Soccer legend Jarnail Singh dead

Leaders, football players and officials paid tributes to the stalwart known for his clean tackles in a game notorious for being rough.

Union Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa mourned the death of an great player who contributed so much to the game in India. While Punjab Governor JFR Jacob expressed deep shock, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal said the legendary footballer would be give a state funeral as and when his body is brought back to his home state.

In Calcutta, Indian footballer of the millennium and star defender Sailen Manna said Jarnail Singh “was technically very sound as was evident in his clean tackles”.

“He was one of the greatest footballers of the country.At the same time he was a true gentleman to the core. He was tough but not rough,” Manna said.Another football legend Chuni Goswami, Jarnail’s comrade in arms in the National squad and Mohun Bagan for a long time, said “he was an epitome of strength and competitiveness.”

A Committed Footballer Kozhikode:
Olympian T Abdurahman still remembers the tall, broad-shouldered youth who spearheaded the Punjab University attack in an inter-university tournament held in Bareily 43 years ago. Rahman, one of the best defenders the country has ever seen, was in Bareily as a talent-spotter for his team, Rajashtan Club. “The club was on the lookout for new talents, and both I and another player named Rameshwar Maide, were asked to watch the varsities tournament and spot players who showed promise,” recalls Rahman, who donned the India colours in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

“The Punjab youth had something special about him. He had long strides, and that uncanny ability to initiate breakaway moves,” says Rahman. “We made enquiries about the boy, and were told that his name was Jarnail Singh Dhillon.”

It was Rahman’s first-ever encounter with the gifted stopper, who breathed his last in Vancouver on Saturady. The sardar was thrilled, when Rahman and Rameshwar extended him an invitation to play in the Mecca of Indian soccer. Jarnail’s stint with Rajasthan , however, went almost unnoticed, as he found it too hard to combine with the club’s seasoned attack line.

Jarnail owed a lot to SA Rahim, the legendary coach, for his rise as a doughty stopper. “Rahim saheb saw a fine defender in Jarnail. He experimented Jarnail as a stopper in the Asia Cup, held in Ernakulam in 1958,” says Rahman. In his maiden appearance for the country, Jarnail was selected as the Best Defender of the Tournament.

Jarnail Singh went on to become the only Indian to lead the Asian All Stars team twice, in 1966 and 67, in a series of exhibition matches against Great Britain’s leading professional clubs. Yusuf Khan (1967), Peter Thankaraj (’67), Syed Nayeemuddin (’68), Inder Singh (’70) and Chandeshwar Prasad (’71) were the other Indians to don the Asian colours.

Jarnail spent his best years in Calcutta, with Mohun Bagan. Returning to his homestate in 1969, he guided Punjab to two memorable title wins in Santosh Trophy as a player in 1970, and as a coach in 1974.

Jarnail has the unique distinction of being awarded a special prize by the then FIFA president Sir Stanly Rous in 1965, as a reward for his dazzling fare at the Asian level. He led India thrice in Merdeka, from 1965 to ’67. But the crowning moment of his career came in Jakarta in 1962, when he nodded in India’s winner, in the Asian Games final against South Korea.“We have played together for years. I met him last in 1985 at a veterans match organised by Mohun Bagan in Calcutta,” recalls Rahman. “A committed footballer, he was disgusted with the way the ex-Olympians were treated in this country.” Ravi Menon