Indian football relives a rare glory

Kolkata: There aren’t many moments which can be counted as golden days of Indian football. April 30 is one such day. On this day 50 years ago, the Indian junior men’s team became joint champions in the AFC Youth Championship in 1974. The Shabbir Ali-led group of sprightly boys, confounded the continent by holding defending champions Iran to a 2-2 draw in the final in Bangkok. No one had given them even a passing chance of going beyond the group stages.Even though it is now a forgotten landmark, the All India Football Federation came up with the novel idea of felicitating the members of that squad — at least those who are alive — in a function in the city on Tuesday. Six of them fetched up, on their rickety legs, to receive their mementoes from AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey. From living in the past, these grand old men of Indian football relived that glorious past. There’s a sombre note to the day too, as Chuni Goswami had passed away on this day four years ago.“We celebrated like never before, and when we returned from Bangkok, the then AIFF president received us with garlands,” Shabbir, seemingly the fittest of the lot, recalled. A few felicitations followed, and that was it.“Members of the Iran team were gifted cash, a house and a car each,” Sisir Guha Dastidar, a member of that team, chipped in, as others sniggered. “We did receive leather suitcases,” Shabbir interjected, adding it was at a private programme and not from the government or the AIFF.Ranjit Das remarked that they were stopped at the immigration while entering the country. “The prizes we received for becoming champions were blocked,” he remembered. “We had to explain how they had come into our possession before we were allowed to take them”The Bangkok triumph never got translated into anything bigger as apart from Shabbir, few others went on to make a mark at the senior level. “That’s how it was in Asia and Africa back then,” Shabbir regretted. “We would do well at the junior level and then lose our way.” Sadly, that continues to be the story even today.India team of 1974 AFC Youth ChampionshipGoalkeepers: Prasanta Mitra, Chandan Chakravarty. Defenders: Chinmoy Chatterjee, Dilip Palit, CC Jacob, Joaquim Barreto, Amit Das Gupta, B Dayanand. Midfielders: A Devraj, SP Kumar, Prasun Banerjee (vice-captain), Tapan Bose. Forwards: Shabbir Ali (captain), Harjinder Singh, Latifuddin, Sisir Guha Dastidar, Ranjit Das, Mohammed Yaqoob.Coaches: Arun Ghosh, MA Salam