Sushil Bhattacharya (1924 – 18 July 2015) was an Indian professional football player and coach,[1] who is credited for becoming the first manager of the India women's national football team.[2][3][4] He was also the first head coach in history of East Bengal Club.[5][6]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 1924 | ||
| Place of birth | Bagdogra, Bengal Presidency, British India | ||
| Date of death | 18 July 2015 (aged 90) | ||
| Place of death | Kolkata, India | ||
| Position(s) | Winger | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Town Club | |||
| Vidyasagar College | |||
| Sporting Union | |||
| 1945–1949 | East Bengal | ||
| 1950–1956 | Eastern Railway | ||
| 1951 | → East Bengal (loan) | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| Eastern Railway | |||
| 1961–1962 | East Bengal | ||
| 1971–1972 | Tollygunge Agragami | ||
| 1975 | India women | ||
| 1975–1977 | Bengal | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Playing career
editBorn in Bagdogra, Bhattacharya used to play both cricket and hockey beside football.[7] He began his playing career with Town Club in Berhampur, representing the team in IFA Shield.[8] He then appeared with Vidyasagar College and Sporting Union, before signing with East Bengal in 1945.[8] With East Bengal, he achieved the double in 1945 by winning both the Calcutta Football League and IFA Shield.[9][10] His consistent performances on both flanks in a 3–2–5 formation helped the team achieving success and earned him a national team callup in 1946. He spent four seasons for the "red and gold brigade", played until 1949, refusing Gostha Pal and Abhilash Ghosh's offers of joining Mohun Bagan.[8]
When I used to play for East Bengal, names like Apparao, Venkatesh, Dhanraj, Somana and Sunil Ghosh were part of the forward line. Later, Ahmed Khan and Abid joined us. There used to be five forwards and I could play in the position of both right-in and left-in.
— Bhattacharya on his playing days in East Bengal.[7]
Bhattacharya moved to Eastern Railway in 1949, returning briefly to East Bengal on loan in 1951, for the Durand Cup.[8] At the tournament, they defeated Rajasthan Club 2–1 in final and lifted their first ever Durand Cup. He also appeared with George Telegraph in Calcutta Football League.[11][12]
Coaching career
editAfter retiring as a player, Bhattacharya began his coaching career with Eastern Railway, as an assistant coach.[8][13] He was deputy of Bagha Shome at the club, which was then consisting players like P. K. Banerjee,[14][15][16] Pradyut Barman,[17] Prashanta Sinha,[18] Nikhil Nandy, Pakhi Sen and others.[19] He later became the first-ever permanent "head coach" coach of East Bengal.[8][20] He won the IFA Shield and Calcutta League with East Bengal in 1961.[21][22]
Bhattacharya also managed Tollygunge Agragami and helped the team gaining promotion to the CFL first division.[8] He also helped Tollygunge reaching the IFA Shield final in 1971,[8] in which they went down 2–0 to Mohammedan Sporting.[23][24] He then took charge of different age group teams of Bengal alongside the Narendrapur Ramkrishna Mission College football team and Kolkata Veterans Club.[25] During his tenure as coach, he managed players like Tulsidas Balaram, Subhash Bhowmick, Bhaskar Ganguli, Sukumar Samajpati and Krishanu Dey.
In 1975, an advertisement appeared in the local newspapers that notified that a women’s team will be formed to represent Bengal. 150 girls like us had no idea about how the things work in professional football. Sushil Bhattacharya selected 16 girls that day. Apart from me, Shanti Mullick, Minati Roy, Shukla Dutta and Judy D’Silva were among the few who made the cut. The trial was held at the Kalighat ground. He was more like a father to us. Most of his students have served the nation for a long time. The biggest quality of his was not to get involved in any controversy ever. Also coaches often get criticized for their actions, but this was rarely the case for Sushil Da, such was the respect for the man. It was great to see the whole Kolkata football fraternity getting united to pay him the last homage. As a man who loved to keep himself away from fanfare, he never got his due recognition. We, be it the male or the female footballers, have been lucky to get him as a guide. As Sanjoy was telling today, we have to carry forward his legacy to develop Indian football further.
In 1975, he came the first-ever manager of the Bengal women's team, and the first-ever manager of the newly formed India women's national football team.[8][21][26] He is credited for nurturing Indian women talents like Shanti Mullick,[27] the first ever Padma Shri awardee. Bhattacharya managed Indian women's team when, from 1975 to 1991, the administration was in hands of the Women's Football Federation of India (WFFI) and the Asian Ladies' Football Confederation (ALFC).[28]
He was in charge of India S at the 1980 AFC Women's Championship in Calicut, in which they achieved second finish.[29] In the next edition, at the 1981 AFC Women's Championship, India secured third place, and again finished as runners-up at the 1983.[8] He also guided Bengal in Junior, Sub-Junior, Senior Women's National Football Championship and National Games, achieving nationwide success.[11] In 1985, he was appointed head coach of a noted football coaching academy incorporated jointly by Russa United Club and Tollygunge Agragami.[30] He retired from coaching in 2008.[31]
Death
editBhattacharya died of cancer at his home in Tollygunge, Kolkata, on 18 July 2015, aged 90.[11]
Honours
editPlayer
editEast Bengal[32]
- Calcutta Football League: 1945
- IFA Shield: 1945
Eastern Railway
- Rovers Cup runner-up: 1950[8]
Manager
editEast Bengal[7]
- Calcutta Football League: 1961
- IFA Shield: 1961
- Dr. H. K. Mookherjee Shield: 1961
- Rovers Cup: 1962
Tollygunge Agragami
- IFA Shield runner-up: 1971[8]
India (women's)[8]
- AFC Women's Championship runner-up: 1980, 1983
Individual
- The Telegraph Hall of Fame: 2012[7]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ "Indian women's football team first coach Sushil Bhattacharya dead". business-standard.com. Kolkata: The Business Standard India. Indo-Asian News Service. 28 July 2017. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
- ^ "How women's football in India lost its way". Live mint. 28 July 2017. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ Chaudhuri, Arunava. "Gender and sport in India: aspects of women's football". indien-netzwerk.de. Archived from the original on 5 April 2005. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ Taylor & Francis: Soccer and Society (2005). The gendered kick: Women's soccer in twentieth century India, Soccer & Society, 6:2–3, 270–284, DOI: 10.1080/14660970500106469.
- ^ Sportstar, Team (1 August 2020). "100 years of East Bengal: A timeline". Sportstar. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
- ^ The World Sports Today (1 August 2020). "100 years of East Bengal: A timeline of Kolkata giant's key milestones". The World Sports Today. Archived from the original on 27 June 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
- ^ a b c d Basu, Rith (9 September 2012). "Champion of champions with cup full of firsts". telegraphindia.com. Kokata: The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 6 July 2021. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Mitra, Atanu (19 July 2015). "Legendary Indian coach Sushil Bhattacharya passes away". www.goal.com. Kolkata: Goal. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
- ^ "History". eastbengalfootballclub.com. Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
- ^ "1940S TO 1960S". East Bengal Football Club. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
- ^ a b c "ইস্টবেঙ্গলের প্রথম কোচ প্রয়াত" [First coach of East Bengal passed away]. www.anandabazar.com (in Bengali). Kolkata: Anandabazar Patrika. 19 July 2015. Archived from the original on 16 August 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
- ^ "ফুটবলার তুলে আনতে জেলামুখী জর্জ টেলিগ্রাফ স্পোর্টস ক্লাব" [District oriented George Telegraph Sports Club to pick up footballers]. insidesports.in (in Bengali). Kolkata: Inside Sports Bengali. 18 July 2021. Archived from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
- ^ Chakraborty, Debojyoti (29 August 2017). "WHEN EASTERN RAILWAY RAN ON FULL STEAM (1958)". www.goaldentimes.org. Goalden Times. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
- ^ "Indian football legend PK Banerjee dies aged 83". India Today. 20 March 2020. Archived from the original on 22 November 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "P. K. Banerjee Profile — Indian Football Player Pradip Kumar Banerjee Biography — Information on PK Banerjee Indian Footballer". www.iloveindia.com. Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- ^ "Legends of Indian Football – "Hall of Fame": P.K. Banerjee". www.indianfootball.de. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- ^ Das, G. C. (14 September 2008). "Indian Legendary Football Players Profile: Goalkeeper Pradyut Barman". www.kolkatafootball.com. Kolkata Football. Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
- ^ Roy, Gautam; Ball, Swapan (2007). "East Bengal Football Club – Famous Players". www.eastbengalfootballclub.com. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 25 February 2009.
- ^ Karmakar, Rajat (21 December 2013). "ইস্টার্ন রেলওয়ে ফুটবল ক্লাব — ১৪১ বছরের পুরনো একটি ক্লাবের ইতিহাস ও ঐতিহ্য" [Eastern Railway Football Club — History and heritage of a 141-year-old club]. archives.anandabazar.com (in Bengali). Kolkata: Anandabazar Patrika. Archived from the original on 27 January 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
- ^ Kapadia, Novy (14 September 2017). "When East Bengal officials 'begged, pleaded, cajoled' team to beat arch-rivals Mohun Bagan". Scroll. Archived from the original on 10 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ a b Chaudhuri, Arunava (21 July 2015). "India's first women's football national team coach Sushil Bhattacharya passed away". sportskeeda.com. Sportskeeda. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
- ^ "Remembering our former player & first-ever professional coach 𝗦𝘂𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗹 𝗕𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘆𝗮 on his 8th death anniversary. 🙏💐". twitter.com (@eastbengal_fc). East Bengal Football Club. 18 July 2023. Archived from the original on 18 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
- ^ Chaudhuri, Arunava (1998). "List of Winners/Runners-Up of the IFA-Shield". indianfootball.de. Indian Football Network. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
- ^ Chakrabarty, Kushal (12 July 2012). "Mohammedan Sporting Club, Kolkata: A New Horizon | IFA Shield archive". kolkatafootball.com. Kolkata Football. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
- ^ Das, Debasmita (14 May 2019). "ইস্টবেঙ্গলের প্রথম পেশাদার কোচ, না পাওয়ার বাস্তবে এ এক অন্য তথ্যচিত্র!" [East Bengal's first professional coach, this is another documentary in reality!]. bengali.indianexpress.com (in Bengali). Kolkata: The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ Doyle, Jennifer (28 January 2010). "A World Cup Dream Revives India's Women's Soccer Team". NY Times. India. Archived from the original on 21 February 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
- ^ "Women's Asian Cup - When hosts India grabbed the silver medal in 1979". Goal.com. 14 June 2020. Archived from the original on 19 July 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
- ^ Vadukut, Sidin (28 July 2017). "How women's football in India lost its way". www.livemint.com. Live mint. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ Media Team, AIFF (15 August 2022). "Indian Football Down the Years: Looking back at the glorious moments". www.the-aiff.com. New Delhi: All India Football Federation. Archived from the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
- ^ Bhowmick, Mithun (15 December 2018). "ভারতীয় ফুটবলের অসুখসমূহ: পর্ব – ২" [Diseases of Indian football: Episode – 2]. bengali.indianexpress.com (in Bengali). Kolkata: IE Bangla Sports Desk. Indian Express News Service. Archived from the original on 15 November 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
- ^ "Indian women's football team first coach Sushil Bhattacharya dead". india.com. Kolkata: Indo-Asian News Service. 18 July 2015. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
- ^ "EAST BENGAL CLUB, INDIA – RECORDS, FUNS AND FACTS | SUSHIL BHATTACHARYA – THE FIRST COACH OF EAST BENGAL CLUB – 1961". eastbengalclubrecords.wordpress.com. East Bengal Club. 24 November 2014. Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
Further reading
editBibliography
- Kapadia, Novy (2017). Barefoot to Boots: The Many Lives of Indian Football. Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-0-143-42641-7.
- Martinez, Dolores; Mukharjiim, Projit B (2009). Football: From England to the World: The Many Lives of Indian Football. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-88353-6. Archived from the original on 2 July 2022.
- Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (2008). "Football in Bengali culture and society: a study in the social history of football in Bengal 1911–1980". Shodhganga. University of Calcutta. p. 35. hdl:10603/174532. Archived from the original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
- Nath, Nirmal (2011). History of Indian Football: Upto 2009–10. Readers Service. ISBN 9788187891963. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022.
- Dineo, Paul; Mills, James (2001). Soccer in South Asia: Empire, Nation, Diaspora. London, United Kingdom: Frank Cass Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7146-8170-2. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022.
- "Triumphs and Disasters: The Story of Indian Football, 1889—2000" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
- Majumdar, Boria; Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (2006). A Social History Of Indian Football: Striving To Score. Routledge. ISBN 9780415348355. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021.
- Basu, Jaydeep (2003). Stories from Indian Football. UBS Publishers' Distributors. ISBN 9788174764546. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022.
- Roy, Gautam (1 January 2021). East Bengal 100. Allsport Foundation. ISBN 978-8194763109.
- Bandyopadhyay, Santipriya (1979). Cluber Naam East Bengal (in Bengali). Kolkata: New Bengal Press.
- Chattopadhyay, Hariprasad (2017). Mohun Bagan–East Bengal (in Bengali). Kolkata: Parul Prakashan.
- D'Mello, Anthony (1959). Portrait Of Indian Sport. P R Macmillan Limited, London.
Further reading
- Roy Chowdhury, Rohan (27 July 2023). "ইস্টবেঙ্গল আজ নিজেদের মাঠে খেলবে প্রথম ম্যাচ, জয় ফিরতে মরিয়া মশাল ব্রিগেড" [East Bengal will play the first match at their own ground today, Mashal Brigade is desperate to return the win]. bengali.news18.com (in Bengali). Kolkata: News18 Bangla. Archived from the original on 27 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
- Dutta, Prasenjit (22 May 2022). "ময়দানের তৃতীয় নয়ন" [The Third Eye of Kolkata Maidan]. prohor.in (in Bengali). Kolkata: Prohor News. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
- "The Calcutta Football League (CFL) — Winners of each season". ifawb.org. Kolkata: Indian Football Association. 2021. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- Chattopadhyay, Hariprasad (13 September 2019). "আটান্নর মতো কড়া লড়াই দেখা যাচ্ছে এই লিগেও" [A tough fight like 1958 is also being witnessed in this season's league]. abandabazar.com (in Bengali). Kolkata: Anandabazar Patrika. Archived from the original on 26 September 2022.