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)
Thanks a lot for the cover....it is really an inspiring tale of Kurseong boys..y not post it in DC and DT.. Darjeeling guys and fans like me would love to know more about their clubs.
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