DIG DEEP

Decline of Regimental teams in the Durand Tournament

By Novy Kapadia

Going down memory lane, it is interesting to note that from 1888-1940 British regimental teams held sway in the Durand tournament. The first civilian team to contest the final was the East India Railways in 1927. The East India Railways team consisted entirely of Indian players. Assisted by stalwarts like Samad, Rabi Ganguly, P. Bhowmickand and B. Das, the Railway team went down gallantly to the York and Lancashire Regiment by 0-2 in the final. Young Men of Delhi once reached the semi-finals as did Aryans Club of Calcutta in 1936. The first team to break the monopoly of British regimental teams was the mighty Mohammedan Sporting when they beat the Royal Warwickshire Regiment 2-1 in the final, with goals by centre forward Hafiz Rashid and the slick inside left Saboo.

A new era began when the tournament was revived in New Delhi, the capital of independent India. Civilian teams now started dominating the Durand tournament. Hyderabad City Police won in 1950 and 1954, East Bengal in 1951 and 1952 and Mohun Bagan in 1953. Regimental teams of the Indian Army were getting pipped at the post but not totally eclipsed as is happening nowadays. In both 1955 and 1958, the final was contested between two teams from the Services. In 1955 Madras Regimental Centre (MRC) Wellington annexed the Durand tournament for the first time, beating Indian Air Force 3-2 in the replayed final. The match on the first day ended in a goal less draw. D’Cruz, Alfonso and Alwyn scored for the winners. In 1958 for the first time since Independence the final was contested between two regimental sides. MRC Wellington, with mighty goalkeeper Peter Thangaraj in their ranks ousted spirited Gorkha Brigade 2-0 in the final with Mukundan and Abu Backer scoring the goals.

Till the end of the sixties, regimental teams were a force to reckon with in the Durand tournament. Gorkha Brigade twice emerged winners in 1966 and 1969. In 1966 in an all regimental team final, Gorkha Brigade beat Sikh Regimental Centre (SRC) 2-0 in the final. Then three years later, inspired by the mercurial Shyam Singh Thapa they beat BSF 1 -0 in the final to lift the trophy for the second time. After that it has been downhill all the way. No team from the Services has entered the Durand final since then. Indian Air Force (IAF) sparkled briefly in the late seventies, with their excellent forwards Subir Sarkar and Unni and playmaker Paul Raj. The Services Sports Control Board (SSCB), alarmed at declining standards, started the concept of the Army XI, a select team drawn from different regiments which competed in various tournaments. Somehow this concept has not taken off. Army XI is neither as charismatic nor as feared as the regimental teams like Gorkha Brigade, MRC Wellington or MEG Bangalore of yore. In the nineties only once

dig deep

has the Army XI entered the Durand semi-finals in 1991 when they lost 0-4 to ultimate runners-up Border Security Force (BSF). The regimental teams, IAF and Indian Navy are now confined to the preliminary rounds of the Durand tournament and play before a few hundred spectators and rarely leave a favourable impression by their participation.

In the last decade of the 20th century, the once mighty Gorkha Brigade is a pale shadow of the conquering unit of a little over three decades ago. In 1996, Gorkha Brigade lost 0-1 to local legend runners-up Hindustan F.C. in the first round of the preDurand tournament. In 1999, Gorkhas fared slightly better and reached the tournament proper, the quarter-final league stage. On their way to the quarter-finals they overcame local clubs Shastri F.C. and Indian Nationals. Gorkha Brigade was placed in group B along with Salgaocar F.C. Goa and F.C. Kochin. The twice-former champions of the Durand- tournament lost 0-2 to the ultimate winners Salgaocar F.C. but salvaged some pride by upsetting F.C Kochin 1-0 with a 30th minute penalty kick converted by midfielder Pritam Rai. However, Gorkha Brigade are no longer crowd-pullers. The array of talented players they produced in the past are not forthcoming anymore. In the sixties, Gorkhas produced some of the nippiest forwards in India’s football, the speedy striker Bhupinder Singh Rawat, nicknamed ‘the Scooter’ by local fans, the dazzling Shyam Thapa, famous for his acrobatic back volleys, the feline grace of left winger Amar Bahadt and the industrious Ranjit Thapa, to mention a few.

In the decade of the 1950s, Gorkha Brigade also produced classy players like Puran Bahadur, Mole Lahiri, Dhan Bahadur and Siri Bahadur and was renowned for its enthralling, attacking football. Prolific goalscorer, Puran Bahadur had the skill to torment opposing defenders and the charisma to attract large crowds. In the 1954 Durand tournament, Gorkha Brigade was involved in one of the greatest matches in the history of this illustrious tournament. They took on the mighty Hyderabad City Police in a pre-quarter final tie and led 3-0 at half-time. That year Hyderabad City Police were a formidable unit. They had just won the Rovers Cup for the fifth time in succession and would become the first team in India to achieve the Durand and Rovers double crown. The Hyderabad police changed tactics in the second half and made a dramatic comeback. To stifle the speed of the Gorkhas attack, the Hyderabad Police defence played upfield to catch the opposing forwards in the offside trap. They also used the long ball from the flanks effectively to harass the short-statured Gorkha defenders. In a match, which old-timers consider as one of the best ever seen on the lush green surface of the Ambedkar stadium, Hyderabad City Police rallied to win 6-3 with their centre forward Doraiswamy scoring a hat-trick. But it is a credit to the Gorkha Brigade for making it such an epic encounter. They continued to play attacking, entertaining soccer and did not resort to defensive tactics to hold on to their lead. They may have been tactically naive, but those were the reasons which made Gorkha Brigade a thrilling side to watch and extremely popular amongst the fans. The Durand organisers were sure of a near full house whenever Gorkha Brigade played because of their enthralling attacking football and talented players. Also the big teams of India feared Gorkha Brigade for their giant killing feats.

Alas, how the mighty have fallen. In the Durand tournament of the new millennium, the Gorkha Brigade has not even qualified

as one of the finalists for regimental army teams. Regimental teams nowadays play before a few hundred spectators as they no longer have the charisma or talented players, for spectators to flock to the Ambedkar stadium to see them in action. This decline is both sad and baffling but is an apt reflection of changing values in society and receding interest in regimental sports. It seems like an age gone by, but in the 1966 Durand tournament, three of the semi-finalists were regimental teams from the Services, the ultimate winners Gorkha Briagde, runners-up Sikh Regimental Centre (SRC) from Meerut and EME Secunderabad. Mohun Bagan was the only civilian side in the last four of the tournament. The 950s and 1960s were the heydays of regimental teams in the Durand tournament. In 1965, the newly formed Delhi Garrison, formed after the 1965 Indo-Pak conflict was the cynosure of all attention. This crack regimental team, with stalwarts like Bhupender Singh Rawat, K.B. Sharma and Amar bahadur upfront and Khairuddin and Mahadevan in defence and Arvinder Singh as goalkeeper delighted the crowds with their attacking, spirited football. They upset mighty East Bengal, which included stalwarts like Peter Thangaraj, Sukumar Samajpati, Parimal Dey, Sushil Sinha and P. Sinha in their ranks, 1 -0 in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals Punjab Police upset them.

MRC Wellington was a name to conjure with in the Durand tournament. In the 1950s and early 1960s they were a wellknit team of the most successful and best goalkeepers India has produced. He was involved in both their Durand triumphs of 1955 and 1958 and left for Mohammedan Sporting, Calcutta only in 1961, after having played in two Olympics, Asian Games and Asia Cup. Inside forward Kuppaswamy and right winger Kamachi, D’Cruz, Alfonso and Mukundan were some of the other great players who made MRC a formidable team some four decades ago. In the 1958 Durand semi finaIs, they upset a formidable East Bengal 2-1. East Bengal had players like goalkeeper Sanat Sett, defender Byomkesh Bose, midfielders Anil Gupta, Ram Bahadur and Bir Bahadur and forwards Moosa, Tulsidas Balaram and Dhanraj in their ranks. In 1956 MRC also reached the Durand semi-finals and , played an epic encounter with mighty East Bengal. Twice the match ended in goalless draws but on the third day, East Bengal prevailed 2-0 with the astute Kanaiyan scoring the opening goal. In the 1950s, MRC had a lot of support from their commanding officer, who invariably came to witness their important matches and arranged to send them to Delhi well in advance to get acclimatised. Besides the Durand they also won the DCM tournament in 1962 and were runners up in 1961.

EME Secunderabad, never won the Durand tournament but emerged champions of the Rovers Cup in 1961 when they upset Mohun Bagan 1-0, which included legends like Chuni Goswami, Arumainayagam, Jarnail Singh, Sanat Sett and T.A. Rehman in their ranks. In that same year EME reached the Durand semifinals but lost 0-2 to Mohun Bagan with goals by Dipu Das and Salauddin. EME also upset East Bengal 1 -0 in the quarter finals in 1966 with left striker Jayaraman scoring a memorable top of the box left-footed volley. EME Secunderabad, emerged champions of the DCM tournament in 1963 beating Punjab Police 3-1 in the replay after the first match ended in a goalless draw. Bir Bahadur, international defender Tarlok Singh and Khairuddin were some of the notable players who donned the colours of EME.

MEG Bangalore never reached a Durand final but was always a force to reckon with. They produced some outstanding players, skillful playmaker Ethiraj, goalkeeper K. Sampath and solid defender K. Madhavan. In the 1967 Durand pre-quarter finals they played draws with mighty Andhra Pradesh Police for two successive days. In the second replay they led 2-0 at half-time but inspired by majestic Yusuf Khan, Andhra Pradesh Police rallied to win 3-2. ASC Centre (South) Bang produced two very skillful players in the seventies, Aziz, who later played for Mohammedan Sporting and Shankaran Kutty. BEG Roorkee and AOC Secunderabad were other formidable regimental teams capable of troubling the best in the land.

IAF also produced some notable players, dashing winger Subir Sarkar who later played for Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting, the tall striker Biswas, midfielder Paul Raj, the elusive Ramchandran, Matthews, Kanaran, Balakrishnan and several others. They troubled the best teams in the country by their spirited displays and regularly reached the quarter-final stage of the tournament. India Navy also reached the Durand quarterfinals regularly and were feared opponents.

Support from the officer class, which is now declining, regimental pride and more emphasis on sports were the factors which led to the success of the Regimental teams in the past. It was a different ethos in the 1950s which produced so many fine Regimental football teams. Now with warfare becoming more technological, the same importance is not being given to football and sports in the Services.