The All India Football Federation has declared June 23, the birthday of Indian soccer icon Pradip Kumar Banerjee, as the ‘AIFF Grassroots Day’, the game’s apex physique mentioned on Friday.
Popularly recognized as PK, the late Banerjee captained the Indian staff within the 1960 Rome Olympics and loved a stellar profession as a participant earlier than taking over teaching, the place he additionally tasted loads of success.
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Explaining the explanation behind selecting PK’s birthday, AIFF secretary common Shaji Prabhakaran mentioned, “We typically overlook Pradip da was a trainer par excellence too. Once he hung up his boots, he took up teaching and for the subsequent 30 years, produced an array of gamers, who excelled on the nationwide and worldwide ranges.
“While his function as a nationwide and a membership coach is far mentioned, the Indian soccer fraternity can not overlook PK da’s contribution on the grassroots stage, his management on the Tata Football Academy, his potential to encourage and fine-tune the budding skills.” An exemplary footballer, Banerjee performed a pivotal function in India’s historic gold medal end within the 1962 Asian Games.
In 1969, when FIFA ran its first coaching course in Japan under German coach Dettmar Cramer, known as the football professor in the international circuit, Banerjee enrolled himself for the course and returned home with a first-class degree.
His football coaching course ran on Doordarshan for many weeks.
AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey paid homage to Banerjee, who died in March 2020, and said the federation would strive to honour his memory by ensuring the constant growth of the game.
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“No words I use will be enough to honour Pradip da’s contribution to Indian football,” he mentioned.
“He deserves all our appreciation. There are a uncommon few like him, an incredible participant, an incredible mentor and an incredible coach who was crammed with ardour and at all times wished to see Indian soccer rise.” Born in Jalpaiguri, Banerjee is widely regarded as one of India’s greatest footballers and was the country’s highest scorer with four goals en route to the triumph in 1962 Asian Games.
(Source: AIFF)
