Once upon a time in Navy

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The eastern war theatre of India-Pakistan was winding down midway through 1972. Admiral OS Dawson,Chief of Naval Staff and an enthusiastic football lover,who had been director of naval operations during the 1971 war,was keen to take time out to set another record straight. The score with Army’s Southern Command. After1971,late Admiral SM Nanda had declared that Indian Navy sports needed to match the field performances of their colleagues from Air Force and the four Army commands. The navy could draw from its then sports – strength of about 20 thousand,while the armymen had at their disposal lakhs of athletic soldiers.

After losing in the final against Southern Command in the 1972 inter-Services championship,Lt Cdr Kehar Singh and coach MS Negi were determined to win the inter-Services and preparations were off on a war-footing. They had last won the title in 1951 and 22 years had lapsed,when the Southern Command became the unchallenged big boys of soldier-football. The ocassion was even more ceremonial than it tended to be with 1973 being the silver jubilee year of inter-services championships,when the main contenders – Southern Command,Northern Command,Central Command,Eastern Command – all Army teams and Indian Air Force lined up. Finalists last year,the Indian Navy team was supposed to make up numbers.

However,in the semis,they got past Northern Command and awaited familiar and feared opponents – Southern Command,who had grounded and buried the airmen under a mammoth goal margin. Navy led Southern Command 1-0 at half-time on the appointed day of the final,before rains lashed Delhi and forced an abandonment. JB Daniel wasn’t one to sulk even though he’d taken that important lead. So he just returned the next day,and did an encore. Navy clung on to that strike,defended like defenders of sovereign boundaries do,and clinched a memorable title.

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Grainy pictures of men in short shorts and V-neck jerseys from 60s,70s and 80s made it to Malhotra’s mail inbox – and in his letter-box since the beginning of this year. There was one of team captain Gurung Dai,and another of a tense moment in front of the Navy goal where five men stood ready to rocket into the air to deal with a long looping attempt at the net. Malhotra,who served as a coach with SAI in later years,had informed his football buddies of his plans to bring out a brochure and they had sent in pictures — goading kids and grand-kids to get them scanned,their wrinkled eyes beseeching that the tattered,dog-eared pictures be handled with equal care and love.

Some years get stuck to memory. And then your entire life gets calibrated around that four-digit date. Like if 2005 was unforgettable,as a corollary,Sania Mirza’s breakthrough season and Liverpool’s triumph at Istanbul suddenly assumed vivid visual recall. Everything important could seem to have happened that year. You started believing those events were written elsewhere. For this group,1973 and its mythical off-shoots was the year.

They would practice in Delhi summers at 2 pm – their idea of improving endurance. “But we could last the duration,” then captain and navy legend Gurung ‘Dai’ says. “Earlier players enjoyed 15-16 years tenures,” says one of Navy’s legendary centre halfs,explaining how a group could forge life-long bonds like the one they had struck here. He started at military school in Ajmer,and came to Navy as a sailor. Like most others,he learnt to play football as a 19-year-old. A winner in 1973,he finished runners up in 1972 and 1975. In subsequent seasons,a correction of sorts happened,with Southern Command resuming their winning ways,even as the naval boys lost the inter-services but managed other all-India titles like the Nanjappa Trophy at Coimbatore and made the famous finals of Stafford Cup in Bangalore.

A hotel manager at Kolhapur once announced a grand party on the house,if his boisterous guests won the title. Sadly they didn’t. Happily,a party still happened. In 182 — at an invitational in Durgapur,coach KS Hothi needed to step in after the was reduced to 12 players after a chicken pox outbreak that felled half a dozen to hospital beds. Earlier in 1981,the army team had intimidated them by laying out a competition field,after cutting out of a hill at Pathankot in front of their eyes in 15 days,announcing their ability to achieve anything. Navy’s prolific scorer BK Senapati kept finding the goals,but seldom the all important winners.

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Mumbai was a homecoming of sorts,since the naval team had traditionally based their camp here and played in the then Bombay’s Harwood League,the limited departmental team taking on the pros of Tata’s and Mahindras and Mafatlal. “We were first melted and them moulded into footballers,” says Jayaraj,adding that they often pulled off stunning upsets over the big-salaried boys,but typically lost to the lowest ranked teams,displaying classical inconsistency. “We were always better in wet conditions and aerial balls for we were used to playing in Mumbai’s monsoons,and on Colaba’s muddy ground,” says Gurung,who was a soft,skilled players,whom someone opponents were reluctant to foul out of respect in those charmingly naive days of amateurism.

Beyond the cocoon of navy football,life changed for several of those assembled here. Jayraj never tells anyone he played for Navy. Or played football,at all.

“I joined the Bharat Electronics Sales team. I watch football at home now,I don’t like going to the ground,” he says,having contributed nevertheless and in good measure to arranging the logistics for this reunion. Another team-mate,MS Baig went to play for Central Railway,Lucknow in 1976 and led a civilian’s life,with only fading memories of his regimented past and tough jawan-training days. “We’re meeting after 40 years of sometimes fighting,but mostly caring for one another through all the ups and downs,” Malhotra says. Navy’s body builders and power lifters and spikers were also invited – and on account of being the biggest blokes,they duly went and sat in the back row. This last saturday,they all met,all over again,nursing drinks and another elixir – a vehement grudge against Southern Command,their old foes.