Shimla-the birthplace of the Durand Cup and the Indian Air Force ...

as one of the finalists for regimental army teams. Regimental
teams nowadays play before a few hundred spectators as they
no longer have the charisma or talented players, for spectators
to flock to the Ambedkar stadium to see them in action. This
decline is both sad and baffling but is an apt reflection of
changing values in society and receding interest in regimental
sports. It seems like an age gone by, but in the 1966 Durand
tournament, three of the semi-finalists were regimental teams
from the Services, the ultimate winners Gorkha Briagde,
runners-up Sikh Regimental Centre (SRC) from Meerut and
EME Secunderabad. Mohun Bagan was the only civilian side
in the last four of the tournament. The 950s and 1960s were
the heydays of regimental teams in the Durand tournament. In
1965, the newly formed Delhi Garrison, formed after the 1965
Indo-Pak conflict was the cynosure of all attention. This crack
regimental team, with stalwarts like Bhupender Singh Rawat,
K.B. Sharma and Amar bahadur upfront and Khairuddin and
Mahadevan in defence and Arvinder Singh as goalkeeper
delighted the crowds with their attacking, spirited football.
They upset mighty East Bengal, which included stalwarts like
Peter Thangaraj, Sukumar Samajpati, Parimal Dey, Sushil
Sinha and P. Sinha in their ranks, 1 -0 in the quarterfinals. In
the semi-finals Punjab Police upset them.
MRC Wellington was a name to conjure with in the Durand
tournament. In the 1950s and early 1960s they were a wellknit
team of the most successful and best goalkeepers India
has produced. He was involved in both their Durand triumphs
of 1955 and 1958 and left for Mohammedan Sporting, Calcutta
only in 1961, after having played in two Olympics, Asian Games
and Asia Cup. Inside forward Kuppaswamy and right winger
Kamachi, D’Cruz, Alfonso and Mukundan were some of the
other great players who made MRC a formidable team some
four decades ago. In the 1958 Durand semi finaIs, they upset
a formidable East Bengal 2-1. East Bengal had players like
goalkeeper Sanat Sett, defender Byomkesh Bose, midfielders
Anil Gupta, Ram Bahadur and Bir Bahadur and forwards
Moosa, Tulsidas Balaram and Dhanraj in their ranks. In 1956
MRC also reached the Durand semi-finals and , played an epic
encounter with mighty East Bengal. Twice the match ended
in goalless draws but on the third day, East Bengal prevailed
2-0 with the astute Kanaiyan scoring the opening goal. In
the 1950s, MRC had a lot of support from their commanding
officer, who invariably came to witness their important
matches and arranged to send them to Delhi well in advance
to get acclimatised. Besides the Durand they also won the DCM
tournament in 1962 and were runners up in 1961.
EME Secunderabad, never won the Durand tournament but
emerged champions of the Rovers Cup in 1961 when they upset
Mohun Bagan 1-0, which included legends like Chuni Goswami,
28 July 2011 purple beret
Arumainayagam, Jarnail Singh, Sanat Sett and T.A. Rehman in
their ranks. In that same year EME reached the Durand semifinals
but lost 0-2 to Mohun Bagan with goals by Dipu Das
and Salauddin. EME also upset East Bengal 1 -0 in the quarter
finals in 1966 with left striker Jayaraman scoring a memorable
top of the box left-footed volley. EME Secunderabad, emerged
champions of the DCM tournament in 1963 beating Punjab
Police 3-1 in the replay after the first match ended in a goalless
draw. Bir Bahadur, international defender Tarlok Singh and
Khairuddin were some of the notable players who donned the
colours of EME.
MEG Bangalore never reached a Durand final but was always a
force to reckon with. They produced some outstanding players,
skillful playmaker Ethiraj, goalkeeper K. Sampath and solid
defender K. Madhavan. In the 1967 Durand pre-quarter finals
they played draws with mighty Andhra Pradesh Police for two
successive days. In the second replay they led 2-0 at half-time
but inspired by majestic Yusuf Khan, Andhra Pradesh Police
rallied to win 3-2. ASC Centre (South) Bang produced two very
skillful players in the seventies, Aziz, who later played for
Mohammedan Sporting and Shankaran Kutty. BEG Roorkee
and AOC Secunderabad were other formidable regimental
teams capable of troubling the best in the land.
IAF also produced some notable players, dashing winger
Subir Sarkar who later played for Bengal and Mohammedan
Sporting, the tall striker Biswas, midfielder Paul Raj, the
elusive Ramchandran, Matthews, Kanaran, Balakrishnan and
several others. They troubled the best teams in the country by
their spirited displays and regularly reached the quarter-final
stage of the tournament. India Navy also reached the Durand
quarterfinals regularly and were feared opponents.
Support from the officer class, which is now declining,
regimental pride and more emphasis on sports were the factors
which led to the success of the Regimental teams in the past.
It was a different ethos in the 1950s which produced so many
fine Regimental football teams. Now with warfare becoming
more technological, the same importance is not being given to
football and sports in the Services.