Swapan Ball had established himself as 'legendary' because of his sincerity, concentration and honesty in his job. His acquaintance with the present club official Nitu Sarkar took place rather strangely. Nitu Sarkar was then seventeen. Swapan Ball was the watchman at the members' gate. As they had no tickets, he had shoved Nitu Sarkar and some of his friends outside the ground during a match. This hostility with Nitu Sarkar eventually turned into friendship. And Surajit Sengupta had acted as the catalyst in this relationship. It was from then onwards that the Nitu-Swapan relationship was founded on unadulterated affection.
Besides football, he was extremely interested in the club's cricket activities. Swapan Ball was the club's cricket secretary in the beginning of the eighties. He was a member of the working committee till 2004. He was the manager for the first time in 1985. He had acted as the manager in more than 150 tournaments. He was witness to his club's 133 glorious victories. He had traversed everywhere for his club! Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Brazil, Kenya, Ghana, Malaysia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Yemen, Syria, Turkmenistan---he had travelled to all these countries donning the club's jersey. It was during one of these visits when he gone scouting for footballers in Kenya that he suddenly received the news of the demise of his mother. That was his one painful moment. When Paltu-da died, he kept himself in a state of mourning for 13 days. The death of Paltu Das only increased his responsibility towards the club. He completely sacrificed himself for the club.
Swapan-da's pep talk was enough to motivate the players. The footballers used to play on the field, and he would continuously cheer them sitting on the sidelines for 90 minutes. The opposition would say, 'Attack starts from Swapan Ball.' It was the Scissors Cup in 1996 at Kozhikode. In the semi-finals, East Bengal had clashed with Perlis Club of Malaysia. East Bengal were trailing by a goal. In the dying minutes, a young Baichung scored a goal by a scissor kick. The referee had cancelled the goal. At the time of the back volley, his legs were deemed to have risen to a dangerous position. A Perlis defender was in front of him, he could have been injured. This was the reason the referee gave for the cancellation of the goal. JCT had already reached the finals. East Bengal thus failed to restore parity. They were eliminated in the semifinals. But Swapan Ball had a 'confrontation' with the referee outside the ground. Kerala was witness to his fury. The journalists from Kolkata had a tough time in placating him.
East Bengal's full-timer Swapan Ball was eventually granted monetary help from the club by club secretary Kalyan Majumdar. The Brazilian coach Carlos Pereira had said, 'Swapan Ball is the best manager.' A certain reporter of Anandabazar Patrika had written, 'Swapan Ball's blood group is EB+.' The witness of many a fairy tale, agony and ecstasy, Swapan Ball passed into history on Thursday. Only two days ago the East Bengal supporters were celebrating the fourteenth anniversary of the ASEAN Cup victory. Misfortune struck them only 48 hours later. A chapter in Indian football touched with joy and anguish came to an end.
People like Swapan Ball do not die...they live eternally in the hearts of millions of football lovers
Al Amna has been selected by the Syrian NT for their upcoming WC qualifiers against Qatar and Iraq preceded by practice matches against Malaysia. He will be gone from third week of August till second week of September.
This is a huge opportunity for Cavin Lobo! Hope he uses Garcia's presence to really get his fitness levels upto the mark.
Who says Consta doesn't follow I-League matches?....he follows them very closely and then, with his assistant S. Venkatesh, selects the players who fail to make any impact, and overlooks those who play the best Guy even has the temerity to ask reporters whether they are the agents of those players whom they (the reporters) feel have been undeservedly left out of the team
Khalid Jamil seems like a workaholic. He comes to the club at 5:30 am in the morning even the morning sessions are scheduled from 8 am. He leaves most days by 8 pm. This has taken long time club regulars by surprise as they can't recall another coach spending so much time in the club.
Yeah, read in Ganashakti yesterday. Also in various Bengali dailies before that. And the ways he warms to his players in every club that he has coached...also the fact that he is such a self-effacing person (I posted this in an earlier post)...hardly gives interviews...tells the journalists 'pehle player ka interview lo...he is the person who plays on the field'...read that he was the same kind of person in his playing days...hard-working, dedicated, great sense of camaraderie and no compromises on discipline...a person in the mould of Syed Nayeemuddin, whose protege he once was...Whether he is successful as a coach at EB only time will tell, but we must appreciate these qualities
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Swapan Ball had established himself as 'legendary' because of his sincerity, concentration and honesty in his job. His acquaintance with the present club official Nitu Sarkar took place rather strangely. Nitu Sarkar was then seventeen. Swapan Ball was the watchman at the members' gate. As they had no tickets, he had shoved Nitu Sarkar and some of his friends outside the ground during a match. This hostility with Nitu Sarkar eventually turned into friendship. And Surajit Sengupta had acted as the catalyst in this relationship. It was from then onwards that the Nitu-Swapan relationship was founded on unadulterated affection.
Besides football, he was extremely interested in the club's cricket activities. Swapan Ball was the club's cricket secretary in the beginning of the eighties. He was a member of the working committee till 2004. He was the manager for the first time in 1985. He had acted as the manager in more than 150 tournaments. He was witness to his club's 133 glorious victories. He had traversed everywhere for his club! Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Brazil, Kenya, Ghana, Malaysia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Yemen, Syria, Turkmenistan---he had travelled to all these countries donning the club's jersey. It was during one of these visits when he gone scouting for footballers in Kenya that he suddenly received the news of the demise of his mother. That was his one painful moment. When Paltu-da died, he kept himself in a state of mourning for 13 days. The death of Paltu Das only increased his responsibility towards the club. He completely sacrificed himself for the club.
Swapan-da's pep talk was enough to motivate the players. The footballers used to play on the field, and he would continuously cheer them sitting on the sidelines for 90 minutes. The opposition would say, 'Attack starts from Swapan Ball.' It was the Scissors Cup in 1996 at Kozhikode. In the semi-finals, East Bengal had clashed with Perlis Club of Malaysia. East Bengal were trailing by a goal. In the dying minutes, a young Baichung scored a goal by a scissor kick. The referee had cancelled the goal. At the time of the back volley, his legs were deemed to have risen to a dangerous position. A Perlis defender was in front of him, he could have been injured. This was the reason the referee gave for the cancellation of the goal. JCT had already reached the finals. East Bengal thus failed to restore parity. They were eliminated in the semifinals. But Swapan Ball had a 'confrontation' with the referee outside the ground. Kerala was witness to his fury. The journalists from Kolkata had a tough time in placating him.
East Bengal's full-timer Swapan Ball was eventually granted monetary help from the club by club secretary Kalyan Majumdar. The Brazilian coach Carlos Pereira had said, 'Swapan Ball is the best manager.' A certain reporter of Anandabazar Patrika had written, 'Swapan Ball's blood group is EB+.' The witness of many a fairy tale, agony and ecstasy, Swapan Ball passed into history on Thursday. Only two days ago the East Bengal supporters were celebrating the fourteenth anniversary of the ASEAN Cup victory. Misfortune struck them only 48 hours later. A chapter in Indian football touched with joy and anguish came to an end.
People like Swapan Ball do not die...they live eternally in the hearts of millions of football lovers
This is a huge opportunity for Cavin Lobo! Hope he uses Garcia's presence to really get his fitness levels upto the mark.
Guy even has the temerity to ask reporters whether they are the agents of those players whom they (the reporters) feel have been undeservedly left out of the team
https://www.facebook.com/EBSamachar/photos/a.1072113836191632.1073741828.1071722672897415/1356643207738692/?type=3&theater