With the glorious past of our footballing history left long behind in the pages of scrapbooks and record books, the past 25 years or so have been the worst phase of Indian football. That is pretty much all of my life and a bit more! But ever since I knew that a sport called football existed, and our country were, however disinterestedly, a part of it, there was one name which would be everyone's lips when talking about the Indian football team - Bhaichung Bhutia.
His journey started in the small town of Tinkitam in Sikkim in the foothills of the Himalayas. He represented his schools in various schools and finally landed a scholarship from SAI to take up football at the Tashi Namgyal Academy in Gangtok. His professional career started in 1993 at the age of just 16 when he signed for East Bengal. He transferred to JCT Mills, Phagwara, where he won his first Indian Football League title in 1997. He was also the top scorer in the league that year. Thus began perhaps the greatest career in Indian football in the past two decades. A career in which he became the first Indian player to play professionally in England when he joined Bury FC in 1999. He played for a little less than 18 months, but managed to score only a single goal in the period, against Chesterfield in April, 2000. He also became the first Indian footballer to play in Malaysia when he signed for Perak on a 3 month loan in 2003. Later, he also played for Selangor MK Land. Unfortunately, neither his stints in these Malaysian clubs proved fruitful. His career included spells in both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, a fact for which he received a lot of flak with the faithful from either side questioning his loyalty. He never let any of he criticism get him down, and went on to win the ASEAN Club Championship with East Bengal in 2003, perhaps his greatest achievement as a club player, also finishing as the highest scorer in the tournament and winning the 'man-of-the-match' in the final.
He has represented the country a total of 107 times, scoring 43 goals along the way. His achievements at the international level include Nehru Cups, SAFF Cups, the LG Cup win in Vietnam and the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008, which allowed them to automatically qualify for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, the premier international tournament in Asia. By his own admission, qualifying for the Asian Cup was the highlight of his career. He could only play one match in the tournament, that too as a second half substitute because of an injury prior to the tournament. Perhaps fittingly, he decided to hang up his boots after this tournament, as India were eliminated following a 4-1 loss to South Korea.
Today was his testimonial match, and being the true champion that he is, he played a significant role in inviting Bayern Munich to be our opponents. He could have asked for any opponent, scored a couple of goals himself, but he decided instead to showcase Indian football to the world, and the stars of world football right here in India. As for the match, well it was a foregone conclusion even before a ball was kicked. Bayern won 4-0 eventually. A special mention and thank you to the Bayern Munich team for playing their starting 11 in this match. They could well have opted to field a second string side, this being a friendly match. A bigger mention for Bastian Schweinsteiger and Manuel Neuer for playing the entire 90 minutes when they didn't need to. Shows the kind of respect that players have for one another.
Perhaps a fitting tribute to Bhaichung was paid in a tweet which was read out on air. It went something like, "If not anything else, Bhaichung Bhutia gave Indian football hope...". We'll stil see him playing for United Sikim, a club he founded and owns. But today was the last time he pulled on the Blue jersey of the Indian national team. Thank you Bhaichung Bhutia for all the memories...
His journey started in the small town of Tinkitam in Sikkim in the foothills of the Himalayas. He represented his schools in various schools and finally landed a scholarship from SAI to take up football at the Tashi Namgyal Academy in Gangtok. His professional career started in 1993 at the age of just 16 when he signed for East Bengal. He transferred to JCT Mills, Phagwara, where he won his first Indian Football League title in 1997. He was also the top scorer in the league that year. Thus began perhaps the greatest career in Indian football in the past two decades. A career in which he became the first Indian player to play professionally in England when he joined Bury FC in 1999. He played for a little less than 18 months, but managed to score only a single goal in the period, against Chesterfield in April, 2000. He also became the first Indian footballer to play in Malaysia when he signed for Perak on a 3 month loan in 2003. Later, he also played for Selangor MK Land. Unfortunately, neither his stints in these Malaysian clubs proved fruitful. His career included spells in both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, a fact for which he received a lot of flak with the faithful from either side questioning his loyalty. He never let any of he criticism get him down, and went on to win the ASEAN Club Championship with East Bengal in 2003, perhaps his greatest achievement as a club player, also finishing as the highest scorer in the tournament and winning the 'man-of-the-match' in the final.
He has represented the country a total of 107 times, scoring 43 goals along the way. His achievements at the international level include Nehru Cups, SAFF Cups, the LG Cup win in Vietnam and the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008, which allowed them to automatically qualify for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, the premier international tournament in Asia. By his own admission, qualifying for the Asian Cup was the highlight of his career. He could only play one match in the tournament, that too as a second half substitute because of an injury prior to the tournament. Perhaps fittingly, he decided to hang up his boots after this tournament, as India were eliminated following a 4-1 loss to South Korea.
Today was his testimonial match, and being the true champion that he is, he played a significant role in inviting Bayern Munich to be our opponents. He could have asked for any opponent, scored a couple of goals himself, but he decided instead to showcase Indian football to the world, and the stars of world football right here in India. As for the match, well it was a foregone conclusion even before a ball was kicked. Bayern won 4-0 eventually. A special mention and thank you to the Bayern Munich team for playing their starting 11 in this match. They could well have opted to field a second string side, this being a friendly match. A bigger mention for Bastian Schweinsteiger and Manuel Neuer for playing the entire 90 minutes when they didn't need to. Shows the kind of respect that players have for one another.
Perhaps a fitting tribute to Bhaichung was paid in a tweet which was read out on air. It went something like, "If not anything else, Bhaichung Bhutia gave Indian football hope...". We'll stil see him playing for United Sikim, a club he founded and owns. But today was the last time he pulled on the Blue jersey of the Indian national team. Thank you Bhaichung Bhutia for all the memories...
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