The team came together and fought as if we were playing in the finals of the World Cup. Baat school ke izzat pe aa gayi thi (It became a matter of the school’s prestige).”
This was Calcutta Boys’ School (CBS) Old Boys’ Association captain Rajib Dutta speaking on the sidelines of the ground at the end of a hard-fought final. The FIFA World Cup was still a week away, but the mood at the flood-lit NKDA football stadium in Action Area I was intense all through the day.
On November 13, Sri Aurobindo Institute of Education Alumni Association had organised the second edition of their inter school alumni football tournament, Alumnus Cup, in association with The Telegraph Salt Lake.
The tie-breaker in progress in the Calcutta Boys’ School Old Boys’ Association versus St. James’ School Alumni Association semi-final
With 12 schools participating, the teams were divided into four groups of three teams each, from which the top teams would face off in the semi-finals.
The football euphoria started off at 9.30am, soon after the felicitation of chief guest Mihir Bose, former Indian national team footballer, and the other guests from SAIE — vice-principal Ajita Mitra, sports teacher Rakesh Ghosh and science teacher Rupa Dasgupta.
The first match was held between SAIE Alumni Association and CBS Old Boys’ Association. It ended in a goalless draw as CBS goalkeeper, Nirmalya Karmakar, bagged the first Man of the Match award of the day with his audacious saves.
Battle of will
After a series of exciting, nerve-racking encounters, the group stage was drawing to a close. But all eyes were on the last match in which Salt Lake School (SLS) Alumni Association required a victory with a four-goal margin, against Vivekananda Mission School (VMS) Alumni Association, to qualify for the semi-finals. But they failed to do so miserably, ending up conceding four goals while scoring only two. Yet the match was an epic battle of will and passion in which two teams visibly gave their best to prove their worth. VMS scored from a direct free kick three minutes into the first half as Priyam Chakraborty found the back of the net. Vaswarjit Raha leveled the scores for Salt Lake School minutes before the first half ended. VMS started the second half with even more aggression as Suhit Roy Choudhury scored soon after and Abir Bhowmik followed it up with another direct free kick goal to make the scoreline 3-1 for VMS.
The atmosphere during this match was so heated that in the second half, a full-fledged brawl took place between the players of the two teams that eventually saw Subhajit Kundu, the SLS goalkeeper, being sent off with two yellow cards in succession.
Raha managed to score a second goal for SLS but the match was all but done when Suhit made a beautiful solo run from within his own half and found the back of the net by dribbling past the goalkeeper. The SLS alumni’s journey ended with a 2-4 defeat.
The knock-out round pitted St. James’ School Alumni Association against CBS Old Boys’ Association in the first semifinal, and Albanite Alumni Association (old boys of Albany Hall Public School) against Bidhannagar Government High School Alumni Association in the second. Both the matches ended 0-0 in regulation time. CBS and Albanite made their way to the final through tie-breaker penalty shootouts.
The winning team Calcutta Boys’ School Old Boys’ Association with the Alumnus Cup.
Guests on stage
In between the two semi-finals, the tournament sponsors along with the principal of SAIE, who was earlier the principal of CBS Sonarpur, Anthony Das, were felicitated. Also on the felicitation list were renowned SAIE alumni, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation mayor-in-council Debraj Chakraborty and councilor Susobhan Mondal. The latter, in his speech in Bengali, joked about his weakness in English: “It’s a great honour for me to come here today as a guest. I have always listened to everything that my teachers used to say in school. The one thing that I didn’t listen to was when they asked us to speak in English. It seems like that’s the only reason why I can’t speak fluent English like the others present on stage here.”
Before the final, an exhibition match between SAIE Alumni Association (players who were not part of the team in the main tournament) and Bidhannagar Government High School Veterans took place in which the Bidhannagar school won 2-0.
Final countdown
Soon after, the final match between CBS Old Boys and Albanite alumni kicked off. Although it was a hard-fought battle, neither team managed to score and had to settle for a 0-0 draw. Even the tie-breaker penalties weren’t enough to separate the teams. Finally the result was achieved through sudden death. CBS Old Boys’ Association lifted the champions trophy, with Abhishek Chowdhury, a CBS alumnus, aged all of 40 years, bagging his second man of the match award of the tournament in the final.
Chowdhury, who works in a well-known IT firm, said: “It’s always so special to play for CBS as it brings back so many memories from those good old school days. Thanks to the weekend football matches I play with my friends, and even their sons, I had never completely been detached from sports. Winning the man of the match in the final was totally unexpected as there were so many good players on the field but it does feel nice to get the recognition at 40. It will keep me motivated."
Abdul Ejaz, an Albanite alumnus, was the top scorer of the tournament, jointly with Suhit Roy Choudhury of VMS, as well as the player of the tournament. He was ecstatic to have grabbed both awards. “It felt great to win the individual trophies and reach the final, but then losing or winning is in Allah’s hand. The final was totally a one-sided affair as we dominated them and attacked hard but their defense was unbreakable," he said with a smile.
The runners up, Albanite Alumni Association
Mohammad Tahir, captain of Albanite Alumni Association, could not hide his disappointment at reaching the final and still not managing to win the championship. “This was the most interesting and challenging tournament I have played in till date. Obviously it’s upsetting that we couldn’t win but in the end it’s a game in which one side will win and the other has to lose. So we look forward to the next time and hope for better luck then,” he said philosophically.
Winning ways
“Fantastic” is how CBS Old Boys’ Association captain Rajib Dutta would describe his experience of the tournament as. “The CBS alumni team had a healthy mix of old and young players which took our team’s average age up to 35 years. We have been together as a group for quite some time now. We play tournaments regularly and coming to this tournament, we were confident of doing well. It feels great to win one for our school. It takes us back to our school days. We were playing as a team after a long break, so we were a bit shaky to start with but gradually grew in confidence and most importantly about each other. We knew that we cannot expect to play tiki-taka without practice and hence decided not to try any fancy tricks but to stick to the basics - defend strong and wait for counterattack opportunities. Lifting the Champions Trophy as a team and reminiscing the times we spent together on the field also leaves a promise of many such moments to come.”
His team’s last line of defence, Nirmalya Karmakar, won the Goalkeeper of the Tournament award, after having played a crucial role in the semifinals, where he saved a penalty in the sudden death tie-breaker to take his team through to the final. “We played against some of the most eminent schools in Calcutta and coming out victorious without conceding a single goal in the tournament definitely made it more special,” he said.
The organisation of Alumnus Cup 2022 and the professionalism of the SAIE Alumni Association received appreciation from everyone present.
Himadri Biswas, joint secretary, SAIE Alumni Association, was proud of the strength of the SAIE Alumni. “After receiving overwhelming response from the participating teams last year, we were confident of pulling up another great tournament this time. The aim of this alumni tournament is to bridge the gap between the different school alumni across the city and have a healthy relationship. And nothing can be a better bridge for this than sports. This is only our second year and we tried to improve ourselves through the feedback that we received last year.”
He spoke of a rule introduced this time of there being at least two players from each team aged above 30 to ensure the right balance in each side.
“This year we had also gone for a retro carnival theme with our new tagline ‘Relieve the soccer euphoria’. Along with the game, we tried our best to provide the best hospitality to the invited teams and create a fun atmosphere so that whether they win or lose, they enjoy the ambience and take home some good memories,” Biswas said.