61st Bordoloi Trophy: Oil India win trophies!

The 61st Bharat Ratna Lokapriya Bordoloi Trophy was played from September 21 to October 2 with Oil India Limited winning the title. In the final Oil India Limited won 4-1 against Assam Rifles at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati. This edition of the tournament was a complete Northeastern affair as only teams from the region took part.

OIL midfielder F. Wary was adjudged best player of the final by both host Guwahati Sports Association and Assam Sports Journalists Association, while seasoned keeper Jitu Chetry (OIL) received the 'Best Goalkeeper award'.


RESULTS

Pre-Quarterfinals
21-Sep-2012: Sunrise Club 2-1 Assam State Electricity Board
22-Sep-2012: NF Railway SC 3-2 Gauhati Town Club
23-Sep-2012: Assam Dynamo Club 0-2 Nagaland Police
24-Sep-2012: Rangdajied United FC 1-1,4-3 Green Valley SC [penalties]

Quarterfinals
25-Sep-2012: Assam Rifles 1-1,4-3 Sunrise Club [penalties]
26-Sep-2012: Oil India Limited 2-0 NF Railway SC
27-Sep-2012: Langsning SC 2-2,4-5 Rangdajied United FC [penalties]
28-Sep-2012: Royal Wahingdoh FC 6-0 Nagaland Police

Semifinals
29-Sep-2012: Assam Rifles 2-0 Rangdajied United FC
30-Sep-2012: Oil India Limited 3-2 Royal Wahingdoh FC

Final
02-Oct-2012: Assam Rifles 1-4 Oil India Limited

Bordoloi Trophy kicks-off on Friday in Guwahati

The 61st edition of the Bharat Ratna Lokapriya Bordoloi Trophy in Guwahati was once the biggest tournament of the Northeast with even the Kolkata Maidan giants coming to the tournament and teams who were part of the old NFL (now I-League). But like many tournament across the country with the I-League being played for most of the season these top teams cannot make a trip to Guwahati.

The tournament used to also attract teams from abroad mainly from Thailand, Bangladesh and Nepal; but this year it will be completely Northeast affair as the organisers the Guwahati Sports Association is facing financial problems due to which clubs from the I-League Division 2 cannot be contracted to participate.

Still three teams from Shillong - Royal Wahingdoh FC, Langsning FC, Rangdajied FC; besides Nagaland Police, Oil India Limited and Assam Rifles plus six local teams from Guwahati will participate.

The tournament would kick-off on Friday with all matches set to be played at Guwahati's Nehru Stadium.

North East Lajong Super Series: No match in Guwahati, shifted to Imphal

The opening match of the 2012 North East Lajong Super Series between United Sikkim FC and A-League side Wellington Phoenix from New Zealand was supposed to be played on Friday, August 24 in Guwahati, but due to the political unrest and sectarian violence in Assam the match has been shifted to the Manipuri capital Imphal.

This now means that Wellington Phoenix will now play both their matches against United Sikkim FC on August 24 and against Shillong Lajong FC on August 26 in Imphal, while the final round robin match between Shillong Lajong FC and United Sikkim FC will be played as scheduled on August 30 in Shillong as would the series final on September 1.


North East Lajong Super Series - Fixtures

August 24: United Sikkim FC - Wellington Phoenix (Imphal, Manipur)
August 26: Shillong Lajong FC - Wellington Phoenix (Imphal, Manipur)
August 30: Shillong Lajong FC - United Sikkim FC (Shillong, Meghalaya)
September 1: FINAL (Shillong, Meghalaya)


Wellington Phoenix squad

Goalkeepers
Glen Moss, Scott Basalaj

Defenders
Andrew Durante, Emmanuel 'Manny' Muscat, Benjamin Sigmund, Luke Rowe, Thomas Doyle, Alec Solomons

Midfielders
Leonadis Bertos, Jeremy Brockie, Cameron Lindsay, Tony Lochhead, Michael Boxall, Justin Gulley, Louis Fenton

Forwards
Paul Ifill, Alex Smith, Benjamin Totori, Thomas Biss, Tyler Boyd

Officials
Ricki Herbert (Head Coach), Jonathan Gould (Goalkeeping Coach), Chris Greenacre (Technique coach), Russel Gray (Team Manager), Wayne Roberts (Physio), David Dome (General Manager)

A-League side Wellington Phoenix to visit Indian Northeast

New Zealand-based Wellington Phoenix FC will be the first Australian A-League team to tour India when they participate in a pre-season cup in the Indian Northeast from August 24 to September 1. The team will be travelling from New Zealand to Weston, New South Wales in Australia to take on A-league rivals Newcastle Jets on August 18 before flying via New Delhi to the Northeast.

In the three team tournament Wellington Phoenix will face I-League sides Shillong Lajong FC and United Sikkim FC as other I-League sides turned down the offer to take part in the tournament, which has been named 'North East Lajong Super Series' and is being organised by JPR Events.

Wellington Phoenix will be led by the Kiwi 2010 FIFA World Cup and club coach Ricki Herbert, who has put together a squad of first team players and juniors. During the tour they will also interact and have coaching workshops with younger players from the region.


North East Lajong Super Series - Fixtures

August 24: United Sikkim FC - Wellington Phoenix (Guwahati, Assam)
August 26: Shillong Lajong FC - Wellington Phoenix (Imphal, Manipur)
August 30: Shillong Lajong FC - United Sikkim FC (Shillong, Meghalaya)
September 1: FINAL (Shillong, Meghalaya)


Wellington Phoenix squad

Goalkeepers
Glen Moss, Scott Basalaj

Defenders
Andrew Durante, Emmanuel 'Manny' Muscat, Benjamin Sigmund, Luke Rowe, Thomas Doyle, Alec Solomons

Midfielders
Leonadis Bertos, Jeremy Brockie, Cameron Lindsay, Tony Lochhead, Michael Boxall, Justin Gulley, Louis Fenton

Forwards
Paul Ifill, Alex Smith, Benjamin Totori, Thomas Biss, Tyler Boyd

Officials
Ricki Herbert (Head Coach), Jonathan Gould (Goalkeeping Coach), Chris Greenacre (Technique coach), Russel Gray (Team Manager), Wayne Roberts (Physio), David Dome (General Manager)

4th Assam State Premier League: Oil India champions!

Oil India Limited from Duliajan are the champions of the 4th 'Airtel' Assam State Premier League!

In a closely contested final at Guwahati's Nehru Stadium, Oil India Limited beat Assam Rifles 1-0 through a Jayanta Basumatary goal in the 21st minute. The new champions received a cheque of Rs 100,000 (1 lakh).

But the Assam Football Association will surely not be happy then two teams pulling out of the 10 team Assam State Premier League. Just before the start of the league Gauhati Town Club closed down their senior team, while Food Corporation of India (Guwahati) pulled their team out after two matches due to lack of players.


FIXTURES & RESULTS

Group A - Diphu
Assam Rifles SC (Tezpur), Morning Star FC (Diphu), Assam Police Blues (Guwahati), Public Health & Engineering Recreational Centre SC (Silchar), Gauhati Town Club [pulled out]

06-Mar-2012: Assam Rifles 4-0 PHERC SC
07-Mar-2012: Assam Police Blues 0-0 Morning Star Club, Diphu
09-Mar-2012: Assam Police Blues 2-1 PHERC SC
??-Mar-2012: Assam Rifles - Morning Star Club, Diphu
??-Mar-2012: Morning Star Club, Diphu - PHERC SC
??-Mar-2012: Assam Rifles - Assam Police Blues

Group B - Guwahati
Sports Authority of India (Kokrajhar), Oil India Limited (Duliajan), Assam State Electricity Board (Guwahati), Green Valley SC (Guwahati), Food Corporation of India (Guwahati)

06-Mar-2012: Green Valley SC 4-0 FCI, Guwahati
07-Mar-2012: Oil India Limited 9-0 SAI, Kokrajhar
08-Mar-2012: Assam State Electricity Board 0-0 FCI, Guwahati
09-Mar-2012: Green Valley SC 2-0 SAI, Kokrajhar
10-Mar-2012: Oil India Limited 1-1 Assam State Electricity Board
11-Mar-2012: SAI, Kokrajhar 3-0 FCI, Guwahati (walkover)
12-Mar-2012: Oil India Limited 1-0 Green Valley SC
13-Mar-2012: Assam State Electricity Board 4-0 SAI, Kokrajhar
14-Mar-2012: Oil India Limited 3-0 FCI, Guwahati (walkover)
15-Mar-2012: Green Valley SC 0-0 Assam State Electricity Board

Semifinals
17-Mar-2012: Oil India Limited 1-0 Morning Star Club, Diphu
18-Mar-2012: Assam Rifles 1-1,4-3 Green Valley SC

Final
20-Mar-2012: Oil India Limited 1-0 Assam Rifles

4th Assam State Premier League to be held next month

The fourth edition of the 'Airtel' Assam State Premier League will be organised by the Assam Football Association simultaneously in the capital Guwahati and in Diphu from March 3 to 20.

The top 10 teams of the Northeastern state have been divided into two groups of five teams each with Guwahati and Diphu both hosting a group before the semifinals are played on March 17/18 and the final is slated for March 20.

In Diphu the following teams will be seen in action - Assam Rifles SC (Tezpur), Gauhati Town Club, Morning Star FC (Diphu), Assam Police Blues (Guwahati), Public Health & Engineering Recreational Centre SC (Silchar).

In Guwahati defending champions Sports Authority of India (Kokrajhar) will face Oil India Limited FC (Duliajan), Assam State Electricity Board FC (Guwahati), Green Valley SC (Guwahati) and Food Corporation of India (Guwahati).

Nabi late goal helps India to draw Malaysia

A late goal from wing-back Syed Rahim Nabi helped India hold Malaysia to a one-all draw in the first of their two international friendlies. The match at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati, Assam witnessed close to 20,000 people watching the match action.

India played a 4-4-2 formation under Savio Medeira as under his predecessors. The big surprise was that Jeje Lalpekhlua was on the bench with Joaquim Abranches starting for him along with Sunil Chhetri, while Jaspal Parmar made his debut as right back for the injured Samir Naik. The other players were expected in the starting eleven like Karanjit Singh and young Jewel Raja with Subrata Pal and Mehtab Hussain injured.

India had a better start into the game, but they were made to pay due to the lack of finishing. The best chance came in the 17th minute when striker Sunil Chhetri came very close to scoring but he missed back of the net. But in the last quarter of the first session the Malaysians had more of the action and put pressure on the Indian defence, which ultimately gave them the lead in in 42nd minute when Mohammed Rahim Safiq dogged past India goalkeeper Karanjit Singh.

The second half continued with the same intensity with both the teams making continuous attempts at the rival goals. But the Indian players seem determined not to lose in front of their vociferous supporters in Guwahati. Five minutes from time Syed Rahim Nabi stunned the visitors, when he headed home a much awaited equaliser from a perfect corner kick by substitute Anthony Pereira with made the home fans a happy lot.

Praising his players new Chief Coach Savio Medeira said, "the Boys played very well and all their hard work paid off, though there is lot of scope for improvement like keeping ball possession and not to make unnecessary fouls."

"We will definitely try to play better in our next game in Kolkata and hopefully will get better results," Savio added.

India next play Malaysia in the second international friendly on Wednesday, November 16 at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.


MATCH STATS

INDIA 1-1 (0-1) Malaysia - Goals: 0-1 Mohammed Rahim Safiq (42'), 1-1 Syed Rahim Nabi (89')

INDIA
1-Karanjit Singh; 28-Jaspal Singh Parmar, 14-Mahesh Gawli [C], 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 9Syed Rahim Nabi; 23-Steven Benedic Dias (55' ??-Anthony Pereira), 25-Jewel Raja Sheikh, 8-Climax Lawrence (67' ??-Mehrajuddin Wadoo), 15-Clifford Miranda (63' 20-Lalrindika Ralte); 11-Sunil Chhetri (83' 18-Sushil Kumar Singh), 29-Joaquim Abranches (60' 10-Jeje Lalpekhlua)

Malaysia
Mohammed Farizal Marlias; Mohammed Norhafiz Zamani Misbah [C] (Mohammed Faizal), Mohammed Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak, Mohammed Rahim Safiq (Umar Bunyamin), Abdul Hadi Yahaya, Mohammed Azmi Muslim, Amar Rohidan, Mohammed Khyril Muhymeen (Abu Bakar), S. Kunanlan, Mazlizam Mohamad, Shahurain Abu Samah

Referee
Pratap Singh (India)

India ready for Malaysian challenge

The Indian national football team host Malaysia in the first of two international friendlies tomorrow at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati, Assam. It will be the first-ever match in Guwahati and maybe even the Northeast if my information is correct. The closest the national team has come to the football crazy Northeast is Siliguri, when the 1988 Nehru Cup was played there.

India had their first training session in the morning under the watchful eyes of newly appointed Head Coach Savio Medeira. The boys who arrived here last evening from their respective I-League clubs, look fresh and ready for the Malaysian challenge.

The visiting team who are currently ranked 151 in the FIFA World Ranking and 27th in Asia, go into the match with an edge against the 160th ranked Indians.

Nevertheless, Savio Medeira seemed unfazed by the higher ranking of their rivals. "We are confident and unperturbed by Malaysia's ranking. We are a young and developing team with a lot of confidence. We have quality players in Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sunil Chhetri, Jewel Raja and many more who can take on any team on any given day," he said.

"We got to have belief in ourselves," Savio added and this is something he will have learned from former coach Bob Houghton while working under him.

"Malaysia are a capable side. The exuberance of youth stands out. This match will surely be a very good challenge for us," Savio maintained. "They have been playing very well in the recent past under Coach Datuk K. Rajagopal. We need to be careful."

India star striker Sunil Chhetri supported his Coach. "Malaysia are a very nippy side. We had played against them in the Afro-Asian games in Hyderabad where we drew with them. We can't be complacent,” Chhetri said.

The Kick-off is slated for 17:45 IST. The Governor of Assam Janaki Ballabh Patnaik and the Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi would be the Guest of Honour.

Team India arrive in Guwahati for Friendly

The Indian national football team arrived in Guwahati yesterday ahead of their international friendly against Malaysia on Sunday, November 13 at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium.

The newly appointed Chief Coach Savio Medeira said, "Though the boys have arrived at a very short notice but they all are raring to go and are looking forward to play the match against Malaysia."

"Though they (Malaysia) are higher ranked, but ranking doesn't make any difference to us, we will play to our potential and would be playing nothing less than a win," an optimistic Savio added.

"It is good for us that we are getting to play matches against stronger sides, which I think would be beneficial for us in the preparations for the upcoming SAFF Cup. It will prove out to be an add-on experience for us," youngster Jewel Raja Sheikh said.

India will have their only practice session ahead of the match tomorrow, while the two teams will meet again on November 16 in Kolkata at the Saltlake Stadium.

The match on Sunday is set to kick-off at 17.30 IST. If there will be any TV coverage is unknown at the moment.


INDIA

Goalkeepers
Subhashish Roy Chowdhury (Dempo SC), Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (East Bengal Club), Karanjit Singh (Salgaocar SC)

Defenders
Anwar (Mohun Bagan AC), Raju Eknath Gaikwad (East Bengal Club), Mahesh Gawli (Dempo SC), Sameer Subash Naik (Dempo SC), Debabrata Roy (Dempo SC), Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh (Churchill Brothers SC), Jaspal Singh Parmar (Salgaocar SC)

Midfielders
Steven Benedic Dias (Churchill Brothers SC), Francis Fernandes (Salgaocar SC), Mehtab Hossain (East Bengal Club), Rocus Lamare (Salgaocar SC), Climax Lawrence (Dempo SC), Clifford Rayes Miranda (Dempo SC), Syed Rahim Nabi (Mohun Bagan AC), Anthony Pereira (Dempo SC), Jewel Raja Sheikh (Mohun Bagan AC), Lalrindika Ralte (Churchill Brothers SC), Baldeep Singh (Pune FC), Mehrajuddin Wadoo (Salgaocar SC)

Forwards
Joaquim Abranches (Dempo SC), Sunil Chhetri (Mohun Bagan AC), Jeje Lalpekhlua (Pune FC), Baljit Singh Sahni (East Bengal Club), Chongtham Sushil Kumar Singh (United Sikkim FC)

Officials
Savio Medeira (Chief Coach), Antonio Marcus Pacheco (Assistant & Goalkeeping Coach), Mandar Tamhane (Manager), Sandeep Kumar (Doctor), Liaqat Ali (Masseur)

India to play Malaysia in two November friendlies

As preparations for the 2011 SAFF Cup (South Asian Football Federation Championships) to be played in New Delhi in December 2011, the All India Football Federation has announced two international friendlies in November against Southeast Asian side Malaysia. The two matches will be played on November 13 and 16, which are around FIFA match days.

The first game will be played at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium, Sarusajai in the Assamese capital Guwahati on Sunday, November 13; while the second game will be held at the Saltlake Stadium, Kolkata on Wednesday, November 16.

Another match, which hasn't been confirmed so far, could take place in the second half of November against African side Zambia in Goa; while a game against South Africa is set to be played in early-January 2012.

Bengal defend their Santosh Trophy title!

West Bengal, the undisputed Santosh Trophy champions have won the title once more. Bengal now have won the national football championships 31 times. Tonight at Guwahati's Nehru Stadium West Bengal defeated Manipur 2-1 to defend their title.

It was initially an open game with young Manipuris the more active side as Bengal took a wait and watch approach as they slowly got into the match, but then striker Branco Cardozo gave them a 21st minute lead with a good effort off a pass from Francis Xavier. It remained 1-0 for Bengal until the break.

Just three minutes into the second session Bengal doubled the lead when youngster Budhiram Tudu scored to give the defending champions a 2-0 lead. But it wasn't over yet as Manipur went all out in the last 20 minutes. The Northeastern state reduced the deficit in the 75th minute through a Nabachandra Singh goal, but they couldn't get onto the scoresheet anymore in the last quarter of the match as the game ended 2-1 in favour of Bengal.

After the final whistle it was celebration time for West Bengal. Coach Shabbir Ali had defended last years title with a totally different set of players with youngsters Branco Cardozo and Bidhuram Tudu the heros with their numerous goals through the campaign though once more for Bengal it was a team effort which won them the title.


MATCH STATS

Manipur 1-2 West Bengal

Goals
0-1 Branco Cardozo (21'), 0-2 Budhiram Tudu (48'), 1-2 Nabachandra Singh (75')

West Bengal
Naseem Akhtar; Gurpreet Singh, Anupam Sarkar, Safar Sardar, Suman Dey; Francis Xavier (63' Surabuddin Mallick), Gautam Kujur, Santosh Oraon, Snehasish Datta; Branco Cardozo (89' Avinaba Bag), Budhiram Tudu (83' Bikash Narzary)

Manipur
Prem Singh, Ratan Singh (55' Thomas Singh), Hemanta Singh, K. Naoba Singh, Reagan Singh, Santosh Singh, Ajit Singh, Tiken Singh, Nabachandra Singh, Nilakumar Singh, Meihingai Kamei

Referee
Ratheesh Kumar

Santosh Trophy - Final: Manipur take on Bengal

Tomorrow in the final of the 65th National Football Championships for the Santosh Trophy former champions Manipur will be facing defending and 30 time record champions West Bengal at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati.

The two states had met in the quarterfinal group stage where the match had ended 2-2 and Manipur went on to top the group as Bengal lost their final group game against Tamil Nadu with nothing at stake. In the semifinals then both sides won their matches with an identical 1-0 margin, Manipur against Services while Bengal got the better of Railways.

And going into the final Bengal are favourites simply due to the fact that they have numerous players who have played at the top level and have played finals, while the Manipuris without any of their top players have come with a young and rather inexperienced team, but so far they have been up to the task.

Bengal coach Shabbir Ali said before the final, "There is no substitute to success. We need to get our act right. This is the final and we are here to win it."

And talking about his opponents Shabbir said, "Manipur are a good side with a perfect mix of youth and experience and will be a tough nut to crack. But a final is all about temperament."

Meanwhile Manipur coach Ekendra Singh knows the tough task ahead, "We have gelled well as a team and I am proud of the boys. But this is the big battle. The boys need to focus."

"The players are in good rhythm. But this is a different ball game. Against Bengal, you can't afford to make mistakes," Ekendra added.

One can hope for a good final with the focus on the strikers on both sides - Branco Cardozo and Budhiram Tudu for Bengal, while for Manipur Nilakumar Singh and Tiken Singh.

The final will be shown live on Doordarshan Sports from 17.30 IST onwards.

I-League Division 2: Group A fixtures revised again

The fixtures of the preliminary Group A in the 2nd Division I-League has been changed and amended once more. Round 2 & 3 matches have been pushed back by a day, while from Round 4 to 7 the matches would be played two days later which does give the teams some time to recover. The group would now finish their matches on April 14.

The original match dates had kept the state elections in Assam on April 4 & 11 in mind, but since the first change the election date in the state capital Guwahati on April 11 has been sandwiched between two match dates.

No official reason was given by the AIFF for the move, but one could be that Southern Samity yesterday played the third place playoff in the IFA Shield and they need time to get from Kolkata to Guwahati.


I-League Division 2 - Groups A fixtures/results

Group A - Guwahati (Assam)
NISA (Manipur), United Sikkim FC (Sikkim), Langsning FC (Meghalaya), Guwahati Town Club (Assam), Southern Samity (West Bengal), Golden Threads FC (Kerala), Simla Youngs FC (Delhi)

Round I
31/03/11: NISA 3-1 Golden Threads FC
31/03/11: Simla Youngs FC 0-1 Guwahati Town Club
31/03/11: Langsning FC 2-2 United Sikkim FC

Round II
03/04/11: Golden Threads FC - Langsning FC
03/04/11: Guwahati Town Club - NISA
03/04/11: Southern Samilty - Simla Youngs FC

Round III
05/04/11: United Sikkim FC - NISA
05/04/11: Golden Threads FC - Simla Youngs FC
05/04/11: Guwahati Town Club - Southern Samity

Round IV
08/04/11: Langsning FC - Simla Youngs FC
08/04/11: United Sikkim FC - Southern Samity
08/04/11: Golden Threads FC - Guwahati Town Club

Round V
10/04/11: NISA - Southern Samity
10/04/11: Langsning FC - Guwahati Town Club
10/04/11: United Sikkim FC - Golden Threads FC

Round VI
12/04/11: Guwahati Town Club - United Sikkim FC
12/04/11: Southern Samity - Langsning FC
12/04/11: Simla Youngs FC - NISA

Round VII
14/04/11: Southern Samity - Golden Threads FC
14/04/11: Simla Youngs FC - United Sikkim FC
14/04/11: NISA - Langsning FC

Mohun Bagan & Assam FA announce tie-up

In a first for Indian football, Mohun Bagan AC and the Assam Football Association today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Kolkata giants Maidan premises. The MoU was signed on behalf of Mohun Bagan by the clubs General Secretary Anjan Mitra and Ankur Dutta, the Honorary Secretary of the Assam FA and vice-President of the AIFF. The aim is to promote football, professional management and enable talented players to join the green-and-maroon Academy or senior team.

As part of the MOU, Mohun Bagan AC would help in the overall growth and development of Football in the Northeastern state of Assam by helping the Assam FA in various administrative and technical aspects of the Game. Mohun Bagan will send their technical experts to Guwahati from time to time on request from AFA in order to guide the Association in coaching camps of the Assam state teams. The club will also send its administration and management staff to Guwahati on request from AFA in order to conduct relevant workshops, seminars and courses. The club will also accommodate young talented footballers from Assam on recommendation of AFA for training them in their football academies as well as help AFA in having facilities available with the Club during the exposure trips of the different age groups from Assam.

The Assam FA on its part will extend all possible help to the club in their participation in exhibition matches and invitation tournaments organized under the jurisdiction of AFA, anywhere in Assam. AFA will assist the club in the recruitment of talented footballers from the Northeast to the Academies and teams of the club. AFA will further extend all possible support to the club and to any of their visiting football teams or officials to Assam for any official work or for any sporting activities.

Mohun Bagan has agreed that during exposure trips of Assam state teams, they will help arrange friendly matches at Kolkata with their own club teams. In return the club would also send its different age-group teams to Assam for exposure trips and tournaments.

Both Mr. Mitra and Mr. Dutta expressed their happiness at this win-win association which is unique since never before has a club helped promote popularity and development of any specific sports discipline of another state. Both the Secretaries sincerely hoped that this tie-up would help accelerate overall growth of the game of Football in Assam as well as help spread the game to the grassroots in the various districts and to the remotest parts of Assam which would benefit both football in Assam and Indian football in the long run.

It surely sounds an encouraging project and hopefully it can be filled with life by both the sides.

Sheffield FC's Chris Dolby looks forward to India visit

When Chris Dolby arrived as a player at Sheffield FC, the world’s first Football Club, he would never have dreamed that one day he would be managing the team in a tournament in India to commemorate a major event in their football history.

And what makes this journey so interesting for Chris Dolby is that he is of Asian origin. From being the first Asian player of note to play in the Football League, when he signed as a professional for Rotherham United in 1993, Chris moved through the playing ranks of non-league football to become Player Manager of the world’s first Football Club in 2008.

Now in his third season as Manager of Sheffield FC, Chris has already led the club to a league semifinal play-off place last year and more recently to within one game of the 1st Round Proper in the FA Cup – an achievement that no manager at the club has bettered in its modern history.

Chris is well-placed through his experience to comment on the position of Asian players in English football, "Asian kids are now playing at grass roots, comprehensive school and Sunday league level, which was not happening before," he said. "Asians used to divide themselves off before and play in Asian-only leagues. But if they are thinking of progressing, that won't help them. They need to play in mixed local teams and that is now happening to a degree."

“We are well aware, as we get ready to visit India, that the game over there has been somewhat overshadowed by the tremendous growth and popularity of cricket. Football in India needs a role model, a superstar as cricket has found in Sachin Tendulkar. Once one player makes that break through, then others will surely follow. Taking a side from the world’s first Football Club to Kolkata, to play in the Platinum Jubilee Cup feels me with great pride and I hope that the publicity from our visit will help to promote the sport throughout the country.”

Apart from playing in the Platinum Jubilee Cup the team will also be playing in Shillong and Guwahati. Sheffield FC will also be doing some coaching in the local community, which will give Chris and the team a firsthand glimpse at the potential of young local players.


About Sheffield Football Club

Sheffield FC, the world’s first Football Club, was founded in 1857 and has been officially recognised by the FA and FIFA as the oldest football club in the world.

Sheffield FC competes in the Evo-Stik League Division One South and plays home games at the BT Local Business Stadium in Dronfield.

Sheffield FC was awarded the FIFA International Order of Merit in 2004 (Real Madrid are the only other club in the world to hold this). In 2010 the club also received the Nelson Mandela Sport and Solidarity Award and the International Fair Play Award.

Sheffield FC to also play in Shillong & Guwahati

When Sheffield FC was originally approached to play in India, the visit was only due to last four days to take part in the Platinum Jubilee Cup in Kolkata. However, the world#s first Football Club was then asked if it would extend the trip to include further matches in Guwahati and Shillong; to which it agreed.

Following the Platinum Jubilee Cup, Sheffield will leave Kolkata on 15 November and take an internal flight to Guwahati and then a coach to Shillong, where they will hold a press conference and attend an official dinner hosted by the Government of Meghalaya, before playing local side Shillong Lajong FC on November 16. The following day sees the club return to Guwahati for the final game of the tour.
The exhibition match in Guwahati will be against an Assam XI, with players selected from those taking part in the Dr. T. Ao Football Tournament to be held at Imphal from November 21. The game will be held under floodlights at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Sarusajai on November 18.

While they are in India, Sheffield FC will be ambassadors for Sheffield's bid to become a Host City for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, sharing their passion and knowledge about football with the people they meet.

Wayne Coyle, Sheffield2018 bid director, said: "It's great that the world#s first Football Club is helping to develop the sport around the globe. As part of the World Cup bid, we want more people to have access to playing football and Sheffield FC's global brand will help us use football as a tool to tackle other social problems."

"With bid stakeholder Sheffield FC already helping with this in India, we know that Sheffield as a city can use football to make a huge impact on the health and development of people the world over, as well as on home soil."

Sheffield FC leaves for India next Wednesday, November 10 and returns 10 days later having hopefully made many new friends in the Indian sub-continent and had a successful trip.


About Sheffield Football Club

Sheffield FC, the world’s first Football Club, was founded in 1857 and has been officially recognised by the FA and FIFA as the oldest football club in the world.

Sheffield FC competes in the Evo-Stik League Division One South and plays home games at the BT Local Business Stadium in Dronfield.

Sheffield FC was awarded the FIFA International Order of Merit in 2004 (Real Madrid are the only other club in the world to hold this). In 2010 the club also received the Nelson Mandela Sport and Solidarity Award and the International Fair Play Award.