Football training for tribal people begins in Ausgram

Kuntal Chatterjee, Ausgram, East Burdwan -: How many words, songs, and poems have been written about Bengali football in a day. Football used to become the subject of films and novels. Goshta Pal, barefoot in defense, would become impenetrable like the 'Chinese Wall'. Surjit and Krishanura would become artists of the football field following the path shown by Chuni, PK, and Balaram. The playground would become the destination of the young society in the afternoon. Those are the past today. The football fields in different parts of the state wait pitifully with the emptiness of the desert. As if to say - 'You come and bring back the glorious past tradition of Bengalis with football.' No one comes! At that time, they were busy dreaming of becoming doctors and engineers. In the midst of that, a few tribal boys were seen strutting on the football field. Although they had a dream of becoming great footballers, they did not have the financial means to buy the necessary equipment to play football. They could not find a coach to 'guide' them. Now, the East Burdwan District Police Administration has come forward to address those shortcomings. On June 14, a small programme was organized by them to formally launch the 'Pandit Raghunath Murmu Football Training Centre' for tribal boys interested in playing football in Aushgram assembly area. This training centre was started by selecting 33 boys from among the tribal boys of the assembly area through a friendly football match organized at Barasat ground next to the Choda police outpost. More than sixty boys participated in this friendly match. It is learnt that more footballers will be included in the training camp later. Everyone was surprised to see their interest in football. Dinesh Hansda, Partha Tudu and others will train the footballers. This football training will be given twice a week on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. All the expenses will be borne by the Police administration. The inauguration of the training center was attended by Additional Superintendent of Police (Head Quarters) of East Burdwan district Arka Banerjee, DSP (D&T) Subrata Mandal, IC of Aushgram police station Shantanu Adhikari, OC of Chora police outpost, Rahul Das, OC of Guskara police outpost Bishwanath Das along with many prominent people of the area and several former footballers. Everyone highly appreciated this initiative of the police administration. Police officers present at the event handed over specific jerseys to the footballers and coaches. After learning about the training camp, veteran footballer Premananda Mukherjee of Mangalkot said, "Very good initiative. I hope Bengali football will regain its past glory through their hands." Incidentally, Premanand Babu has been coaching tribal footballers completely free of cost for a long time. While speaking at the event, the Additional Superintendent of Police told the participating footballers, "You will grasp your dreams with both feet. This game creates a strong mentality. It builds character. Don't give up in adverse situations." He also said, "Those who didn't get a chance today, you will also get a chance very soon. So don't be disappointed."