KOCHI: Former captain of the state football team Ratnakaran, who was a member of the maiden Kerala squad that won the Santosh Trophy title in 1973, passed away in Kannur during the early hours of Wednesday. He was 64.
Ratnakaran of Azheekodan Veedu, Vayiparambu, Kannur, is survived by wife Shivakala and children Kiran and Kajal. His funeral will take place at 12 pm on Thursday at Kozhakeezhu.
He started his career with Lucky Star FC in Kannur and played for SN College, Kannur. He won the All-India Inter-university Football Championship with Calicut University in 1971 paving the way to a place in the state team as well as the then redoubtable Travancore Titanium team.
Ratnakaran was the right-wing back in the 4-2-4 system deployed by the then coach, Olympian Simon Sunderraj as Kerala lifted the Santosh Trophy title at the Maharaja’s College Ground here in 1973.Ratnakaran was the perfect complement to D Devanand and K V Usman Koya, the two centre backs, and left-wing back C C Jacob in the Kerala back four in 1973. He went on to play for Kerala in 13 Santosh Trophy championships between 1971 and 1984, skippering the side in 1979 at the Odisha(then Orissa) nationals.
Apart from winning the trophy in 1973 at Ernakulam, he was a member of the Kerala squad that finished runners-up in 1975 at Kozhikode. He was also the manager of the Travancore Titanium side from 1991-1994. Ratnakaran was settled in Thiruvananthapuram after being employed by Titanium.
“In the 1973 championship, Ratnakaran was a spirited youngster. As the right-wing back, he was asked to sprint down the flanks as much as he could. I think he did what was asked of him very well,” reminisced T A Jaffar, who was the vice-captain of the 1973 side. “The triumph was very special for him as he won the Santosh Trophy in his first outing itself,” said Jaffar.
Meanwhile, P P Abdul Hameed, who was Ratnakaran’s batchmate at SN College, Kannur, and later played alongside him in the Titanium team, said he was a hardworking footballer. Incidentally, Hameed, had also played the junior nationals with Ratnakaran.
“There was a particular way in which the coach wanted us to play in 1973 and Ratnakaran was the quickest to adapt to that,” he said, adding, “He was an attacking player but also strong in defence”.
Victor Manjilla, who captained the Calicut University side in 1971 and had come up against Ratnakaran many a time in his career, said it was a great to have someone like Ratnakaran in the team.
“He was defender whom I could trust and there were only a handful of them (like him),” said the former ace custodian.