Umapati Kumar

Umapati Kumar was a former footballer who played mostly as an inside forward. As a footballer, he represented India in international football, and Mohun Bagan AC in the Calcutta Football League.^[1][2][3]

Umapati Kumar

Personal information
Full name	Umapati Kumar
Date of birth	(1898-02-08)8 February 1898
Place of birth	Burdwan, Bengal Presidency, British India
Date of death	20 November 1992(1992-11-20) (aged 94)
Place of death	Calcutta, West Bengal, India
Position(s)	Inside forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1916–1936	Mohun Bagan
International career
1923–1936	India
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Personal life

Umapati Kumar was born on 8 February 1898 in Chagram, located in the Burdwan district of West Bengal. His father Rajanikanta Kumar was a barrister in Kishanganj, Purnia district, Bihar. The Kumar family was having their hereditary Khagra Nawab Estate Zamindari during Presidency rule under British Raj.^[4] By 1916, he completed his matriculation from Kishanganj Higher English School, and represented the school team in interschool football tournament.^[4] and came to Kolkata. In 1919, Kumar married Sailabala Devi and in 1920, he graduated from the Scottish Church College.^[5] One of his son, Bishwanath Kumar, was a sportsperson and represented Mohun Bagan alongside playing cricket and hockey.^[4]

Playing career

Umapati Kumar is best remembered for his long and cherished career with Mohun Bagan AC. He joined the club as a youngster in 1916 and would continue to don the Green & Maroon jersey for more than two decades. Earlier coached by Dukhiram Majumder,^[6][7] Kumar played alongside some of the stars from Mohun Bagan's famous 1911 IFA Shield winning team, as well as later icons including Gostha Pal,^[8][9] Bimal Mukherjee, Satu Chowdhury, Balaidas Chatterjee,^[10][11] Karuna Bhattacharya,^[12] Dr. Sanmatha Dutta.^[13] He predominantly played inside left for the club with Syed Abdus Samad,^[14] and retired in 1936.^[15] In 1923, he was part of the Mohun Bagan team that defeated both the Calcutta Football League and IFA Shield winner Calcutta FC.^[16] In the same year, they met Calcutta FC again in the final of IFA Shield in their 3–0 defeat.

Kumar was also a regular participant in exhibition matches that took place in Kolkata like Indians vs Europeans and Civilians vs Military. Kumar captained the Indian team in these matches for four consecutive seasons and the Civilian team (which would also contain Europeans) for two consecutive seasons in 1926 and 1927.^[17] He was also an integral part of the IFA XI which toured Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and South Africa in the 1930s.^[17][18] On 4 July 1936, he played for India against visiting Chinese team in their 1–1 draw in Calcutta.^[19]

With Mohun Bagan, Umapati Kumar won Coochbehar Trophy six times and a host of other trophies. He was also the captain of the side which reached the 1923 IFA Shield final.^[5] After retirement, he remained closely associated with Mohun Bagan till his death, serving in a number of positions such as secretary, general secretary, treasurer and vice-president.^[17]

Playing style

Umapati Kumar was one of the most skillful players of his generation and was well known for his passing range. He is often considered to be the first Indian footballer to have perfected the art of through passes.^[20] He was an intelligent, elegant footballer who was supremely fit. Despite playing without boots, kneecaps or anklets for most of his career Umapati Kumar never suffered from a long term injury. Amrita Bazar Patrika once remarked that Kumar's skills and crafts were "as smooth as muslin".

Post-playing career

After retiring from football, Kumar went on to began his administrative career in his club Mohun Bagan and served as both the football secretary and president.^[4] He later joined the governing body of the Indian Football Association (IFA) and also served as president of the Calcutta Referees' Association.^[4]

Death and legacy

Kumar died on 20 November 1992 in Calcutta, aged 94.^[4] The Kolkata Municipal Corporation paid tribute to him by renaming a road "Umapati Kumar Sarani".^[4]

Honours

Mohun Bagan^[21][22]

• Coochbehar Cup: 1916, 1931, 1935, 1936
• Asanullah Cup runner-up: 1916^[4]
• Rovers Cup runner-up: 1923
• IFA Shield runner-up: 1923

Individual

• "Mohun Bagan Ratna" in 2006, awarded by Mohun Bagan AC.^[23]

See also

• History of Indian football
• Football in Kolkata
• History of the India national football team

References

1. Kapadia, Novy (7 June 2015). . indianexpress.com. The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 22 February 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
2. . Mohun Bagan Club. Archived from the original on 5 May 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
3. . Business Standard. 12 July 2015. Archived from the original on 6 May 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
4. . mohunbagangorbo.com. Kolkata. Archived from the original on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
5. Some Alumni of Scottish Church College in 175th Year Commemoration Volume. Scottish Church College, April 2008. p. 591.
6. Webdesk, Xtratime Bangla (21 April 2020). [Sir Dukhiram Majumdar tied his nephew to a post and kicked him...]. xtratimebangla.in (in Bengali). Kolkata: Xtratime Bangla. Archived from the original on 21 October 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
7. Mitra, Atanu (9 October 2017). . scroll.in. Kolkata: Scroll. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
8. Majumdar, Rounak (22 April 2019). . www.chaseyoursport.com. Kolkata: Chase Your Sport. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
9. . ifa.org. Indian Football Association. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
10. . Mohun Bagan Athletic Club. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
11. . themohunbaganac.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
12. . Business Standard. 12 July 2015. Archived from the original on 6 May 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
13. . Mohun Bagan Club. Archived from the original on 5 May 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
14. Nasar, S. A. (2020). . Booksie. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
15. McDaniel, Alonzo Simpson (1990). "The Absorption of Hydrocarbon Gases by Non-aqueous Liquids - Alonzo Simpson McDaniel". from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
16. . www.mohunbaganac.com. Mohun Bagan Athletic Club. 26 July 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
17. Majumdar, Boria, Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (1 February 2006). . New Delhi: Penguin India. ISBN 9780670058747. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
18. . PressReader. The Mercury. Archived from the original on 6 May 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
19. . Archived from the original on 15 August 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
20. History of Indian Football - Nirmal Nath, Page 115
21. . Mohun Bagan Athletic Club. Archived from the original on 5 May 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
22. . Mohun Bagan Athletic Club. Archived from the original on 5 May 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
23. . Mohunbaganac.com. Archived from the original on 9 September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.

Bibliography

• Kapadia, Novy (2017). Barefoot to Boots: The Many Lives of Indian Football. Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-0-143-42641-7.
• Sen, Dwaipayan (2013). "Wiping the Stain Off the Field of Plassey: Mohun Bagan in 1911". In Bandyopadhyay, Kausik; Mallick, Sabyasachi (eds.). Fringe Nations in World Soccer. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-99810-5.
• Sen, Ronojoy (2015). "The Empire Strikes Back: The 1911 IFA Shield and Football in Calcutta". Nation at Play: A History of Sport in India. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-16490-0.
• Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (2008). . Shodhganga. University of Calcutta. p. 35. hdl:10603/174532. Archived from the original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
• Mitra, Soumen (1 January 2006). . Kolkata: Dasgupta & Co. Private Ltd. ISBN 978-8182110229. Archived from the original on 21 October 2022.
• Martinez, Dolores; Mukharji, Projit B (2009). . Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-88353-6. Archived from the original on 2 July 2022.
• Nath, Nirmal (2011). . Readers Service. ISBN 9788187891963. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022.
• Dineo, Paul; Mills, James (2001). . London, United Kingdom: Frank Cass Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7146-8170-2. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022.
• (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
• D'Mello, Anthony (1959). Portrait Of Indian Sport. P R Macmillan Limited, London.
• Bolsmann, Chris; Vahed, Goolam (2 November 2017). . Journal of Southern African Studies. 43 (6): 1273–1291. doi:10.1080/03057070.2017.1379689. ISSN 0305-7070. S2CID 148862123. Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
• Mukhopadhay, Subir (2018). সোনায় লেখা ইতিহাসে মোহনবাগান (transl. Mohun Bagan in the history written in gold). ISBN 978-93-850172-0-9.
• Banerjee, Argha; Basu, Rupak (2022). মোহনবাগান: সবুজ ঘাসের মেরুন গল্প (transl. Mohun Bagan: Green fields' Maroon stories). Shalidhan. ISBN 978-81-954667-0-2.

External links

• at Mohun Bagan Gorbo (archived on 28 April 2016)