September 25th 1970 :: Fifty Years ago when East Bengal " LIT " , " BLITZED ", and “ LIGHTED ”, the “ FLOODED ” Bengal

Pic ::  September 25th 1970, The Crowd outside the  Eden Gardens waiting to get inside 

September 25^th 1970 :: Fifty Years when East Bengal “ LIGHTED ”  the “ FLOODED ”  Bengal

Today is the date and fifty years ago today was the day

I was 11(Eleven) years 2 ( Two) months and 19 days of age then.This is what had happened then on that day and that is what I’m going to narrate over here.

I have added another 600 ( Six Hundred) months to it but even if I have to have another SIX HUNDRED birth, I will NEVER be able to have that kind of a momentary motion of simple but high  voltage emotion that I experienced on that day and that is why I write remembering that day as - :

 “ TUJPE FIDA, JANAY WAFA , MERI CHHAHAT BHARI ZINDAGI

TERAY SAATH HAI, TERAY HAATH HAI, CHHAHEY GUM HI MILAY YAA KHUSHI” ……..

This incident went on to bring a headline in all the newspaper of Bengal which was electrifying but the one which caught the fancy was which was published by the JUGANTAR then, which read as in Bengali-:

 SAARA BOONA BOYE BAANGLA KAY JIBONTO KORRAY GALO LAAL-HOLUD ER MOSHAAL

This means that the East Bengal LIGHTS the entire state of Bengal which is submerged in the FLOOD

 

Pic :: Newspaper Clippings Of The Finals

It means the entire flood reeled Bengal was infused LIFE and LIGHTENED by the TORCH of Red and Yellow .What happened on that day and how it happened is what I’m going to narrate here.

This day holds importance in the annals of Indian Football as on this day East Bengal Football Club of India defeated the Police Athletics Sports Club ( PAS Club ) of Tehran, Iran by 1-0 to win the I F A Sheild and become  the FIRST team to win the I F A Shield  after Independence  from India by beating a club then,  outside the country, a foreign team , which was ranked NINTH in the world then.

This win gave a kind of IMPETUS to the Indian football that it is very hard to explain to one and sundry about what was the FLUX that was created and  raised by East Bengal in the annals of Indian Football.

 

Pics :: The Short and the Long of it  - East Bengal and P.A.S Club , Ashok Chatterjee and Habibi

The PAS Club in it’s rank had six foreigners from Bolivia, Honduras and Paraguay assisting them in their side and they infact the  CHAMPION CLUB OF ASIA then. Such was their DOMINANCE in the Asian Football,  then , that they had NOT lost to any Asian Club Football team  for three long years . PAS Club would simply run through their opponents as the HUNGRY Leopard runs after the Gazelle  for it’s prey. So confident was PAS Club then that they DID NOT  bring any of their World Cup playing foreigners to India thinking that every Indian team would be it’s BUNNY or weak prey.Finally they found their doomsay and their FIRE parched by East Bengal.

Pic :: The scenes after the final whistle are blown signaling East Bengal  has won the match 

What was Indian Football at that time. Well India after winning the SECOND GOLD at the Asiad at Djakarta under Chuni Goswami  kept on sliding down the ladder in Football in Asia. So much so that a team from Nepal Kathmandu XI beat some of the reputed names in Indian soccer in the D C M Trophy then in between the period 1964 to 1967 . Nepal and it’s team had started haunting India by then.

In 1964 the Indian National Football team lost to Iran by 1-0 in the Finals of the Pre-Olympic Soccer that was played at Singapore to FAIL to qualify for the Olympics then. Again in the 1966 Asian games that was held at Manila , India saw itself being ousted in the first round of the group play and from there started the slide and the downtrend of India.

India’s performance was so poor in the Regional circuit that the Olympic Association did not invite India in the qualifying at the Olympic proper tournament which is known as the Olympics qualifier. Thatwas in 1968.

Against this background India’s victory in the Football which was started by East Bengal by beating this so strong and sp p[owerful an Itranian team was considered as to be the REOCCURANCE and RESUURTECTION of Indian Football . It is this victory which opened the flood gate of India’s further success in the International especially in the Asian Sub Continent.

It was a BRONZE in the 1970 Asian games at Bangkok where India beat the Bronze Medal winning Japan by 1-0 to inscribe itself once again as a POWER of Football in India. Then again in the Asian Cup Footbal championship India once again won the Bronze .

In 1971 one saw Indian sharing the Pesta-Sukan Asian Football championship when they were held by Philippines in the finals. In between India did manage to reach the semis of the Asian Olympic Qualifiers where they lost to Malaysia in the semis . That was the last success of the indian Football team in the International events of Football within the Asian Sub Continent.

P A S Club, Tehran - ::

It was a name to conjure with Football in the Asian circuit. Iran by that time had opened it’s gate for PROFESSIONALISM in football . To augment it’s football and make it very strong even the Instituional teams were allowed to bring the foreigners to them and P A S Club had as many as SIX who had donned their national jersey for their country . However none of them were brought here taking the pitiable condition and the strength that the Indian football had it for them in store. That the Irani’s were so very badly in their thoughts about the Indian football was at view when the Finals of the I F A Sheild was played on September 25^th 1970.

 

Pic :: P.A.S.Club Tehran, offset and East Bengal  team with the club  authorities

P A S Club :: It Send Shiver Down The Spine Of Everybody

The P A S Club that played in the I F A Shield in the year 1970 at India was something which the Indian footballers of any club just did not have in it’s mind about HOW TO FACE THEM. It played a HIGH percentage of GEARED Football changing it’s gear within no time. The magic of the team was it played on the functions of the Zonal marking and with the physicality’s and the height of the opponent  which they made use of their strength to exploit the weakness . It had the ammunition to raise it’s gear from the first to the fifth within a fraction of  a second  and what was MORE- THIS TEAM WAS THE FIRST TO OPEN OUT THE CONCEPT OF TOTAL FOOTBALL. Total football as a concept was unheard and unplayed then in any part of Asia.

 

Pic :: P.A.S Club Tehran Team which won the Asia Club Championship in 1968 but lost to East Bengal

The team showed what a team that it was when it pounded seven goals in the two group encounters that it played. It played only to the potential of fifty to sixty percent in their first two games and kept in constant at fifty to sixty in the semis against Mohun Bagan whom they beat by 1-0 . So far and so much of the control that they had that except Subash Bhowmik  who then was playing for Mohun Bagan was the ONE who could penetrate the strong defence of P A S Club only ONCE else this team did NOT allow the opponent to even see the face of their goalkeeper and the goal even for once.

On the contorary East Bengal had to really shed and  come out of every hell to reach their finals. In the semis they had to put everything on the fire to beat a very determined Eastern Railways through a WORLD-CLASS – PEACH of a GOAL by Samaresh Chowdhury who fired a ball from about 30 yards to seal the fate of his club earning the right to play this Iranian side in the finals

BEFORE MATH OF THE FINALS

The Iranians had already written their name on the Trophy. The scribes who had come from Iram had predicted a 4-0 win for Iranian club side incase if they raised their bar to the percentage of about seventy to seventy five. The East Bengal camp just would say to themselves – HOW DO WE SAVE OURSELF FROM LETTING MORE THAN TWO GOALS.

Finals :: It was East Bengal after the FIRST Twenty minutes of play that turned the picture

Infact the Esat Bengal players just before the finals were totally off balance and off guard as to how to be in the total sense  at all to play this team .Infact four of their footballers had to go to the TOILET to put themselves in a complete fray and control of their body .They were NOT in AWE of the finals but they had no sense about what game to play .

East Bengal chooses the 3-3-4 system of the game

During those days the Indian Football played applying the 4-2-4 systems of the game  Here in this match it was the reverse of the same. The East Bengalian coach Mr  Mohammed was the FIRST who on that day and on that moment completely changed the line up and told the players that  DO NOT GIVE ANY SPACE TO THE IRANIS AT THE MIDFIELD TO MANOUVRE

The Iranis would play in that formation.They would tighten up their defence and would initiate all their attacks either from the left Flank where they had a WORLD CLASS LEFT WING FORWARD in Asghar Sharafi and their most of the attacks were initiated from the Left wing. Immediately they would fall to the right to put the opponent on the wrong foot by shifting their gears and the attack from the right midfield where they had Mehdi Monajati to do all their tricks

Extremely Clever Ploy By East Bengal - ::

Not at all familiar with the 4-3-3 system of play East Bengal on that day took the field and played with that system which completely off loaded the extra hard work that the two midfielders Prasanto Sinha and Kajal Mukherjee would do.

That extra employment of the mid fielder in Samaresh Chowdhury eased of the extra load that the other two midfielders were doing it. It gave them a space and the oppourtunity to move up in the attack along with Swapan Sengupta and Mohammed Habib with Kali Babu Verma switching himself at the right, left and the centre to completely fulcrums’ the East Bengalines’ to pile attacks after attacks on the Iranis

 

Pic :: Peter Thangaraj saves a shot from Asgar Sharafi entering the goal

Iran complexly overshadowed East Bengal in the first twenty minutes of the game. They had two of their shots parried away by Peter Thangaraj at the goal . Their quick turn with the ball, releasing it to the either flanks with such an accurate long passed and deftly releasing the ball with ONE-TOUCH so accurately and correctly were a TREAT to watch.

In the 20^th minute they got a goal to see it nullify. The Iranian Left Wing in the Forward line Asghar Sharafi saw one of his goal disallowed. Three touch by the Iranians from their defense line courtesy Shehodei Jahangir Nassiri came to Sharafi who with his inner step ie the IN-STEP with one semi turn flicked the ball so beautifully that it all beat Peter Thangaraj who somehow latched on it to stop the ball before gripping and the ball entering the goal .While he was busy in his act the clever FOXY Sharafi like a STAG reached to Thangaraj at the goal and just side psushed him to collect the ball and within a quarter turn held the ball on his left leg to flick it to the goal. THE KOLKATTA CROWD WAS IN COMPLETE SILENCE

 

Pic :: A tense moment in front of the East Bengal goal. Thangaraj cutting off a goal bound move

The rule of the game says that IN THE GOAL KEEPER’S ARENA AND ZOME YOU CANNOT TOUCH THE GOALKEEPER AT ALL AND SHARAFI JUST DID THAT. The goal was DISALLOWED by the referee Mr Ramakanta Ganguly. No sooner he did that the VOCIFEROUS –LOUD- HOWLS of the supporters about 85,000 pluis in numbers TURNED it on the East Bengalis’ . Iran by that tie had earend three corners which went abbeging in the  sence that ONE hit the cross bar and the other the side bar and the third one was saved on the goal line by Peter Thangaraj .Such was the game that came out of those Iranis till then until that moment but for that outburst and the howl that came out of the crowd THAT TURNED THE COMPLEXION

It maybe added heer that though the goal ws DISALLOWED Sharafi demonstaretd the ONE-TOUCH-WORLD-CLASS game of football that was seen for the FIRST time here in India. What a PLAYER was he and what QUALITY. That itself proved that Indian soccer was far behind as compared to FOOTBALL that the world was playing

East Bengal girded it’s LION.It pushed Santo Mitra as a cover up which could be termed as a screnn in between the two Central stopper Naeemuddin  and Santo Mitra and brought in Sudhir Karmakar a bit close to Santo Mitra to give him the space to operate either sideways or upfront as the situation that would need be and assist Kali Babu Verma and Mohammed Habib while overlapping .This is where one saw the gamuit of the game changing and this is where East Bengal appeared different from there onwards. 

 

Pic :: Santo Mitra jumps high in the air to cut of a floater from Habibi to Sharafi

 East Bengal changed the complexion of the game and they saw their two effort , first a set-series-and a sequence of a pass play between Prasanto Sinha, Swapan Sengupta and Mohammed Habib where Habib’s grounder a scorching one just narrowly beating the mark and the second one, a loose ball latched by Samaresh Chowdhury who on the run beat FOUR Iranians by a very disciplined standard of ball controlling and dribbling which he finished it sending a curly outswerving kich to see the ball being punched  by the Iranian goalkeeper at the expense of a corner .Esat Bengal came back to the game and it was a stubborn resistance by their defense who thrawted the Iranis’ in the remaining time to take a clear shie at the goal .That first half remained goalless.

East Bengal : A “ DIFFERENT ”  “ ROYAL-BENGAL-TIGER ”  in the SECOND HALF

The second half saw East Bengal not only gaining in confidence but giving it on a BACK-TO-BACK basis to the Iranis’ for every moment and for every move.

The East Bengalis’ earned as amany as seven corners as compared to the five by the Iranis in the second half alone. The Man who was doing the most of the DAMAGE was Mohammed Habib and the man who was initiated all the moments and the moves  for all the damages to be done was Samaresh Chowdhury.

His tackles ALL-CLEAN, like the LION taking away the prey from the MOUTH of the TIGER ,  his MEASURED LOBS  like the tailor measuring the length of the cloth to cut it down so perfectly  before stitching them, and his ball supply at both the flanks to Swapan Sengupta and Kali Babu Verma ws something which cannot be described so easily. He completely held the entire East Bengal team from their line of defense to the opponents’ goal and he was the TORPEDEO , the fulcrum of every East  Bengalians’ attack or defense when it came to it. Assisted by it was the SUPREME control that Sudhir Karmokar displayed while keeping Sharafi completely under control when it came to it and at the time of overlaps when it boiled to it.

The 85^th minute saw Mohammed Habib being replaced as he flung himself at the left corner to meet a ball that was laid to him by Prasanta Sinha.He like a karate expert stretched his leg by flying himself to receive the ball and in return while missing it he and his leg was crashed on the cross bar .He had to leave and Parimal Dey came in

It was the 89^th minute of the game or maybe the last TWENTY SECONDS that remained . People were expecting a REMATCH of the same that the UNBELIEVABLE happened.

A Samaresh Chowdhury tapered measured ball which he had received from Syed Naeemuddin was send to Kajal Mukherjee , who found Swapan Sengupta overlapping from the right. Kajal Mukherjee outbeat an Iranian Hossein Kazreni with a deft outside  dodge and immediately he turned in to send a measured lob to Swapan Sengupta .  Swapan Sengupta  neatly collected  the ball to  who  two Iranians on the run and cut through the defense line of the Iranis parallel to the goalline to send a measured THROUGH-GROUNDER to Parimal Dey who after receiving the ball which he received just near the goalline controlled it and pushed it into the empty net for giving East Bengal what could be termed as the OPENING-OF-THE-GATE for their GOLDEN ERA in Indian Football.

The ONE-MAN who made this victory possible for East Bengal-:: 

Pic :: Sudhir Kormokar 

The ONE man ie the player who made it POSSIBLE for East Bengal was their Wing halg, Sudhir Kormokar. He was the DIFFERENCE between the two teams. He completely blocked Asghar Sharafi who then was the BEST player from and of the Asian Continent to play football. His complete CHECK ie the way Sudhir Kormokar checkmated him it was then the P.A.S Club was halted in their progress and with Samaresh Choudhury playing that kind of intelligent and measured football the East Bengal team grew in confidence and later they shocked one and sundry in the second half when they matches P.A.S Club for their moves to moves and minutes to minutes to send a SHOCK in the history and to the FRATERNITY of Football in Asia and India. 

East Bengal’s DOMINANCE In Indian Football - ::

It started the COMPLETE DOMINANCE of East Bengal in Indian Football then. From September 1970 when they defetade P A S Club Iran by that 1-0 in the I F A Sheild finals, East Bengal till November 1975 did NOT loose to any of the Foreign teams in Football .

It is the FIRST and the ONLY team ie the CLUB team from India and Asia to NOT to loose to any Foreign team that came to India to play Football. The record was broken in 1975 when Hangyang University defeated them by 2-0 in the D C M Finals to win that trophy that year after East Bengal had won it in 1973 and 1974  for two consecutive years in  the run.

It TOOK Mohun Bagan SEVEN LONG YEARS to beat East Bengal in Kolkatta

The I F A League during that time in Kolkatta was played in the system of return encounter

East Bengal had beaten Mohun Bagan in the I F A Kolkatta League in 1969.From 1969 to 1976 East Bengal did not LOOSE any game to Mohun Bagan within and inside of Kolkatta and West Bengal then for SEVEN long years before that 15^th second goal by Mohammed Akbar did them out .The ONLY place where Mohun Bagan could beat East Bengal was in the Rovers Cup in 1971 at Bombay ( Mumbai ) then.

In 1972-73 the season of East Bengal was such that they participated in SIX different tourney in India and they WON all the SIX trophies that year which included the I F A League, the I F A Shield, the Durand Cup ,the D C M Trophy, the Rovers Cup and the Lokpriyo Bordolai Trophy at Assam( Guwahati) .They infact shared the Rovers Cup with Mohun Bagan and the D C M Trophy was won by default as Dok Ro Gong refused to play the extra time after the TWO finals of that tournament in that year,  ended goalless during that year.

 NO OTHER INDIAN CLUB HAS THE RECORD OF A HUNDRED PERCENT WIN IN A FOOTBALL CALENDER TO IT’S CREDIT  

September 25^th 1970- East Bengal on August 1^st 1970 in that year had celebrated it’s GOLDEN JUBILEE of it’s establishment and had won the I F A Shield to re-carve and rewrite a HISTORY. Today when it celebrates it’s CENTURY it also celebtares it’s GOLDEN JUBILEE of that INFAMOUS win and I’m writing that here today

THANKS GOD FOR KEEPING ME ALIVE FOR BOTH THE DAYS TO  SEE, CELEBRATE AND WRITE IT

The following were the line up for that I F A Shield 1970 finals-::

East Bengal - :

Peter Thangaraj,  Sudhir Kormakar K.Guha , Syed Naimuddin , and Santo Mirta ( Captain ), Kajal Mukherjee, Prasanta Sinha and Samaresh Chowdhury , Swapan Sengupta, Mohammed Habib ( Parimal Dey ) Kali Babu Verma ( Ashok Chatterjee )

P A S Club Tehran , Iran

Mohsin Hosangi,  Majid Halvaei , Hossain Kazrani , Shehodoi , and Hassan Habebi ( Captain )  , Humayun Sharekhi, Mehdi Monajati ( Ahmed Jadeh ) , Hossain Kazreni , Jehangir Nassiri ,                    ( Malekiyan ) , Mirza Hossaian and Asghar Sharafi

Chief Referee - :: Ramakant Ganguly  

Score - :

East Bengal, Kolkatta & India – 1 (Parimal Dey ) , P A S Club, Tehran & Iran – 0

This was the line up ie the players who were selected for both the team to play in the finals. This line up of the players included the ELEVEN that would start to play the game beside the extras who would be substituted 

Lineups

East Bengal: Peter Thangaraj; Sudhir Karmakar, Syed Nayeemuddin, Prasanta Sinha, Santo Mitra ( Captain ) ; Samaresh Chowdhury (Kalon Guha), Kajal Mukherjee; Swapan Sengupta, Ashok Chatterjee, Mohammed Habib (Parimal Dey), Kali Babu Verma  Shyam Thapa.

PAS Club: Kivan Nicknafs; Mahsin Hosangi, Hassan Habibi ( Captain ) , Majid Halvaei, Hossain Kazrani; Humayun Sharekhi, Shehodei; Mehdi Monajati (Ahmed Jadeh), Jahangir Nassiri (Malekiyan), Mirza Hossain, Asghar Sharafi

Well, that is it and that describes all

Regards and Thanks

Pic

Shyamal Bhattacharjee 

Mr Shyamal Bhattacharjee, the author was born at West Chirimiri Colliery at District Surguja, Chattisgarh on July 6th 1959 He received his early education at Carmel Convent School Bishrampur and later at Christ Church Boys' Higher Secondary School at Jabalpur. He later joined Hislop College at Nagpur and completed his graduation in Science and he also added a degree in    B A thereafter. He joined the HITAVADA, a leading dailies of Central India at Nagpur as a      Sub-Editor ( Sports ) but gave up to complete his MBA in 1984 He thereafter added a Diploma In Export Management. He has authored THREE books namely Notable Quotes and Noble Thought published by Pustak Mahal in 2001 Indian Cricket : Faces That Changed It  published by Manas Publications in 2009 and Essential Of Office Management published by NBCA, Kolkatta  in 2012. He has a experience of about 35 years in Marketing

Signature Of Shyamal Bhattacharjee