The winner was Sri Aurobindo Institute of Education (SAIE), so was the runner-up and in a way, there were no losers at all. Every player on the field on Sunday felt like a victor with simply the opportunity to be playing after so many years.
The school’s alumni association had held the first edition of their Alumnus Cup, in association with The Telegraph Salt Lake, where the alumni associations of 10 other schools had sent teams. The event was held on December 12 at New Town’s NKDA football stadium.
The adrenaline rush began from the very first match. SAIE, the home team fielded two teams and their B team took the field first against Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (Bhavans). It turned out to be an extremely competitive match with fast moving attacks from both the ends. Anutosh Goswami of SAIE scored a wonderful brace to seal the first victory of the tournament.
“Getting my name on the scoresheet as the first ever goalscorer of the Alumnus Cup is a huge deal as I see this season to be the beginning of a long legacy,” Anutosh said upon receiving the man of the match award. “Bhavans has been a rival since our school days and beating them has increased our expectation.”
Arghadeep Mazumder of Bhavans scored a hat trick against Saifee Golden Jubilee English Public School and thrashed their chances of progressing in the tournament. “I am pleased with this opportunity to go back in time and reminisce our school days. Due to work, most of us couldn’t practise much but we enjoyed playing together,” said the man of the match.
As the tournament progressed, Deep Ghoshal from SAIE team A scored a beautiful long ranger right into the top left corner against St. Xavier’s Old Boys’ Association, which was perhaps the best goal of tournament. He also scored in their second match against Albanite Hall Public School to steal a narrow win and seal their place in the semi final.
Three cheers
To encourage the players, present in the stands were Bhaskar Ganguly, former captain and goalkeeper of the Indian football team, and Aparup Chakraborty, All India Football Federation match commissioner and technical director of the Indian Football Association’s Futsal committee who resides in BL Block.
Some teachers had also come. “I’ve taught all these players in primary school and now some of them are looking older than me,” laughed Susmita Nandi Sethia, who has been teaching since 1986. Every five minutes, someone or the other would leap at her feet, seeking her blessings.
But none was as charged as Rakesh Ghosh, sports teacher since 2002. “Toder ki jetar ichchhe nei!” he hollered from the first floor gallery as his former students missed an easy goal. “My students have represented India at the national level in football, archery, swimming, chess, water polo etc. “They may have joined corporate jobs now but I can’t stop giving them tips. My voice is hoarse from shouting,” he said, before spraying pain killer on his knees and taking the field. He was part of the exhibition match between President’s XI, led by Soumya Bose and Founder’s XI, led by Ajoy Chakraborty.
For the love of the game
Soumya of the 1998 batch was missing his niece’s wedding to play ball. “She’s very close to me but my family knows my devotion to football and my school,” said the AL Block resident who had promised to sit for the rituals from daybreak the next day.
Many visitors to the game, he said, had decided on the spot to play the friendly match and he rushed home and got shorts for them.
One such player was Hemant Kedia, who called himself “Aurobindo-r Pele”. His friend Deepjoy Das was quick to add that he would be the only Pele in the world who chewed gutkha before his game!
“After leaving school, I played soccer for the first time in 2018 in our school’s alumni association game. I broke my left wrist that day. The day I was to remove the plaster I had another freak accident and broke my right wrist too,” said the Karunamoyee resident who was playing with a bandaged wrist.
Truth be told, he had not even told his wife of his intention to play but managed to coax her into allowing him to come minutes before the game. The match ended goalless but thankfully without injury too.
Runner-up SAIE Alumni Association Team B receiving the trophy from Himadri Biswas, joint secretary of the association
Rudradeep De of SAIE Alumni Association battles for the ball against a Bhavan’s alumni team player
Football and film stars
By then, both teams from SAIE Alumni Association had sealed their places in the semi-finals. As for the remaining slots, Patha Bhavan beat St James' School and the combined Delhi Public School (DPS) team beat Nava Nalanda.
In the first semi final, SAIE team B faced off with Patha Bhavan and even though they conceded an early goal, they managed to take it to a tie-breaker as their captain Issac Anukaran Tirkey scored a late equaliser.
Issac is not just a football star but a film star as well, thanks to his recent foray. “I’ve been a professional player for Mohammedan Sporting Club till 2019. I appeared as a footballer in the Dev-starrer Golondaaj that came out earlier this year. Dev is such a huge star but was very humble. He would ask me for on-ground tips,” said the captain of SAIE team B.
SAIE A managed a spot in the final by defeating DPS as Abhishek Roy scored the only goal of the match. So the final was between SAIE A and B. Initially the match lacked intensity as the players were exhausted from the earlier games but then team A, with comparatively younger players, coped up. Captain Rashtri Saha took advantage of their opponent’s goalkeeper losing the grip of the ball and tapped in the winning goal.
As the referee blew the final whistle, the stadium witnessed two completely different emotions at the same time. The losers walked to the stands with their heads down while the winners’ cheers overpowered both the Wavin’ Flag song playing in the background and the odour of painkiller wafting in the air.
Anutosh of SAIE B and Rahul Giri from Patha Bhavan won the top scorer and best goalkeeper respectively. Deep Ghoshal from the champion team won the Man of the Tournament. "I’m thankful to the for organiers for this wonderful event. Though earlier we couldn’t practise much, we started doing so in a Salt Lake park as the date drew closer," Deep said.
Issac was disappointed but happy that the trophy stayed in the school. Rashtri of the 2016 batch has represented his school and college in football. “I work in financial services now and don’t get to play but every time I score a goal I’m taken back to my childhood,” he smiled.
The planning
Joint secretary of the association Himadri Biswas said they thought of starting this inter-alumni tournament after seeing how popular their intra-alumni tournament was. “And we took a step forward when we realized our own players were good enough to stand their own against others,” said the CL Block resident. “The response was terrific and slots filled up in a week. We even had to refuse the likes of CA Block’s Salt Lake School, with whom we share great relations.”
General secretary Pranay Saha seconded him. “We chose football as it’s a short game that unites people of all batches. And even though the home teams won, the other schools left with a good taste in the mouth,” he said.
Roudro Mukhopadhyay of team DPS said it was terrific to hit the field. “I’m from the 2019 batch and have been playing with friends off and on, booking turfs, but nothing beats a full-on tournament like this,” he smiled.
