Chandigarh’s Minerva FC is putting North India back on the country’s football map

It was JCT in Punjab that had taken Indian football by storm in the 1970’s just years after their launch. The name was synonymous with Punjab football for almost three decades and JCT made a mark at the national stage and was the pride of the region

Just around then, in the 1970, another club was being born in the region though on a very miniscule stage. Minerva Academy, then known as Minerva FC, the Minerva Public School’s football team in Mohali formed the most formidable football team of the region. They dominated in competitions and won many national, school-level tournaments till the 1990s after which the team was disbanded due to the school shutting down. It was started by Colonel Deol.

After about three decades of existence, JCT gave up on the Indian football system and decided to disband the team. The decision led to a lull in the Northern India post the move especially leaving a big void in Punjab.

New beginnings

Though after skipping a generation, Minerva FC restarted operations in 2005 under the able tutelage of Ranjit Bajaj and shot to prominence in 2011 when JCT shut operations. A former player who had represented India U-19 seven times and captained Chandigarh in the Santosh Trophy, Bajaj understood what the players needed and wanted to provide for a platform.

“It is seldom that a former player gets an opportunity to do something. Being a former player, I could exactly understand what the players wanted. After the shutdown of JCT, there was no opportunity for the youth and that is when they took to drugs. I wanted to give them an opportunity,” stated Bajaj to Scroll on why he restarted the club whose founding stone was put by his grandfather.

Soon after, the efforts started playing dividends as Minerva lifted the inaugural Under-15 Youth League (also known as the Nike Premier Cup) in April this year, beating Royal Wahingdoh in the final, to take a significant step forward.

“It was really heartening to win the U-15 I-League. To see your efforts get rewarded in such a way is always fantastic. The boys made us proud and we are elated we could get our names in the history books,” said Bajaj.

Then, Minerva were given the go-ahead to participate in the second division of the I-League and become the first and the only team from Chandigarh to do so. Though they were Chandigarh champions, to go ahead and prepare a team for the second division in less than a fortnight was a challenge. But the bigger the challenge, the stronger Minerva FC became.

Playing in the big league

“We were told only in November that we are good to go for the second division. With just 10 days to go for our match, we had to build a team in that time frame. We not just did that, we built a team that managed to beat every other side,” said the proud Bajaj. “Even champions Dempo failed to do so. They couldn’t defeat Mohammedan Sporting and we went to Kolkata and beat them.”

He continued, “This is not it, we had 16 different goalscorers in the tournament. With an average of just 22 we finished second in our debut season which in itself is really heartening. This shows that the region has talent in abundance. It was just that they were devoid of opportunities.

The team did not stop here. They not only made their maiden Durand Cup appearance in 2016 but also went on to win the Administrators’ Challenge Cup in the same year. The team also participated in the DSK Cup where they managed to beat I-League regulars Mumbai FC and made it to the semi-finals, losing to hosts DSK’s “A” side.

“We had a great DSK Cup outing. The team’s average age was 16.5 years with two 13-year-olds playing and we managed to beat Mumbai FC. This tells we are headed in the right direction,” an optimistic Bajaj opined.

The clubs has also ensured a strong grassroots base.

Putting the basics in place

“We believe we have already made contributions to the country’s football,” said Bajaj. “The players that played with Minerva as their childhood club and have gone on to play for the country. Sandesh Jhingan, and Sehnaj Singh are playing for India and in the Indian Super League today.”

And the academies are also in place.

“Our head coach Surinder Singh also ran a training academy named St. Stephen’s Academy, which is a part of the club and had players such as Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Robin Singh and Sumeet Passi play here in their young age,” said Bajaj. “So we have given five boys to the national setup.”

He continued, “In the U-17 setup, we have four boys from Minerva – Shubham Sarangi, Manvir Singh, Givson Singh and Narendera who were called up for the Under-17 World Cup preparatory camp whereas Vikram Pratap Singh and Jaskarenvir Singh were called up for the Under-14 national team camp.”

Youth development has also been another aspect that Minerva have concentrated on.

“These players were not picked by the All India Football Federation but were scouted by us. When they saw them playing for us is when they picked these boys up. So I believe our development programs have already paid dividends,” said Bajaj.

The club has submitted its papers for entry into the I-League and should have their fate decided soon. While the club is anxiously waiting on AIFF’s call, they have set their priorities straight.

“We want to provide a platform for the youngsters. I strongly believe if youngsters are kept together for long and they build chemistry, they are more than capable of beating a senior side as we have showed time and again,” opined Bajaj.

A good club is built on the right kind of infrastructure, training and facilities provided. Minerva is confident they have one of the best setup of these all.

While most clubs thrive on foreign coaches, Minerva has stuck to the roots and there is a strong reason for it.

“This isn’t Mumbai or Delhi. We have kids from the real roots of Punjab and Manipur. Communication is the key for coaching and that is why our core is local,” said Bajaj. “We have Surinder Singh, an AFC A-licensed coach as our head coach. Under him, we have two B-licensed coaches from Punjab and Manipur. Then, we have two “C” license coaches and three “D” license coaches to complete our coaching roster.”

The club also has a cricket academy and has similar success stories as in football with the likes of Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Mandeep Singh, Rishi Dhawan, Barinder Sran and the great Yuvraj Singh representing India.

What lies ahead?

Apart from cricket and football, the club runs classes for armed force training. They have been running since 1955 and are the largest and the oldest training academy.

“One in every four officers in the Indian armed forces has been trained by us. So that gives us a pan-India reach given we had over a lakh successful students in the last 60 years and they are all over due to the armed forces. This is the reason we get about 50-60 supporters even when we are playing a game in Mumbai as ex-Minervans come to cheer us from across age groups,” Bajaj said, happy about the club’s reach.

The club operates a residential state of the art academy and has no plans of spreading too thin as the quality is the key focus area.

“We have had offers from a lot of prominent soccer schools to open academies all across. We don’t want to do that as we do not have control over quality in other regions,” clarified the owner. “We scout for talents and induct in our single operational academy and offer them the best facilities and training.”

With a rich background, recent success and an ambitious ownership behind it with the motto of “Dream big and aim high”, it will not be wrong to say Minerva has a big future lying ahead of it.