The story of Gautam Sarkar who played for East Bengal and said it was his Destiny
The story of Gautam Sarkar who played for East Bengal and said it was his Destiny: Chuni Goswami, a legend of football, trained at the Maidan in the 1960s. People watched in awe as he scored goals with his feet. A young boy was so captivated that he wanted to play like Chuni Goswami.
Gautam Sarkar attempted to recreate the art of Chuni Goswami, but found it difficult and challenging. However, he soon realized that he could continue pushing his boundaries, in order to create a different and unique style of artwork, even though Goswami also admired his efforts.
This leads to the point that Sarkar was well known for his style of tackling. Out of those who saw him play in the ‘70s, they describe how he would aggressively tackle the best players of this time and create a wall around himself so they couldn’t get to him.
India map champion, Chuni Goswas helped football education youths like me. I came to understand that I wasn’t a natural dribbler of the ball or could score magical goals like my peers. But still, it was special that I had good decision-making ability and an instinctive sense for danger.
East Bengal is where Sarkar found his destiny in football. He was called the Beckenbauer of Indian football and he had the honor of captaining both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan.
In 1992, Khotel Sarkar was playing for Khidderpore and just received an offer to play for BNR. However, his sister made him only focus on playing soccer. That evening, two officials from East Bengal came to his house and convinced him to join their club. It was destiny that he ended up a player with East Bengal.
In 1972, the legend of Sarkar started. I scored against Mohammedan Sporting in my first big match and since then I never looked back, he said. That year, Sarkar played a key part in East Bengal’s treble-winning march — a feat that he also achieved while playing for Mohun Bagan in 1977.
Sarkar highlighted two memories, one in the IFA Shield where the Indian team defeated North Korea’s Pong Yong City and the other in the IFA Shield where Mohun Bagan was demolished 5-0.
It is clear that Me and Partner played to the plan in the match, because when we started bossing the midfield there was no way for Mohun Bagan to come back. On the way, we got escorted by crazy fans from the Mohun Bagan ground to Victoria House where we took a taxy home. Romeo celebrated by gobbling a handful of phuchkas near Amherst Street, but Souvik reminisced about our time.
Sarkar had played for a long time on both teams, but he retired as an East Bengal player at the end. The result of that was also destiny.