Gopal Roy, Durgapur: With the passage of time, fifteen glorious years has gone by which marks the 15th Annual Day Celebration of Mohun Bagan SAIL football Academy. And from this prestigious academy a lot of players have emerged who now represent the nation at the International level like Pranoy Halder, Souvik Chakraborti and others. Other recruits from the academy are Manish Bhargav, Vashum and Current Green and Maroon player Pintu Mahato and that’s not all. The Academy is still providing the upcoming raw talents for various clubs of the country.
A huge decorated banner placed in front of the gate depicts the name ‘Mohun Bagan SAIL Academy Annual Day’ which welcomes one to a huge field located in the left side while a huge Administration building on the other. A temporary gate made of balloons has been built in front of the ground shows the grandeur of the event alongside other facilities like ambulances and a highly modern gym.
In front of the administration building a huge banner of the ‘Immortal XI’ has been set up, paying a tribute to the players who won the IFA shield against the East Yorkshire Regiment in 1911. Another banner shows Indian dream team with the FIFA logo.
A rural tournament with 8 teams took place where the finals were played today. Gopalpur were the champions of the class five category while Amlajala High School were the winners of the sixth standard.
With huge financial crisis due to unavailability of sponsors no one would have imagined that the academy would have successfully continued for so many years. The Jalpaiguri academy which once was a residential academy is no longer one as such. However no such thing is observed here due the firm guidance of Tapan Roy.
“I want this academy to continue providing more talents, but the day I heard that Bagan players faked their ages while playing I was deeply upset” said Tapan Roy.
Anjan Mitra who built this academy on his birthday has now reached the age of seventy. Every year the Academy day is celebrated on Mitra’s birthday and as a result an excited Mitra reached the venue yesterday.
“It was my dream to build an Academy and it has been fulfilled. Though we have a low-budget, we want to make this academy much bigger” said Mitra.
“There have been many teams who promised they would undertake youth development but has done nothing about it, but we are not like that. Even if we play ISL, we want to properly build the academy” concluded Debasish Dutta.