Located somewhere towards the middle of Mayo Road, a little stoned driveway leads you into the Maidan. But walk 25 metres inside and you will be captivated by the large flood lights that illuminate a perfect five-a-side field, with inch-perfect grass. This, my friends, is the Calcutta Parsee Club’s turf for their eponymous tournament, which is now in its 27th year.
The club has always been active in sports and is one of the few clubs in Kolkata that takes part in cricket, football, hockey and basketball, playing under the Bengal Leagues. Sometime in the late ’80s, a few young members interested in football, decided to try and hold a five-a-side tournament on the club grounds. This game played on a smaller field with smaller goalposts, needed more tight ball-control as the space was smaller. The ball also could not be played above four feet of height. However, to hold a tournament, certain expenses would need to be taken care of as basic infrastructure needed to be put in place. A bunch of us approached a few close friends at HSBC bank, who were taken by the idea of sponsoring the first ever tournament at our club.
Circa 1988, 16 corporate clubs fought for the trophy, generously donated by our senior member, Nari Mucadum. We cannot but mention here that Noomi Mehta, another member and sportsperson, decided we should have floodlights on the ground. His company, Selvel, very generously, took care of having this work done. And thus began the CPC (Calcutta Parsee Club) tournament that has now become an important fixture of the Kolkata football calendar.
Jamshid Nassiri playing at a previous edition of the CPC tournament
In the early ’90s, we only had a couple of tournaments, playing more against teams that we invited to play on weekends. During this period, Dr. Vece Paes, Mark Jennings, Barry Saviel, Chris Thomas, Chotu Rawat, Divyak Doshi, Dinyar Mucadum, Johnny Stevens, Noomi Mehta and I were some of the top exponents of the game. And by the late ’90s, the tournament became almost an annual feature.
Thirty-two teams were easily ready to play and the tournament started expanding. It was then that we decided to have two tournaments, playing both simultaneously. Besides a corporate one, an open club tournament was also introduced where anyone could make a team and enter. The standard was high and the rules stated that only one or two first division players could take part, per team. However, in the subsequent years with the standard really reaching high levels, two first division or I-League or ISL players were allowed.
Over the years, the tournament has grown exponentially, attracting the best of teams and the brightest of talents from across our city, making it the most eagerly anticipated amateur tournament in the city. In recent years, the tournament has reached such stratospheric heights that a team from Bangladesh has become a regular now, coming each year at their own expense to play. Their captain, Imranur Rahman, loves the tournament and is one of the more popular players, coming all the way with an entourage, besides his team.
The Outlaws team that is playing in this year’s CPC tournament
Since then, the CPC tournament has come a long way and is now run on a professional level. Players of the calibre of Jamshid Nassiri, Renedy Singh, Bhaichung Bhutia, Deepak Mandal, Arindam Bhattacharya, Nirmal Chettri, Alvito D’Cunha, Gouramangi Singh, Robin Singh, Mohan Raj and Anit Ghosh; with young talents like Ankit Mukherjee and Kiyan Nassiri, besides a couple of foreign players, just to name a few, have taken part in the tournament, loving every moment of the atmosphere, with spectators packed along the sidelines. Top local players like Jeh Williamson, Arjun Das, Ayan Das Sarma, Donnawyn Savyell, Clinton (Bonzo) Khanna, Nouman Ali, Anuj Kichlu, Liam Bain, Duane Andrews, Wehzan Ansar and Siddharth Bhattacharya, are just a few names that you will hear being cheered on from the sidelines, having played the tournament for over a decade or more now.
Having such a star-studded player line-up, the competition can get pretty intense and rough at times. But at the end of the day, football has always been the winner, with good sense prevailing over all else. A regular and devoted band of spectators make sure that there is no dearth of noise and banter from the sidelines. Some of them even have their own reserved places, which one dare not encroach upon. There is a regular canteen, sometimes with a local flavour, and tea flows to keep the adrenaline pumping.
Alvito D’Cunha at a CPC prize distribution night holding the trophy
The CPC invitational tournament is, above all else, a football fiesta that brings the city’s best to one place. Just ask any of the regular spectators and they will tell you that the tournament is one like no other. The camaraderie between the teams, the quality of football, the smooth organisation of the tournament by its club members, the sumptuous canteen — with cold coffee as a clear favourite — make the annual event what it is. When one isn’t in attendance watching the games live at the Parsee Club, they’re watching the highlights of every game on social media. Yes, the merry band of volunteers that handle the Instagram page make sure that no one misses out on the action, capturing goals, highlights, fun moments as well as the occasional meme-banter that social media inevitably brings.
This year, the prize distribution will be held immediately after the final game followed by tea and snacks on the last day. In pre-Covid times, there used to be a dinner and a dance, post the prize distribution, held at our air-conditioned hall at 52 Chowringhee Road, where over 200 guests would be in attendance. This would pull the curtains down on a tournament, held over almost five weeks, with almost 250 matches, generous donors, a dedicated band of about 25 core regular helpers without which running a tournament of this magnitude would not be possible — and of course, a Nor’wester thrown in here and there, considering the timing of the tournament.
So if you’re a lover of the beautiful game, drop in at P-49 Gurunanak Sarani (or just type in Parsee club on Google maps) for some high octane football and fun between now and April 10.
The writer is general manager, Football Players’ Association of India; tournament director, CPC Football Championship 2022 (@cpcfootball on IG); and vice president of the Parsee Club