Maidan mettle

He has no statistical figures to fame and glory. Nor has he ever represented Bengal at any level. He never received a call for the selection trial for the national team in any age group.

Dulal Deb, in his halcyon days, was a lethal scorer who struck terror into the enemy camp. But, as luck would have it, he could not make it to the top three clubs in the Maidan. He turned to coaching instead.
Sudeep Pakrashi finds out more

He has no statistical figures to fame and glory. Nor has he ever represented Bengal at any level. He never received a call for the selection trial for the national team in any age group. Even he cannot cherish the satisfaction of donning the shirts of any of the three big clubs in the Maidan 8212;- East Bengal, Mohun Bagan or Mohammedan Sporting. He had had to be content with his 13 years career in the Maidan by representing Tollygunge Agragami, George Telegraph and Aryans between 1966 and 1979.

Still Dulal Deb has something to cherish for. Amid the heavyweights in the Kolkata premier football league between 1960s and 70s, Deb was a lethal striker revered for his tremendous scoring ability. As for the record Deb, representing Tollygunge for a span of seven years from 1970 to 76, scored not less than nine goals in each season. Now, at 57, Deb8217;s eyes sparkle when he fondly reminisces his golden days.

8220;I scored nearly 50 goals in a span of six years from 1970 to 76 for Tollygunge Agragami. I have another record to boot 8212;- East Bengal, the Kolkata premier league champion in 1972, had conceded the only goal in the entire league from Tollygunge Agragami. And I struck that goal.8221;

Deb couldn8217;t continue with mainstream football for long due to pressure from his employer, Exide Industries. A resident of Shyamnagar in North 24-Parganas, Deb8217;s office was at the same place.

8220;My office never encouraged me to play football. And I was not well off financially to quit the job to pursue football. Being the elder brother in the family, I had to look after two brothers and sisters along with my mother. Naturally, I had to refuse offers from Mohammedan Sporting in 1972 when I was at my peak,8221; he says ruefully.

Deb soon took to coaching. He was already fascinated by renowned coach Amal Dutta8217;s creative style of training during his playing days. And Deb, having joined Shyamnagar Tarun Sangha as its coach, started imparting learning methods, playing strategy etc on the players8217; psychological strength which he learnt from Dutta.

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8220;He is my teacher. Whatever success I have brought for Tarun Sangha in the past 18 years is the contribution from Amal Dutta. I have never seen such a magnificent football coach in my career,8221; Deb said.

Deb has been attached to Tarun Sangha since 1980. He had produced several players like Sumit Mukherjee, Ashis Ghosh, PL Goswami who later represented Bengal and the national team also. Apart from having sent more than 70 players to various clubs in Kolkata, popular players like Lal Kamal Bhowmick, Snehashish Chakrabarty have come up from his training club and are now representing Mohun Bagan and Chirag United FC.

Talking of Tarun Sangha, Deb also mentioned the name of Prabhat Sengupta whose relentless struggle has helped the club march from strength to strength. Deb also expressed his gratitude to Alokesh Kundu, the founder of Ever Ready Club, which is today participating in the Indian premier football league, I-League, in the name of Chirag United FC.

Deb said: 8220;Alokesh often used to watch me training at Tarun Sangha. And then his initiative helped me get a little bit of exposure at this age. He has selected me as the coach of the United FC juniors for the last couple of years.8221;

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Deb won8217;t stop coaching. He said: 8220;Once it was a struggle to guide Tarun Sangha for a position in the state. Now the struggle has been different where I am trying to achieve success for the United FC juniors.8221;