohammed Habib and Swapan Sengupta.

That day East Bengal had ONLY one forward Mohammed Akbar upfront, it had FIVE midfielders in Mohammed Habib, Shyam Thapa , Subhash Bhowmik, Gautam Sarkar and Samaresh Choudhury.

Shyam Thapa and Bhowmik were the " ROVERS" upfront to join the attack with Mohammed Akbar if needed and Habib was a SCREEN between the ROVING attackers and the DEFENSE to nip all the attack of the Koreans.

The Korenas were completely BOTTLED in the mid field with Gautam Sarkar and Mohammed Habib doing a very BOMBASTIC job and the Indians when they went up they went like a SCUD MISSILE to completely demolish their defense or anything that they had in attack .

The Koreans never got a clear chance to take a shie at the East Bengal's goal and thus East bengal were able to script a FAIRY TALE in their annals and history of football

East Bengal in 1973 resembled Barcelona of the 21st century, intelligent movement and clever passing The quality football that East Bengal displayed in the four matches they played in the 1973 DCM tournament within seven days, against Mafatlal Mills, Leaders Club (semi finals) and against Dok Ro Gang (both final and replay) has not been surpassed by any Indian club till now.

They were a delight to watch throughout that season, winning the Calcutta league, IFA Shield, DCM tournament and Rovers Cup. East Bengal’s brilliance in 1973 will linger in memory forever..

This is a very short GIST of my article which I wrote in the website of the East Bengal club when I regularly use to write for that web site about East Bengal and its ....... !!!!!!!!

THANKS PKDA Many a THANKS for what you gave to India and the Indian clubs in FOOTBALL

Rest in PEACE Dada

Rgds

Shyamal Bhattacharjee