December 20th 2020 :: Golden Jubilee Of the Last Of The " FOOTBALL " Medal Ever Won By An Indian Team And It's Tale
December 20th
1970 :: GOLDEN JUBILEE CELEBRATION OF THAT “ BRONZE” BY INDIAN SOCCER
This was the date
where on which, the Indian Soccer team won that BRONZE, the “ LAST ” by any Indian team which played in the international CONTINENTIAL
event. This was the SIXTH Asian Games that was held and it was held at Bangkok
from December 5th to December 20th, 1970.
To start with let me make some very VITAL points very clear
to all. These are-:
A ). The Chef – De – Mission of the Contingent was the late
Air Chief marshal Mr Arjan Singh and he was the TECHNICAL ADVISOR especially
given that charge by the A.I.F.F. to him.
B ) > The CHIEF COACH of this team was MrG . M . Basha. .
Many say that Mr Pradeep Kumar Banerjee was the Chief Coach BUT
HE WAS NOT.
C ) > Mr P.K.Banerjee was the Assistant Coach – cum –
Chief Manager of this Indian Football team
D ) > Many say that Surojit Sengupta was a member of this
team BUT HE WAS “ NOT ” . It was Swapan Sengupta.
History Attached
To This Football Venture-:
After the Asian games 1962 where India won the GOLD beating
South Korea by the two goals scored by Jarnail Singh and P.K.Banerjee, India’s
standing in the Asian Football had started falling. The only face saving grace
was the Runners-Up position in the 1964 Pre-Olympic Soccer where we just
finished qualifying, ultimately giving that place to Iran whom we lost by 1-0.
That was the only grace.
From 1962 to 1966 we kept on losing one tag after another
and to teams like South Korea, Japan, Thailand , Malaysia regularly especially
in the Merdeka Soccer that we would participate . The scenario was WORST in the
1966 Asian Games where we were ousted in the very FIRST round of that tourney.
Such a paethetic was the performance in the Pre-Olympic
Qualifier in 1968 that we even ost to teams like Sri-Lanka, then CEYLON in a
group match and at Rangoon Burma then, now Myanmar outplayed us and toyed with
us.
With that background
the A.I.F.F. had to run to the Government run by Mrs Indira Gandhi then and has
to request her to ALLOW the football team to participate in the 6th
Asian games.
Pitiable Economical Condition:: The I.F.A Shield Finals results
SOCCURED India.
The condition of the country in the period from 1968 to 1970
during that period was really pitiable. The war against Pakistan had forced us
to be on the ECONOMICAL-TENTERHOOK and the prices were soaring high. It was
very HARD for the people to survive at any cost. Thereafter the TWO DROUGHT in
1968 and in 1969 completely BROKE the backbone of the Indian economy and the
country was really at the crux of ending itself with the INVASION of these two
famines. At one stage of the point India had decided NOT to participate for the
event but a SPECIAL REQUEST by the King Of Thailand changed the mood of Mrs
Gandhi then. She decided that ONLY THE WINNING MEDALS PROBABLES in the
respective events would be allowed to
leave the shore of the country for the games.
It was here that Mr Arjan Singh came into handy. He had
witnessed the I F A Shield Finals where East Bengal beat the STRONG and the
NINTH-BEST-FOOTBALL-TEAM-OF-THE-WORLD in the club football by 1-0. He was highly
impressed by the skill that the East Bengal football team displayed on that day
and he convinced Mrs Indira Gandhi that INDIA WILL EFINITELY COME BACK with a MEDAL and this team may be allowed to
participate. That set the ball rolling
Pakistan “ REFUSES
” to participate in football , hence India needed
Initially there were TWELVE teams invited for the event,
however in the last minute Pakistan REFUSED to participate and even before that
laos refused to send their team. Hence with Pakistan declining to participate it
became a MAJOR PROBLEM for the organizers to think of conducting the event with
NINE team and in case if Indian had not participated in Football, the worries
could have further aggravated. THANKS to
Mr arjan Singh, his timely intervention and a good advise that he gave it to
Mrs Gandhi made her to change her mind and THAT
WAS THAT.
India finally
announces her team for the participation
The Indian team
finally with that MESMERISING east – Bengal’s 1-0 win over P.A.S.Club Iran on
September 25th 1970, and with that CURRENCY in her bag went forward
to participate in the tourney .
India was led by Syed Naimuddin . It had FIVE players from
That East Bengal team which beat P.A.S Club Tehran , Iran and THREE from Mohun
Bagan team which lost to P.A.S.Club Tehran in the I.F.A Sheild with some from
the Services, and Punjab and some from Bengal not playing for either East Bengal, Mohammedan Sporting, or
Mohun Bagan in the side selected to play for India.
There was NO CAMP held for this team. It was that the
Santosh trophy tournament was over in 1970 and in 1970 Punjab had won the
Santosh trophy beating Mysore ( now Karnakataka ) by 3-1 to win the title and
the Indian team was selected on the basis of the performance of the Santosh
Trophy . That was the main and the concrete performance on which this team was
selected .
On the other hand the players then were playing football all
over the season. ONE MIGHT NOT BELIEVE
ME, DURING THAT POINT IN INDIA THERE WERE 125 FOOTBALL TOURNAMENTS HELD ALL
OVER THE COUNTRY. The “ BIG-ONE’S ” were always playing in their respective
Soccer League of their state beside the I.F.A Shield, the Durand Soccer, The
D.C.M Trophy, the Rovers Cup, and above
all the Santosh trophy. Hence during those days the Indian football players were
always very fit and in top condition to play the game. That is ONE of the MOST
important reason that the camp for selecting this team did not materialize at
all, and finally a squad was selected whose names are given down below for the
people to read them.
The Tale Of that
Tourney – India RAISES herself to let the event FLOW
Because of the TEN teams playing, the grouping was done in
an manner that there were TWO groups comprising of THREE teams and there was
ONE comprising FOUR teams. Hence there was THREE groups only. It was decided that TWO teams each from the
THREE group would qualify occupying the first two place in their group and the
BEST LOSERS – two would be chosen for the Quarters.
Japan- The “ TEAM
” that was GIVEN the TOP-BILLING
.
One might be wondered if I say that JAPAN WAS THE “ FIRST ” team
from Asia to WIN a BRONZE medal in the history of Olympics. If the record is
taken then EAST-INDIES then, now Indonesia was the FIRST team from Asia to
participate in the World Cup proper. That happened in 1930 when Uruguay for the
FIRST time won the World Cup beating Argentina by 4-2 in the finals.
However Japan was the FIRST Asian team to win an Olympic
medal in the Olympic Football and that happened in 1968 at Mexico Olympics.
Japan had a SIX-FEET-SEVEN-INCHES tall footballer a AROOW PIERCING Footballer
to play for them. He was also playing for Real Madrid then. That was his
standard. He was responsible for Japan winning the Bronze in the Mexico
Olympics and he was leading Japan in the Asian Games 1970 Asiad for football
event.
India’s
performance :: They played like a DREAM
India in her group ws placed with Thailand, South Vietnam .
In the match against Thailand who took the WORLD OF ASIAN FOOTBALL by surprise,
they fielded a 2-4-4 combination to take the entire charge of the midfield.
India were playing with the 4-2-4 combination. That gave the Thais a lot of
advantage to put two more ie additional men on the midfield and they seized the
open territory on a platter that was served to them by the Indians. Soon they
were 2-0 up. India restored through TWO goals by Subash Bhowmik to end the
statement and the stalement , at 2-2 . Bhowmik was very BULLDOZING and his physical strength
completely uprooted the Thais. Also India resorted to very high degree of skill
and a sort of short passed effectively couples by dribbling which completely
uprooted the Thais and they conceded tow gols to india after the half time to
end the stalement on an even keel.
This set the ball rolling. In the next encounter India using
the same pattern and the same game as well as the same plan went on to defeat
the South Vietnam team by 4-1. It was again Subash Bhowmik who scored the first
two. Thereafter Mohammed Habib scored through a penalty. Actually Subash
Bhowmik was told by the playing Indian team members to take that penalty. It was because
THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A SECONG
HATTRICK BY ANY INDIANS TILL THEN , IN INTERNATIONAL SOCCER TO HAVE NETTED A
HATTRICK AFTER NEVILLE DE SOUZA WHO DID THAT IN THE OLYMPICS AGAINST AUSTRALIA
IN 1956. However the Indian Coach Mr G.M. Basha ordered Mohammed Habib
to take it and he made it 3-0. South Vietnam hit back scoring one but Magan
Singh made it 4-1 of a beautiful inserve dipping header of a corner kick to see
India through.
The Arrangement
changed : India in a “ PHIX ” and “ FIX
”
After the grouping and the group matches were over, India
through those THREE points made it to the QUARTERS. During those days a DRAW
for a match would fetch ONE points but a win would fetch TWO. So With THEE points India moved to the QUARTERS .
Here it was that India was IN-A-SHOCK.
The grouping and the modules from the QUARTES were changed. The football event of the 1970 Asiad were in a
FACT a kind of a MIRACLE with every matches, that saw about 75,000 plus
spectators entering the stadium to witness that. The kind of a response that football drew in those and that games
are indescribable.
The Games
Organisers had poured in a LOT of money that is still indescribable but the
other events were NOT drawing that kind of spectators. Thailand was under the
severe FINANCIAL-CRUNCH.They had previously held the Asian games in 1966 also
and had suffered a HUGE loss then.
This time around the situation was same and the economy of
the country had taken a DIP because of many factors. Hence Thailand ATLEAST
anted the cost of the expenditure to reach to it’s BREAK-EVEN and looking at
the football tourney in terms of the events- THEY DECIDED TO PLAY THE QUARTERS IN THE GROUP STAGE LEAGUE METHOD .
They at once changed the TWO-BEST-LOSERS system by splitting
the SIX team who had TOPPED their group encounters by claiming the two top spot
into two group. India was placed with Indonesia and Japan in their group.
PROBLEM FOR INDIA.
Incessant and a HEAVY DELUGE of rain THRICE at Thailand on
December 15th 1970 had interrupted the game on the same day with NO
field event taking place. The organisers were
at a PHIX whether to extend the
games by a day on December 21st or to finish the events on December
20th 1970. They WANTED TO
CLOSE THE GAMES ON DECEMBER 20TH 1970 AND DEDICATE THSESE GAMES TO
THEIR KING WHOSE BIRTHDAY FELL ON DECEMBER 20TH.
Hence there were many rescheduling of the events which put
many of them in JEOPARDY and the football events were the one’s to take a DIG and buried
at DEEP. The team to sufferer the most was India.
India’s fixtures were such arranged that India would had to
play Japan in the QUARTER-FINALS GROUP LEAGUE against Japan and immediately
take on the semi-finalist the next day.
The Indian Players
Were Not Prepared For The same :: Mr Arjan Singh INJECTS the “ LIFE ” in the
team
The BIGGEST crux
that he held to put the entire games in its own place was the FOOTBALL event We
know that 1970 ASIAN GAMES AT BANGKOK WAS THE LAST WHEN INDIA DID WIN AN
INTERNATIONAL MEDAL A BRONZE FOR THE LAST
This event during the
QUARTER-FINAL league stage, was held in
a manner that India had to play TWO games in TWO days.
In other words, 180 MINUTES OF FOOTBALL IN TWO CONSECUTIVE
DAYS,ie, 90 minutes a day, IS SOMETHING WHICH ONE WILL NEVER
BELIEVE BUT YES THAT WAS THE FIXTURE
The Indian team was TOTALLY against
this and in one of the moment they literally wrote the organiser that they
would pull out of the tourney if the scheduling was not reorganized and worked
on to make the things better for them.
This was something which
totally was upsetting the applecart of the organiser .Extending the
fixture by two days- one for extending the date for India to play her match
after at least a rest day that they would enjoy and then extending the day of
the final match - it would have added so many a dollars to the existing expense
of the organisers.
The Chief of the
Organiser of the Games then came to Mr Arjan Singh and put his view point He
was a OFFICER FROM THE THAI ARMY and he was given this
additional charge to conduct the games by the Thai authorities . He spoke all
about his difficulties to Mr Arjan Singh and requested him to somehow make the
Indian football team to play two games consecutively in two days
Mr Singh rose to the
occasion , spoke each words to each players separately and collectively and
just told them- “ PROVE THAT YOU ALL ARE SO STRONG AN INDIAN THAT
YOU CAN OVERCOME THE WEIGHT OF PLAYING CONSECUTIVELY FOR TWO DAYS ”
You might lose well- that
is in the game but if you win TWO MATCHES PLAYING FOR TWO DAYS THE
WORLD WILL FEAR YOU WITH ALL RESPECT AND THAT WILL BE YOUR GREATEST "
GIFT " TO INDIAN FOOTBALL This is an occasion for
you to stand up and SHOW- HOW STRONG THE INDANS ARE INSPITE OF
BEING A VERY POOR COUNTRY
WON'T YOU LIKE TO TAKE
THIS SITUATION TO PROVE A POINT FOR INDIA, INDIAN FOOTBALL AND YOURSELF
Mr P K Banerjee the Assistant coach then in his presence put this
question to the Indian team and no sooner he put that Mohammed Habib got up and
said- KHELENGAY BHI AUR JITENGAY BHI CHALO TAIYYAR HOH JAO which
means WE WILL PLAY AND WE CAN WIN AS WELL,and the entire
Indian team got onto the feet to say- KHELENGAY YES WE WILL PLAY.
Well India had to play
two matches in two days. India started the bang with a facile 3-0 win against
Indonesia to collect TWO points.
Thereafter looking into
the draw of the group, Mr P, K . Banerjee to the extent with FOLDED-HANFS
requested the Chief Coach Mr basha to drop at least Naimuddin, Chandeswar
Prasad the two Cental stoppers, Sudhir Kormokar, Manjit Singh, Subash Bhowmik,
Magan Singh and Habib to play against Japan in the next encounter.
The reasonings that Mr
P.K.Banerjee gave was- WE HAVE AMMASSED TO POINTS. EVEN IF WE LOSE TO JAPAN IN
THE GROUP LEAGE QUARTER ENCOUNTER WE WOULD BE MAKING IT TO THE SEMIS.
There and these playes
who would be dropped for a match would GET the necessary reast against their
opponent and the team can reach finals who so ever India plays. Better India rest these players. But an ADAMANT Mr Basha WOUD NOT agree .
He fielded the original team and India lost by 1-0 to Japan.
India started
well as they won 3-0 against Indonesia with goals from D Natraj, Magan Singh
and Shyam Thapa but a narrow 1-0 defeat
to Japan saw them progress to the semis as group runners-up.
Came the semis :: Indians were NOT in a position even to walk
after 65th minutes
The Indian team did
not loose to Burma just because the Burmese were too good It was because the
Indian were playing with too TIRED LEGS which after the
65th minutes of the game . The physical condition was such that the team became
was LIFELESS and STRENGTHLESS
for the Indian team to feel and walk, even to walk leave
apart the question of running.
India were holding the
Burmese till the 71st minutes. The Indian think-tank repeatedly
requested Mr Basha to substitute the lifeless –LEGLESS players then, but he
would NOT listen. He was adamant. He continued in the same vigour and manner.
India by then took to
STRONG-HARD-LONG-RANGERS to fend for themselves and TWO of those shots, one
each by Magan Singh and Subash Bhowmik hit the cross bar and came back into the
play. Burma on the other hand scored two in the last seven minute to end the
game in their favour. That ended
India’s march to the finals.
However the Indian team
put up a valiant resistance inspite of such a pressure and so many a handicap in the last 30 minutes of the match where the
Burmese bombarded them relentlessly and Sudhir Karmakar played a game of his
life to somehow keep the score board still at 2-0
After a day of rest when
India gain took Japan for the Bronze Medal match it was a TALE OF A
DIFFERENT KIND
The PLAY-OFF “ BRONZE ” :: Chandeswar
Prasad Illness Proves A Blessing
On December 20th 1970, India took on the Japanese
once again to play the PLAY-OFF-BRONZE-MEDAL match.
The Central stopper of
the team Chandeshwar Prasad , ONE OF
THE ARJUNA AWARDEE OF INDIAN FOOTBALL FROM PATNA THEN PLAYING FOR MOHUN BAGAN
THEN, fell ILL. Two consecutive game on two days such such a bearing on
his leg and the body that he fell ill and was running a very high temperature
beside muscles pull. He was left out of the playing XI.
Sudhir Kormokar was asked
to play as a CENTRAL STOPPER beside inkling himself diagonally every time to
the right of the defense to assist the Right Wing Half, the customary and the usual position of Mr Sudhir
Kormokar.Thus he had to do a DUAL DUTY everytime to thwart the Japanese and
their attack.
In that Bronze Medal
play-off match, the Indian defener, Sudhir Kormokar did not allow the Tall
Japanese striker Jan Kammamotto even to take a free turn in the game and did
not allow him to move at all even my a
fraction of a MILLIMETER .Kammamotta ten was the BEST player
of Asia and was playing in
the top flight European soccer and was scoring goals at his own will
Pele in his very FIRST
AUTOBIOGRAPHY- MY BEST 50 FOOTBALLER had one
chapter- THE ONLY ONE FROM ASIA and that was
on Kammamoto with Pele - all praise for his footballing
skill and when he was totally neutralized By Sudhir Kormokar, which
helped India to win that match by 1-0 to win the Bronze, the PRESIDENT of FIFA Mr
Alf Ramsay then went to Mr Arjan Singh and said- ACTUALLY INDIA
SHOULD HAVE WON THE GOLD AND IF IT WAS NOT THAT KIND OF AN HAPHAZARD FIXTURE
THAT INDIA WERE TO ACCEPT AND PLAY YOUR TEAM SHOULD HAVE WON THE GOLD
He later added that HE
DID NOT SEE ANY INDIAN TEAM PLAYING THAT KIND OF UNIMAGINABLE FOOTBALL BESIDE
THANKING HIM TO HELP THE FOOTBALL EVENT TO FINISH AND THAT TOO WITHOUT ANY
ABBERATION & ABRUPTION .
Pic :: Sudhir Kormokar ::
There again he was FULL of
praise for Sudhir Karmakar saying that if he was to choose three best
defenders in the world amongst all the defenders that he saw playing football,
he would always pick Sudhir Kormokar as one of them He was shocked to see
Sudhirda playing that kind of a intelligent , wily , FOXY, HARD and and
tough football inspite of his very short height and a lean structure body .
It was THIS man
Mr Arjan Singh , who DID
EVERYTHING POSSIBLE to see to it that the events at the 6th
Asian Games went on without being uninterrupted
When the contingent came
back- a special tea party for the contingent was held and the Indian Premier
then, Mrs Indira Gandhi presented every member of the team/contingent with
a KASHMIRI SHAWL
Mr Arjan Singh got jobs
for all the members who were willing to join the Government jobs courtesy Madam
Indira Gandhi and the four members of the water-polo squad who were from the Indian
Air-Force were given an out of the consideration kind of a PROMOTION in
their job
He later went onto to
BECOME a " GREAT " friend of Mohammed Habib
the PELE of Indian football as he was called. More about it later.
Pic :: Mohammed Habib donning the East Bengal Club Jersey in 1971. The " FIRST " Indian To Don The Jersey Number "10" For India and East Bengal
Pic :: The Three Members Of that Indian Football Team Amar Bahadur, Shyam Thapa and Magan Singh in that order At The Airport
It may be added and CORRECTED to write that though
the PRESS wrote that Amar Bahadur had scored the winning goal, ACTUALLY
IT WENT OFF THE FEET OF MANJIT SINGH AS HE TAPPED THE GOAL OVER THE TOP OF THE
GOAL LINE TO SEND THAT BALL IN. That is the CORRECT scorer who scored that GOAL for India.
Squad
Goalkeepers: Kuppuswami Sampath (MEG, Bangalore), Bandya Kakade
(Bombay).
Backs: Sudhir Karmakar (East Bengal Club), Syed Nayeemuddin (East
Bengal Club - CAPTAIN), Chandreshwar Prasad (Mohun Bagan AC), Nirmal (Jhunu)
Sengupta (Bengal), Altaf Ahmed (Bengal), Shivdas (Bombay), Kalyan Saha
(Bengal).
Half Backs: A. Latif (Bengal), J. Bassi (Bombay), Doraiswamy Nataraj
(Mysore), Ajaib Singh (Punjab).
Forwards: Shyam Thapa (East Bengal Club), Subhas Bhowmick (Mohun
Bagan AC), Mohammed Habib (East Bengal Club), Amar Bahadur (Mafatlal, Bombay),
Magan Singh (Rajasthan), Manjit Singh (Leaders Club, Punjab), Sukalyan Ghosh
Dastidar (Mohun Bagan AC) and Swapan Sengupta ( East Bengal F.C.) .
Coach: GMH Basha (Mysore); Manager: PK Banerjee (Bengal).
Well
this were the 11 men along with the substitute who played on that
final day for the Bronze - ::
Goal-
:: Kuppuswamy Sampath Sudhir
Deep
Defender- ; Altaf , Syed Naimuddin ( Captain ), , Sudhir Kormokar , and Kalyan Saha( Nirmal
Sengupta) .
Mid
Fielders :; Latif (Manjit Singh
) and Doraiswamy Natrajan
Forwards-
: Magan Singh ( Vice Captain ) , Subash
Bhowmik , Mohammed Habib and Amar Bahadur
Chef- De-Mission - : Air Chief Marshal Mr Arjan Singh.
Well , that is it and that sums up all about the same .
Well , that is it
Regards and Thanks
Pics
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 .
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