Samar Banerjee gets Mohun Bagan Ratna

KOLKATA - Samar Banerjee, famed footballer of yesteryears who led India to a semi-final finish in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, was Wednesday presented the Mohun Bagan club’s highest award, Mohun Bagan Ratna, at a glittering function here.

The country’s soccer legends P.K. Banerjee, Chuni Goswami and Sailen Manna handed over the award to a beaming Banerjee - affectionately called Badru - who described it as one of the “biggest moments of his life”.

Banerjee, an attacking genius of the 1950s, had a long stint with Bagan as a player.

“All awards are important. I feel proud to have captained Mohun Bagan,” he said after receiving the award at the Mohun Bagan Day function.

A galaxy of former and current Bagan players were present at the annual programme which celebrates the club’s triumph in the IFA Shield in 1911.

The green and maroon players defeated the British team East York Regiment 2-1 in the final on this day to emerge as the first Indian club to win the IFA Shield. The victory created a nationalistic fervour and charged up the masses then fighting for independence from British rule.

The day was marked with several exhibition football matches in which teenagers, sports journalists, film and television actors and former and present players of Bagan took part.