The Roots of United Kurseong Football Club

United Kurseong Football Club, popularly known as UKFC, was established by a group of young people, some who had barely walked out of school and some who had just walked into the threshold of college. All these young men had one thing in common, the immense love for the beautiful game of football and the immense desire to do well in the field. Many of these young folks had dreamt of becoming professionals, represent clubs in the ‘Mecca of Indian football’, Kolkata, erstwhile Calcutta, and possibly represent the national team. Such was the desire and ambition of the bunch of young fellows who were the founders of UKFC.

However, to put things into perspective UKFC was not born out of nowhere. These guys had played together at many junior tournaments. (At that time, to be precise before the Gorkhaland Agitation disrupted the social life in the hills of Darjeeling, many junior tournaments used to happen. The only criterion to qualify was the height specified by the organisers). So when these players had grown up to participate at the senior level tournaments, the agitation had disrupted all these tournaments. Subsequently participation in any of these tournaments was difficult. Sunagava Sporting Club was one of the most popular and strong team of Kurseong prior to the agitation days and their players were all household names. So when for the first time after the agitation Independence Cup was being held, all decided to join this club so that we would play together as a team. However, the senior players were reluctant to concede their places to these players who had not yet established themselves, as a result on a few made it to the team. Meanwhile the newly formed Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, initiated ‘Inter Constituency Football Tournament. It was the fortune of all these young guys that they were from the same constituency and their selection was inevitable. Some other players were also selected and the Kurseong team performed really well and could have done better with a little bit of experience.    

After this tourney some of the players with whom these young guys gelled while offered them to be part of their club, Naya Bazar Sporting Club and promised that all would be treated at par and no privileges would be conferred upon the senior players. This attracted this group. However, after a few months it was noticed that there was differences of opinion among the office bearers of the club. The better players, of NBSC, who wanted to play the game of football at the best possible level and whose opinion matched with the group, together decided to forfeit the membership of this club and form a new club. Now, and new club Supernova was established entirely by the players with the help of some officials of the NSBC, who thought that they could be in a better position with us, with some other enthusiast. However, this club had some locality centric officials and wanted the club to be their representative. This created a cleavage in the club. The unhappiness among the members of the group who had greater ambitions and desires now decided that they would form a club representing the entire town of Kurseong and UKFC was established.

When the club was established in 1991, however, officially it is dated as 1989 to honour the contributions of many who were not part of the club when it was officially registered, it did not have any fund. The club had entered a tournament at Rangu, a small cinchona plantation village. The organizers had promised that on winning the tournament some money would be given to the winners. The lure of the money and the possibility of winning the tournament and also to test the team, before the very big Mahakal Tournament in Darjeeling, the team had entered into the fray.  As expected the team did very well defeating the rivals by big margins and reached the finals. However, on the eve of the finals it was informed that the organizers would not give any money to the winners of the tournament. The team left the village without playing the finals.

The club was accused of being money driven and wanted to blackmail the sentiments of the people. However, it needs to be clarified here that the organizers had promised money, but when the team was informed about the absence of money, the officials of the team had requested the organizers to arrange for vehicles after the finals so that we could reach our base the same day. Why the team insisted on this was the fact that the next day after the final match, the first round match of the team in the Mahakal Tournament was scheduled. It was a very big tournament for the club not because famous clubs were participating but because the winners of the tournament would be richer by 200,000 rupees. Till then probably it was the only tournament in the entire country to pay so much of much of money to the winners. As a newly established club with huge ambitions, it was decided by the entire contingent on the floor of the school building which was provided to the club as their room by the organizers in Rangu, to be much more precious than participating in the finals.

Though the club did not win the final, reaching the semi finals of that tournament was a huge step towards fulfilling the set desire. Soon, the club started winning almost all tournaments it played. The highlight of the club’s achievement being defeating the team from Hitauda, Nepal, as the actual team was the Nepal U-23 team which had just returned from Germany where it had undergone training (This can be disputed as everyone has their own pick regarding the greatest victories). Other was, to name only a few, receiving invitation from the coach of the Indian national team to play a friendly game with them in Darjeeling and Malda Sports Association inviting the club to play an exhibition game with East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting Club.

The team went on from strength to strength and also started paying attention to its administration. It roped in senior players like Ranjit Gurung as the President of the club and Dhurba Jung Tewari was brought in as Secretary General. They contributed a lot to the club highlight being roping in a sponsorship for the club. They negotiated with Makaibari Tea Estate to sponsor the club and they agreed to give 100,000 rupees every year.

The club managed to reach a certain level of standard with the contribution of Mr. Indra Lama, who took up the mantle of being the club’s first coach. He emphasized on physical fitness and made the players fit enough to run for more than 120 minutes without any hint of tiredness to compensate for the limited technical knowledge of the game. Later came Mr. Shesmani Rumba who stressed on technicalities. Both of them were not qualified coaches but gave us inputs based on their experience of having played the game. Though later Rumba started reading a lot on the technicalities of the game and improved the team tremendously. So the team moved up from one level to the next higher level. One very important thing which the club did was to scout for players. In this endeavour even organized local level tournaments to scout for local talents. Many players came from this endeavour. Megarj Thapa, Santosh Lama Jr. (Cobra), Kishore Pradhan (to name a few) and many others, selected from these tournaments, became part of the team in the years to follow.

The strength of the team was self belief, discipline, dedication and determination which are the values associated with any sports. However, the one thing that stood distinctly that helped the club reach the level was the mutual respect for one another. This helped in building a relationship which later was to be useful in personal life as well. All helped all. The team was like a family with strong bonds and it still exists today. Holistic development of the individual was emphasized. Education was also emphasized, so that people would not have to struggle after their playing days. So many achieved, even if partially, what they had desired and it is a proud part of history for the club.  Deenkar Chettri played for East Bengal, Jeten Rai and Chrispen Chettri went on to represent India under 19 and played for many big clubs of the country. Many of the junior players represented Prayag United in the under 19 league and humbly yours represented Eastern Railways, before going to JNU to study and complete Ph.D. Many got into the army and other police forces and many were helped into getting jobs.

The contributions made by many people are the strength of the club and these contributions are very close to all associated with the club. Ladup Lama, the best stopper back I have played with, Kishore Pradhan, Sagar Lama, Chand Pradhan, the first team manager, and the one loved most by the players, Depen Rai, the most obedient and loyal person I have ever come across in life and a very dear friend who roped in a sponsorship deal from a English person he was guiding in a trek, have made the foundations, on which the club rests, very strong. Their souls can rest in peace as the club is still in the right direction though there have been vested interests trying to defame it.  

(Next will on those people whose contributions have not been recognized outside the club)

The Picture Was Touching Indeed

The Picture Was Touching Indeed

The ongoing Confederations Cup in Brazil has witnessed good football and more importantly protests against the public funds being spent in building the stadiums for the World Cup 2014. The rise in transportation cost and the depleting conditions of social services in the country was what led to the collective anger of the Brazilians. Protests in different cities started with a few people but it soon became a much larger movement and only the intervention and public announcement on television by the President, to address the issues immediately calmed the people. As the announcement to address the concerns raised by the protesters was made by the President, the animosity between the public and the forces of the state, who were not so long ago throwing tear gas and shooting rubber bullets at them, was lost in transition. The picture which many newspapers carried, showing a protester wrapped in the national flag hugging a policeman was very touching indeed. The gesture on part of both the parties involved tells us that they were both working for what they perceived to be a larger good for the society and the nation. Both the parties were making a contribution for the proper functioning of the society.

The timing of the protest could not have been better. The focus of the entire world was on Brazil where the elite eight nations, champions of their respective Confederations (Italy qualified by virtue of being the runner up to Spain, both the world and European champion) along with the host of the world cup were participating for the coveted Confederations Cup. The protest has its genesis sometime in 2007 when the public was saddened by the pathetic conditions of social services in the country and was opposed to the expenditure that the state would incur in hosting the World Cup in 2014. Then the government had promised that the expenditure incurred in the construction of new stadiums and refurbishment of some of the older stadiums would be borne from private funds, but this was not done. The argument put forward by the social activists is that the 14 billion dollars that has been spent till now on the stadiums would be better worth if it was spent on education, health services and for the improvement of other hosts of social services. Even the team members of the national team support these demands and Philpao, the World Cup winning coach, has said that victory would bring unity across the people.

What is interesting is that the protesters love for the beautiful game, the blood line of Brazilians, has not been affected. The stadiums are houseful in all the matches and the atmosphere inside each one of them is electrifying. Of course the violence and vandalism has affected the players and have raised concerns for their security- especially of foreign players (which I personally think is an overreaction from a section of the foreign press- as there has not been a single incidence of any foreigners being targeted). Emotionally and psychologically the players may have been affected but the electrifying atmosphere and the absence of any form of protest inside the stadium has made the players determined to play a good match of football. And goals and victory in football for every Brazilian irrespective of whether he or she is protesting in the streets is of utmost importance. Everyone in Brazil loves football. Football in Brazil brings people together, brings social issues of pressing importance to the forefront and forces the President to negotiate with other political parties to bring reforms in the existing policies.

Till now no damage is done to the stadium and the playing arena, as everyone is aware that once the dispute is settled it is time for samba and football. Football has become a means to achieve those goals which the political parties have not been able to achieve. Every member of the team is aware of the repercussions of the tournament. To undermine the prominence, this tournament has for every Brazilian, Scolari is trying to make the fans believe that this team has not yet reached its zenith and is gradually moving towards its goal, that is winning the World Cup 2014. Winning the World Cup in 2014, which is being hosted for the second time in Brazil, is of paramount salience as they had lost he finals in 1950. That defeat to Uruguay still haunts the Brazilians and winning in 2014 is epitomized by none other than the only 4 time World Cup winner Zagalo. Scolari for sure knows that if he can repeat his 2002 feat achieved in Japan, all the social, economical and political turmoil that the nation is going through will be forgotten and samba and celebration and festivities will again be part of the people. Happiness and aspiration will again be part of the social capital of each and every Brazilian in this universe, which is evidently missing in some socially concerned citizens of the greatest footballing nation in this earth. 

Tahiti Million, Others 24

Tahiti Million, Others 24

Tahiti an unknown entity in the footballing map was part of this Confederations Cup in Brazil. They secured their qualification by virtue of being the Oceania Confederations champions. They won their group scoring many and conceding few goals to the opponents. This team is made up entirely of amateurs in comparison to rest of the seven teams who are thorough professionals. The extent of professionalism of these teams is also evident in the score they have against the minnows from Tahiti. Tahiti lost 6-1 to Nigeria, 10-0 Spain, and 8-0 in their final group game against Uruguay.

The score line however, does not speak about the standard of football they played. To the Tahiti players and also the team management this tournament meant a lot. This was an educational tour for them. As every educational tour is meant for learning and also gives you ample scope for enjoying, this team did exactly that. the moment they entered the stadium for the first match they were busy taking photographs, as they were well prepared for the very difficult lecture that was  to be had at the hands of their illustrious opponents in the next 3 games of 90 minutes each. However, as a student ever willing to learn they asked questions to the professionals whenever they got an opportunity. They were well prepared for the task at hand. They did not try to hide the joy of playing football in such an environment, which could be a once in their life time opportunity . They knew that these 90 minutes would probably change their lives (if spotted by some professional clubs). They did not want to waste a single second of the ninety minutes they would get in the company of these great players and teams. They pulled up their consummate opponents back on their field. They did this in order to keep the ball rolling for all the ninety minutes so that the most beautiful and cherished moments in their lives was  not undone by someone lying on the ground.

Tahiti players and everyone involved in the game of football in this tiny nation in the pacific knew that if a goal could be scored it would be a icing on the cake and were also aware that they did not have anything to lose. They were ready for any kind of eventuality that would come across to them in the field. They had below standard attack, midfield, and defense as compared to their opponents. In such a situation what do most of the teams do is to keep all the men in the third quarter of the field and make it difficult for the opponents to score goals. The brave hearts from Tahiti did not do so as they were also aware that conceding goals would not make any news as scoring goals would and in the ;process they would also get to showcase their talent in an arena they could only dream about till the time they landed in Brazil. Therefore they did not plan in only trying to stop opponents scoring against them but they themselves tried to score and play a very fascinating game. Because of this the talents of all the players were demonstrated in one of the biggest stage in world football, Brazil where flowing passing football is loved and valued by everybody. Cheung Hoe and others stood out. The goalkeepers also made saves which they should and will be proud of. Cheung I believe may have caught the eye of the many scouts present in the stands and will be called if not by the big clubs of Europe but by some smaller clubs of Asia and Australia.

Tahiti played beautiful game. They deserve kudos from everybody for showing courage and not disgracing the game of football by being ultra defensive in their approach and in the process they also score a goal which was applauded by one and all, inside as well as outside the stadium. Everyone cheered their goal and their traveling fans supported their team against all odds. They were happy and supportive of each and every touch their team members had on the ball. They cheered their goalkeeper when he was visibly frustrated to keep up stop the next shot.              

Tahiti came to Brazil to participate in the tournament and everybody who has the slightest of knowledge about football thought them to be the whipping boys for the more skillful opponents but showed courage and were not overwhelmed and overawed by the moment and did what they could do best given the resources and the history they had. They won million of hearts by their willingness to compete and in a fair manner.