Churchill lives on Alemao's passion

From Margao, it took barely 30 minutes to reach Verca. "Where is Churchill's house" ask any commoner on the way and you would be directed straight to strongman Alemao Churchill's house. It is one of those typical Goanese house located deep inside a sleepy village which remained calm and composed even on a Sunday morning.
The moment I walked in, I saw a blackboard right infront of the entrance. It was the "appointment board" of Alemao (Churchill Brothers' leadman). Being a minister in the Goa Government, he seems to be a busy man, I thought. Besides his footballing passion, he is also supposed to take care of his constituency.
After waiting for almost an hour alongwith other visitors (most of them had come to narrate their problems), the big, burly frame of Alemao finally trooped out of his rest room. Wearing his trademark spotless full-sleeve shirt and trouser, he said: "Sorry, I am late. Come, please come inside." He directed me to his modest one-room office at his residence where he listens to each and every problem of his 'people'-- from a cancer patient who has been denied an appointment in a Mumbai hospital to a youth looking for an employment.

Yet, during that two-hour chat I had noticed how well Alemao had balanced his role --footbal administrator-cum-minister. So it was not surprising that you listened to "Churchill Brothers" more than anything else from him. It was on his lips right through as he believes his club isn't an ordinary one. He wanted to dominate Indian football. This season, now that his team is firmly placed in I-League, Alemao should be all prepared to host a gala get-together at Verca.
Being at the top of leaderboard with 42 points, his club can only think of completing a formality, untill and unless they commit a harakiri. With Sporting Clube de Goa and Mohun Bagan sniffing down their shoulder, Churchill should play their last two matches with a composed mind. At this final hurdle, a slip in between is bound to haunt them for long. Like last year, when they missed the title just on goal-difference to Dempo.
Interestingly, this season their hitman and skipper Odafe Okolie (24 goals in his kitty) have ensured that even if they finish equal on points with their nearest teams, they still would have a decent goal-difference to sail them through.

There is this invincibility which makes Churchill a treat to watch. Alemao had always "imported good players and coaches" -- Karim Bencharifa and Odafe were the latest imports in Churchill bandwagon. In fact, Alemao will go deep to find out decent combinations for his team. I feel, he is a better manager than any of those who are running club football in India.

Over the last couple of years, Alemao has successfully proved that East Bengal or Mohun Bagan are not unbeatable. During the transfer market, while the rest of the clubs would look for bigger names, Alemao would inevitably hire low-profile TFA cadets. Arindam Bhattacharya, Gourmangi Singh, Naoba Singh are some of his young players who have blossomed in his team. It is this idea of nurturing young talents which is now doing wonders for a team which lives on Alemao's passion.

Is Bob talking sense?

Last week my friend Riyas (Komu) asked me what do I feel about Bob Houghton's proposed idea of building Team India for Asian Cup 2011. Well, in the first place I was wondering if Bob is aware of the ground realities. By contracting the 25 best Indian footballers for the next two years and then engaging them with foreign exposure tours will certainly require a great amount of financial support. First question, where would the money come from?

Having done that (contracting the players) and thus removing the top names from club football would mean that Mohun Bagan, East Bengal or even Dempo will cease to exist as a club. We are not doubting Bob's footballing knowledge. But we can still expect some sensible ideas from this globetrotting coach. Like in his own country England (though he is based in South Africa), club culture is equally important in the Indian context. The Englishman would have given a second thought before proposing it.

Experts say a mininum budget of Rs 40 crores is required to maintained this team. So fund is a big issue here because All India Football Federation (AIFF) itself is struggling to generate funds for its own tournaments.
Besides, we are yet to know who would be central characters in his so-called Team India for the Asian campaign. His skipper (Baichung Bhutia) is in his mid-thirties. Renedy Singh too is ageing. Bob has completely failed to work on a second team which should have been in place after he took over in June, 2006. Some of the players who already deserved a place in the national squad doesn't know how much more they have to prove themselves. Too much big talk will not really help Indian football. Besides the alleged coterie inside the Indian team with "Bob the CEO" isn't doing good.

Karim's food and Nayeem

Time, as the cliché goes, really flies away.
1997. Slowly I was adjusting myself. Having left the city known for its never-ending football madness, I was transported to a city where I came across football clubs. But they just couldn’t match Kolkata. It was only during the Durand Cup's which brought some relief. Durand Cup showcased stars like IM Vijayan, Chima Okorie, Carlton Chapman, Joe Paul Anchery, Basudev Mondol and others. It was the perfect opportunity to know and understand them, I wondered.

But Syed Nayeemuddin’s presence overshadowed everybody. If I can recall, it was definitely not my first meeting with him. In 1995 in Calcutta when he was East Bengal coach I had managed to speak to him. But he was and still is monosyllabic. Hence, the interaction didn't happen at all.

With the early winter chill in October, Nayeem sahab walked in at the Ambedkar Stadium entrance. The crowd (mostly from Old Delhi) joslted for space. They wanted to talk to him. Share some inputs about the Indian team for which he was chosen as national coach. He wore his trademark spotless white full-sleeve shirt and blue denim jeans. And yes, he sported a Ray Ban sunglass.

Surprisingly, despite his stature as the national coach, he didn’t leave his one-room accommodation in Hotel Bombay Orient which interestingly is located in the heart of Old Dilli – Jama Masjid and opposite Karim's. Even much later, he never missed Karim's food and Old Delhi's ambience.

Interestingly, most of my initial interactions with him happened at this food joint. He would often call from a PCO (mobile phones still was not in vogue) or from his hotel and would invite me at Karim's. I discovered his love for food and he would explain why good food is necessary for footballers who mostly came from lower middle-class families. At his age (he was in early fifties then), his breakfast was sumptuous. It included bheja curry, mutton & chiken burra, naharis at times and roomali rotis. I would often stare at him with open-mouthed wonder. “Footballer needs good diet. It is essential to built a good physique,” he would often remind me.

Whether you were a journalist fascinated by Indian football, a rookie footballer who just made it to the national team, Nayeem sahab made everyone eat. Khalid Jamil had to finish off a glass of milk before he could say Khuda hafeez to his coach.

Our conversations would often revolve around football. But if you had waited for him to say something, Nayeem sahab would only lift his face and give a blank look because his fingers got busy to tear a delicious burra!

Do we really care for these legends?

Those guys are so old, you can't put your arms around a memory" — Guns N'Roses

Those not in tune with Indian football history can easily dismiss Samar 'Badru' Banerjee, MA Salam, Zulfikar, Nikhil Nandi, SS Narayan, Ahmed Hussain and PK Banerjee as senior citizens. But when the skipper of that legendary 1956 football team, Samar Banerjee, walked down the memory lane, you knew their 'star' status.

Seven players of the 'Class of 56', as they once famously were known as, were felicitated by the sports minister, and all those present were overwhelmed by the humility of these former stars. Gill hugged them and praised their achievements, wondering how these legendary players were consigned to the dustbin of faded memories. So, when a host of TV crews rushed to grab some quick bytes, they felt honoured.

For some in the establishment, it have been like any other official function. But for these greats, it meant a lot — finally, a recognition from the government. It was an opportunity for them to interact with a much younger generation of mediamen who follow the Beckhams and Rooneys.

But it was pity to see PK Banerjee, arguably the most popular and who till recently remained the most active member from that great team. Sadly, Pradipda, recently survived a cerebral attack and his right side has been crippled by paralysis. He smiled and said "Beta I can't move my hand," when a young journalist asked for an autograph.

The recognition has come after 50 years. But why? We don't even know that. May be, the ex-officials in the Federation can explain better.
Late last year, Peter Thangaraj died. A month later, 1951 Asian Games hero Mewa Lal passed away. Sailen Manna is bedridden. Obituaries were already written on Jarnail Singh, Neville D'Souza, Aziz some years back. Even their father-figure coach (SA Rahim) had died almost forty years ago. Knowing that Rahim was key to India's stupendous success, we didn't bother to recognise his credentials. Under him, India reached the semifinals at Melbourne only to miss the bronze, going down to Bulgaria in the third-place play-off.

Understood, all these gentlemen played in an era which lacked media hype. But then, the Federation could have put in some effort to keep their memories alive. So when Badru read out a two-page obituary on his fellow teammates, we couldn't help but picturise his team's exploits in Melbourne. It must have been a great experience.

Public memory is too short. We forget things easily. What we do today, it's a bit difficult to recollect them tomorrow. We are worried because we wonder if the future generation will ever remember these footballing heroes.