Amiyo Ghosh - The man behind the U-12 success

The Mohun Bagan U-12 team will be flying off to Paris early next month to compete in the World Finals of the Yalkot Danone Nations Cup where they shall clash against the top footballing nations of the world. However, this success would not have been possible but for one man - Amiyo Ghosh - the veteran Maidan coach, who single handedly transformed a distant dream into reality. The path, however has not been one bit easy.


Amiyo Ghosh says, " Right from the very beginning I faced a lot of hindrances. First of all, the state football governing body goofed up big time. The IFA, for some reason best known to themselves, kept the invitation letter of this tournament under wraps (the letter was sent by the AIFF). We were handed the letter quite a few days after the final date had lapsed.


I knew not whether we could finally make the cut, but I had immense faith in the club officials. I started preparing my boys for the tournament. However, it would have been a very big mental setback for these little kids had they not been able to take part in the tournament. I told them its just like an examination and sometimes, as ill fate might have it, you might fall ill just before the exam ! So prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.


Thanks to the AIFF president Das Munshi and our club General Secretary Mr. Anjan Mitra, we finally were able to take part in the tournament. India got to see their rightful U-12 Champions and these boys are getting the chance to rub their shoulders with Zinedine Zidane in Paris.


Once we reached Delhi, people were wonder struck upon seeing my team and it was not just the performance which caught their eye. The supreme sense of discipline and adherence to basic rules surprised everybody. We were the only team who entered the field in a straight line and left the field in a line. We also maintained a queue while entering a car or a bus. See, these are young kids and apart from teaching the basics of football, its my duty to ensure that these kids go on to become good human beings. I need to teach them strong moral values, honesty, truthfullness, discipline...and I think I have been successful to a certain extent.


After the first match, I knew my boys would go the full distance. I am very very confident of their capabilites and trust them like anything. I have worked on every aspect of the game with them. These young kids can take a swerving and curling Kick at this very young age ! This thing is actually not new with me. I worked on wind dynamics even when I took a junior Mohun Bagan team to participate in a tournament in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, where my boys competed against the likes of Sammy Omollo.


Now I feel very proud when these little kids can swerve the ball after studying the aerodynamics. And you know how intelligent these kids are ? One little gesture from my end, and they understand which foot to take the shot with, which angle to use and which side to shoot.


And when these little kids went on to win the India finals, it was a indeed a very proud moment for me. It was a long journey that we had taken and only half of it is complete.


After we won the tournament, we faced another hurdle. We weren't getting tickets to return back to Kolkata. Finally I had to take all the boys to Ram Jethmalani's house, who sanctioned the tickets for us. And even the Railway Minister - Laloo Prasad too helped a lot.


For the tournament preparations, I will be taking the whole team to Ram Dev Baba's Ashram in Haridwar, where we shall concentrate on the mental strength and sanctity of my boys. And then we leave for Paris - all set to challenge the world. I haven't done any back ground study on our opponents, but my boys are ready. I am sure we can come back from Paris with our heads held high."


As we were departing after a great session with a great man, we found Mr. Amiya Ghosh hand out some pocket money to the young kids so that they can return home safely. Now this is a person whom people would call - 'Sir'


Amiya Ghosh was the coach of the Mohun Bagan team in the Dana Cup when they were crowned champions in Denmark. He was also the coach of the Mohun Bagan team when they won the South Asia Zone of the Manchester United Premier Cup.