FA Franco was a legendary midfielder in the 60s, famous for his peripheral vision on the pitch and a razor-sharp tongue that spared none. Now, an 82-year-old, the member of the gold medal winning 1962 Asian Games football team still remains a quick-witted man and recalls minute details of his playing days.
However, there is one riddle that Franco has been unable to solve all these years. In 1959, when India played the pre-Olympic qualifiers, his Bombay (now Mumbai) teammate and defender SA Latif led the team in all three successful outings against Afghanistan and Indonesia. But when the final squad for the 1960 Rome Olympics was announced, the captaincy was handed over to PK Banerjee.
“I still don’t know why and how the captain was changed. Frankly, I was bit indifferent to it since I was never close to Latif,” said Franco, who currently lives in Margao, Goa. “Why bother about it? After all, football is a team game,” he added after a pause.
But goalkeeper SS Narayan, another member of the Rome Olympic squad and a close friend of Latif, said the defender was hugely disappointed.
“Latif was an extremely handsome man and came from a well-to-do family. In Mumbai football circle he was nicknamed ‘Colonel’. I knew he was unhappy but he never uttered a word. A couple of years later, Latif migrated to Pakistan with his family,” Narayan told this correspondent a few years ago.
When reminded of the incident, Franco laughed. “I know that currently there is a controversy over the present national coach Stephen Constantine trying to deny the captaincy to Sunil Chhetri. But this is nothing new in Indian football,” he said.
Franco is not far from the truth. The appointment of captains has raised controversy several times before in Indian football. The Chhetri issue is only the latest edition. Like in the case of Latif, Chhetri, too, led India in five of the six qualifying encounters for the AFC Asian Cup but Constantine spoke about appointing captains by rotation when it came to the main tournament. With India set to meet Thailand in the opener on Sunday, the British coach is yet to name a permanent skipper for the squad.
Going by the quality and contribution to the team cause, none in the current Indian team can match Chhetri. He is India’s all-time highest international goal scorer and without his super strikes against Myanmar and Kyrgyz Republic in the qualifiers, India would have never made the final rounds. At the same time, his not-too-cordial relationship with the coach is Indian football’s worst kept secret. Many feel Constantine is only trying to extract his pound of flesh by humiliating India’s number one footballer.
Constantine, of course, has his arguments ready. He said that having the captains by rotation had always been his policy as it would lift the morale of the footballers and motivate them to perform better. But reliable sources in the All India Football Federation claimed the British coach changed his stance only recently, after he learned that Chhetri and four other senior footballers in the team made some highly uncharitable remarks about Constantine’s coaching ability to top bosses in the federation.
There is one blessing in disguise – football remains the focal point in the entire controversy. History suggests that Indian football has gone through worse phases in the past. SS Hakim, a 1960 Olympian, has a shocking tale to tell in this regard. Hakim was a competent midfielder and his father, SA Rahim, was a legend, who coached India to Asian Games gold medal twice in 1951 and 1962. Hakim, now past 80, recalls how Hyderabad defender SK Azizuddin was denied the captaincy in 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where India finished fourth.
“Aziz had been playing regularly for India since 1949 and should have been the automatic choice for captaincy in 1956 Olympics. Yet, it went to Samar Banerjee, who was a first timer in the Indian Olympic squad,” said Hakim.
According to Hakim, when he asked Rahim about it, the national coach had a sad smile to offer. “My father told me that senior federation official Manindra Dutta Ray (better known as Bechu Dutta Roy) told him that since both the coach (SA Rahim) and the manager (K Ziauddin) are from the Muslim community, Azizuddin should not be made the captain. Bechu-da even showed some telegrams from unknown people, who questioned whether it was an Indian or a Pakistani team being selected for Olympics. My father had to relent and deny Aziz the captain’s armband,” said Hakim.
Azizuddin was then offered the role of vice captain, which he refused to accept. J Kittu was made the vice captain. Aziz was compensated two years later when he was made the captain in the 1958 Asian Games. It is not known whether Latif lost the captaincy in 1960 because of the same reason. After all, Rahim and Ziauddin were again the coach and the manager in 1960 Rome Olympics. Till date, the 10 years between 1955 and 1964 is regarded the golden period of Indian football but the undercurrent is difficult to ignore.
Many regard the Indian football team for the 1962 Asian Games as the best ever to leave the shores of the country – they returned from Jakarta with the gold medal. But the selection, especially that of the captain was not easy. The team was to be selected on August 1 in Hyderabad and on July 31, the news agency PTI released a story. Quoting sources, it said the skipper for the Rome Olympics, PK Banerjee, was likely to be retained the captain again.
The meeting was held on time, but the federation president M Dutta Ray was surprisingly absent for the meeting. He sent a cable authorizing secretary K Ziauddin to chair the meeting. Chuni Goswami of Mohun Bagan club was named the captain. PTI reported that while the selection of the team was unanimous, there was some controversy over the choice of captain.
In the 1969 Merdeka tournament semi-final in Malaysia, India were leading 2-0 against mighty South Korea when experienced stopper back Chandreshwar Prasad complained of injury and asked the team management to replace him. It was a huge blow. Rookie Ashoklal Banerjee replaced Prasad and India conceded three goals to lose their way.
Winger Subhas Bhowmick, a prominent member of the Indian team from 1969 to 1974 and a reputed coach in later days, said there was a strong feeling that Prasad was upset that he was not made the captain in place of Syed Nayeemuddin. “Prasad was a lion-hearted footballer, who otherwise would never give up without a fight. The captain’s armband was definitely an issue,” Bhowmick suspects.
Back to present era, senior AIFF officials are confident that the controversy over captaincy and the apparent tension between coach and captain are not going to affect the performance. “We know Sunil well….whatever the provocation is, he is going to give his hundred per cent,” an official told this correspondent.
But the most touching story in this regard was told by I Arumainayagam, the striker, who played in the 1962 Asian Games and 1964 Asian Cup.
“In 1964, after playing in the Asian Cup in Tel Aviv (India finished runners-up), we travelled straight to Tehran to play a pre-Olympic tie against Iran. On return journey, we had to change the flight in Karachi. As we reached Karachi late in the night, we found Latif was waiting at the airport. He had then migrated to Pakistan but was waiting to receive his former teammates. We were simply thrilled to see him,” Arumainayagam said.
Franco, who too was in the squad, said: “Never bother about the captaincy. Football is a team game. Once on the pitch, we are fighting for each other.”
(The writer is a fan of Indian football and a freelance journalist)
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