George Telegraph SC

George Telegraph Sports Club is an Indian multisports club based in Kolkata,[2][3] West Bengal, that competes in the Calcutta Football League,[4][5] the top tier state football league in West Bengal.[6][7] The club plays all their home matches at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium. They have also competed in the I-League 2nd Division, the second tier of Indian football league system.[8][9]

George Telegraph
Full nameGeorge Telegraph Sports Club[1]
Nickname(s)Georgians
Founded1925 (1925)
StadiumRabindra Sarobar Stadium
Barasat Stadium
Head coachGoutam Ghosh
LeagueCalcutta Premier Division

Founded in 1925[10] and affiliated with the Indian Football Association (IFA),[11][12] the club is known by its nickname "Georgians".[13]

History

The club was founded by Haripada Dutta in 1925, and A. L. Corbett, principal of the George Telegraph Institute, became first chairman.[14] They started out on the 4th division of the Calcutta League and after 21 years they were finally promoted to the 1st division of Calcutta Football League beating Rajasthan Athletic Club 3–1. In the same year, they reached the final of the IFA Shield, but due to the anti-British riots the final couldn't be held. Instead of declaring them as joint winners with Mohun Bagan AC, the entire tournament was scrapped. Some of notable Indian footballers including Rajen Ghosh, Monimohan Ghosh,[15] Sheoo Mewalal,[16] Sushil Bhattacharya,[17] Runu Guha Thakurata, Monoranjan Bhattacharya, Satyajit Chatterjee, Aloke Mukherjee, Shasthi Duley, appeared with George Telegraph.[14]

They stayed at the top flight for 66 years[18] but in 2002 and 2003, they suffered back-to-back demotions. Then again they got promoted twice in two successive years and since then they have been staying in the top flight. In 2004, they emerged as the runners-up of the All Airlines Gold Cup. Their first participation in the I-League 2nd Division was in 2009, where they finished 4th, behind Oil India FC and were eliminated in the group stage.[19][20] Therefore, George Telegraph was unable to qualify for the I-League, then top tier of football in India. In 2013, they again got a chance to play in I-League 2nd Division, which became their second season.

In 2020, the George Telegraph emerged as the runners-up in the prestigious IFA Shield tournament,[21] the third oldest association football tournament in the world, losing to 2–1 to the I-League side Real Kashmir FC.[22][23][24] They reached the semi-finals of 2021–22 Calcutta Premier Division in November 2021, but their campaign ended with a 1–0 loss to Railway FC.

In June 2023, the Indian Football Association (IFA) announced the merger of both Premier Division A and B of the Calcutta Football League ahead of its 125th edition, in which George Telegraph was placed in Group II.[25][26][27]

Home stadium
Main articles: Rabindra Sarobar Stadium and Barasat Stadium

George Telegraph plays their home matches of Calcutta Premier Division at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium, which has a capacity of nearly 20,000 spectators.[28]

White gate with stone pillars and a tree
Entrance of the Barasat Vidyasagar Krirangan.

They also use Barasat Vidyasagar Krirangan for some of their home games. It has Artificial turf and achieved a two-star rating from FIFA.[29]

Players

First-team squad
As of 5 August 2022

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
4 DF India IND Sourish Lodh Chowdhury
5 DF India IND Mohon Sarkar (Captain)
8 FW India IND Souvik Kar
9 FW Mali MLI Abdoulaye Kanouté
10 FW Argentina ARG Matías Verón
11 FW India IND Goutam Das
13 MF India IND Souvik Ghosal
20 FW India IND Sachin Singh
25 DF Liberia LBR Varney Kallon
No. Pos. Nation Player
30 MF India IND Ameen Palakkathodi
31 GK India IND Arup Debnath
44 DF India IND Chandril Basu
— GK India IND Bhaskar Routh
— MF India IND Rathindranath Karmakar
— MF India IND Rudra Pratap Singh Bist
— FW India IND Sougata Hansda
— DF India IND Sk. Abdul

Club officials
As of 3 July 2020

Personnel

  • General secretary: Subrata Dutta
  • Joint secretary : Anirban Dutta
  • Executive secretary: Adhiraj Dutta
  • Team manager: Sabyasachi Sarkar

Coaching and medical staff

  • Head coach: Goutam Ghosh
  • Assistant coach: Samar Deb
  • Goalkeeping coach: Jagadish Ghosh
  • Physio: Murtuza Sabuwala

Honours

League

Cup

Other department

Men's cricket

The club has its men's cricket section, which is under the jurisdiction of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).[36][37] The team participates in First Division League, J.C. Mukherjee T-20 Trophy and other regional tournaments.[38]

See also

References
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  27. Biswas, Koushik (5 June 2023). "Calcutta Football League : বাজল কলকাতা ফুটবল লিগের ঘণ্টা, কঠিন গ্রুপে মোহনবাগান" [Calcutta Football League: Bell of Calcutta Football League rings, Mohun Bagan in tough group]. Ei Samay (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 5 June 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
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  29. "Barasat Turf granted Two-star grading". the-aiff.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
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Further reading
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