Journalism of Courage
Bill Shankly once said,Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you,it’s much more serious than that. Football is arguably the most popular sport in the world. Indeed,it has been estimated that around 715 million people were watching the World Cup finals earlier this year. India too is no stranger to football,and Pune is an important centre of the game.
Range Hills Football Club has been Pune footballs right hand man owing to its long standing association and consistently immense influence on the sport in the city. During its 60 years of existence,the institution has often breathed life into the otherwise dead sport,by hosting many football tournaments,starting a few of their own,tapping the talent of the footballers in and around Khadki and generally making sure there is some football related activity going on across the vast expanse on the landmark that is the Range Hills football ground.
The history of the club starts in 1948,when the British influence still remained and football was popular. The club came into existence under the presidency of Gulab Kalu,with D Munuswamy as secretary. Within four years,they had their first taste of victory after lifting the coveted St. Marys Cup in 1952.
Khadki was at that time the breeding ground for football talent in the country,explains S M Valan,secretary of the club. Testament to that fact is the number of national level footballers like G Tulsiram,J B Saha,Suresh Ravellu,Shyam Revathi and J Sinha that the club has produced. Early success included victories of the Dr Duggal Cup,Hule Cup,Shri Sotatawala Cup and the Maharashtra League Championship.
However,this success was followed by the lean patch that every non professional club goes through. There was a financial crisis due to lack of sponsors; some players quit football altogether for a job while others quit to play for a professional club in Mumbai. This was a tough period for us but it did not last long as we came together,built a new squad and started winning tournaments again,said Valan. This success gave them a berth into the top division of the league for the first time in 1975. The team even won the league in the same year and managed to maintain their position in the top division of the league till date.
To commemorate the efforts of the past players,the club has planned to start a benevolent fund. The plan includes having the first Sunday of the month as Veterans Day to offer their respect to the former players. Many of our ex-players are in a financial crisis because of a lack of education and lack of availability of jobs. Sometimes we are not even aware of their death. This insignificance cannot be tolerated. Hence we have decided to pool in all our resources and help all our former players all over the country,Valan says.
