Birth anniversary of Indian football legend PK Banerjee to be celebrated as ‘AIFF Grassroots Day’
The birth anniversary of Indian football legend and captain in the 1960 Rome Olympics, Pradip Kumar Banerjee, which falls on June 23, will be celebrated as the ‘All India Football Federation (AIFF) Grassroots Day’, announced the governing body of Indian football. “June 23, the birth anniversary of Pradip Kumar Banerjee, India’s captain in the 1960 Rome Olympics and popularly known as PK, will henceforth be celebrated as ‘AIFF Grassroots Day,” said a statement from AIFF issued on Saturday.
Explaining the reason behind choosing PK’s birthday, AIFF Secretary General Dr Shaji Prabhakaran said it is a well-known fact that PK was an exemplary footballer, who played a pivotal role in India’s historic Gold Medal finish in the 1962 Asian Games. “However, we often forget Pradip da was a teacher par excellence too. Once he hung up his boots, he took up coaching and for the next 30 years, produced an array of players, who excelled at the National and International levels. While his role as a National and a club coach is much discussed, the Indian football fraternity cannot forget PK da’s contribution at the grassroots level, his leadership at the Tata Football Academy, his ability to inspire and fine-tune the budding talents whenever with the junior National teams.”
Born on June 23, 1936, in Jalpaiguri, Banerjee is widely regarded as one of India’s greatest footballers and was India’s highest goalscorer with four goals en route to Gold Medal in the 1962 Asian Games. In a glittering international career, Banerjee played two Olympics (1956, 1960) and three Asian Games (1958, 1962, 1966) and was the first footballer to receive the prestigious Arjuna Award in the year of its inception, 1961.
He was conferred with Padma Shri in 1990. 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, PK enrolled himself for the course and returned home with a First-Class degree. Among many first, he achieved as a coach was a football coaching course he ran on Doordarshan for many weeks. He passed away on March 20, 2020, in Kolkata.
