Karuna Bhattacharya

Karuna Sankar Bhattacharya (1909–1979) was a former Indian footballer who represented and captained the India national football team and Mohun Bagan, a football club in Kolkata.[1][2] The Karuna Bhattacharya Award is given to the best player of Mohun Bagan in every season. On 11 July 2015 Mohun Bagan conferred the "Mohun Bagan Ratna" to Karuna Bhattacharya.[3] He was the first captain of the India national football team during their first officially recognised match in the international tour of Australia against the Australia national football team in 1938.[4][5][6]

Karuna Sankar Bhattacharya
Personal information
Full name Karuna Sankar "Habla" Bhattacharya
Date of birth 1909
Date of death 1979
Position(s) Winger
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1928–1930 Aryan
1930–1938 Mohun Bagan
International career
1938 India 5 (3)
Managerial career
Mohun Bagan
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Football career

Bhattacharya represented Mohun Bagan for nine consecutive seasons from 1930 onwards.[7][8] He played alongside Gostha Pal,[9][10] Syed Abdus Samad,[11] Umapati Kumar,[12] Balaidas Chatterjee,[13][14] Sanmatha Dutta, Bimal Mukherjee, R. Lumsden,[15][16] Satu Chowdhury, and many others during that time. The period from 1933 to 1939 was a golden era for Mohun Bagan,[17] and they won 29 trophies during this time. In these 7 years, Mohun Bagan was virtually invincible in derby losing only 1 match that period to an East Bengal. From 1938 onwards, he did play few years in Customs.

After brushing up his skills under the coaching of Dukhiram Majumder,[18][19] Bhattacharya started his career in Aryan before joining Mohun Bagan in 1930.[20] He was scouted by Dukhiram Majumder in Berhampur, and was signed by Aryan in 1928.[21] Bhattacharya debuted for the club in Rovers Cup.[21]

He joined Mohun Bagan in 1930. With the club, he scored several important goals in his football career while playing as the right-in in the 2–3–5 formation. He was one of the most vital players in the team when Mohun Bagan won their first ever league title, winning the Calcutta Football League in 1939.[22] He also played few exhibition matches in Bangladesh with IFA XI in 1930.[23]

In July 1938, Bhattacharya went on to play an international charity match against an 'all European team' in Calcutta, where they were defeated by a solitary goal. He was the captain of the Indian team, managed by Pankaj Gupta,[24] that went to Australia in 1938 after the invitation from Australian Football Association.[25] He was one of the stars during the Australia tour, scoring a brace against Queensland and the Australia National Team.[26] He was also part of the Indian team that played against the Olympic team of China in 1936. The match ended in a 1–1 draw.

Bhattacharya also was part of several Indians vs. Europeans football matches from 1931 to 1939. During this period, he played against the Europeans in 1932 (5–0), 1933 (2–0), 1935 (5–0), 1937 (1–0), 1938 (0–1), and 1939 (2–2). In this series which was held once a year, Karuna Bhattacharya scored in 1932 (2 goals), 1935 (2 goals), 1939 (1 goal). He also was part of the IFA XI side that went to Ceylon and South Africa tour in 1933 and 1934 respectively. IFA XI won 4 matches in Ceylon (3–2, 4–1, 1–0, 2–0) while the other match ended in a 1–1 draw. Out of the 19 games played in South Africa, IFA XI won 18 (6–0, 6–1, 6–1, 2–0, 2–0, 7–1, 9–0, 6–1, 3–1, 4–1, 6–1, 8–1, 1–0, 2–1, 4–1, 2–0, 2–0, 5–0) and lost just 1 match (1–3).[27] Under the captaincy of Bhattacharya, the Indian team played 15 games, out of which they won 6 (6–1, 5–2, 5–2, 4–1, 6–4, 3–1), drew 2 (4–4, 3–3) and lost 7 matches (2–4, 4–6, 1–2, 3–5, 4–5, 4–6, 1–5).[27]

Post-playing career

After retiring from football, he became the football secretary of Mohun Bagan in 1955 and 1961, and also worked as the tennis secretary in 1954.[3] He later became manager of the "green and maroon brigade" in several tournaments including their tour of Indonesia in 1956, tour of East Africa in 1961, and tour of Sri Lanka in 1968.[3] As manager of Mohun Bagan, Bhattacharya along with club officials Sailen Manna and Chuni Goswami went with team to newly independent Bangladesh in May 1972, where they defeated Dhaka Mohammedan in first match but lost the second match to Shadhin Bangla football team.[23]

International statistics

Scores and results list India's goal tally first.[5]
GoalDateVenueOpponentResultCompetition
13 September 1938Royal Agricultural Show Ground, Sydney, Australia  Australia3–5Friendly
210 September 1938Royal Brisbane Exhibition Ground, Brisbane, Australia  Australia4–4Friendly
317 September 1938Newcastle Sports Ground, Newcastle, Australia Australia4–1Friendly

Honours

Mohun Bagan[28][29]

  • Coochbehar Cup: 1931, 1935, 1936
  • Lakhsmibilas Cup: 1937
  • Trades Cup: 1938

Individual

Legacy

Mohun Bagan Athletic Club began giving the "Karuna Sankar Bhattacharya Memorial Award for best footballer" in memory of him.[33][34]

See also

References

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  2. Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (2008). "Football in Bengali culture and society: a study in the social history of football in Bengal 1911–1980". Shodhganga. University of Calcutta. p. 35. hdl:10603/174532. Archived from the original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  3. IANS (12 July 2015). "Mohun Bagan to honour legend Karuna Bhattacharya | Business Standard News". Business Standard India. Business-standard.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  4. "1938 Indian Tour of Australia". ozfootball.net. Australian Online Football Museum. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  5. Greg Stock, Thomas Esamie, John Punshon. "Socceroo Internationals for 1938". ozfootball.net. OZfootball. Archived from the original on 6 August 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. "Matches 1938". fifa.com. FIFA. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
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  10. "Gostha Pal – IFAWB: biography". ifa.org. Indian Football Association. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
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  12. "Mohun Bagan Ratna — Late Balaidas Chatterjee to receive the award posthumously". www.mohunbaganac.com. Mohun Bagan Athletic Club. 26 July 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  13. "Balai Das Chatterjee is Mohun Bagan Ratna 2013". Mohun Bagan Athletic Club. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
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  19. Mitra, Atanu (9 October 2017). "A 19th century visionary: The legend behind one of India's first football scouts". scroll.in. Kolkata: Scroll. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  20. Mondal, Avik (4 December 2020). "শিবদাস ভাদুড়ী,গোষ্ঠ পাল সকলেই তাঁর ছাত্র,বাঙালি মনে রাখেনি বাংলার ফুটবলের প্রথম কোচ দুখীরাম মজুমদারকে". banglaamarpran567383012.wpcomstaging.com (in Bengali). Bangla Amar Pran – The glorious hub for the Bengal. Archived from the original on 13 April 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
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Bibliography

Further reading

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