CUTTACK: On Wednesday, the 15th FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup got off to a spectacular start with the Opening Ceremony at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. But do you know it’s this historic stadium where hockey wizard Dhyan Chand spent a year in the 1960s sharing his magic tricks with Odisha players!
Yes, of many tales that Barabati Stadium has to tell, this one on hockey is equally memorable. In January 1969, the Odisha Olympic Association decided to bring hockey legend Dhyan Chand for two months to train local players, says Pratap Satpathy, former secretary of Hockey Odisha.
“Major Dhyan Chand was offered a remuneration of Rs 1,000 per month. Later, the legend extended his tenure for two years but due to some problem, he stayed at Barabati Stadium for only one year,” he recollects.
In fact, Cuttack, the Millennium City, has had a rich culture of hockey. It not only hosted national tournaments but also played the venue for a friendly international hockey tournament in the year 1954-55. Like other parts of Odisha, Christian missionaries helped popularise the game of hockey in Cuttack city. A few students of the iconic Ravenshaw College started the sport at the institution's campus too.
Apart from Ravenshaw College, Stewart School and Christ Collegiate School introduced hockey too. Slowly, it gained popularity and was played by many young students of Cuttack at Police Ground, Satyabrata Stadium and OMP 6th Battalion Ground, says Ashok Mohanty, former assistant director of the sports and youth services department.
In those days, Cuttack was the epicentre of all the sporting activities. Under the guidance of Bhairab Mohanty, the Inter-University Hockey Tournament the first national hockey tournament was held at Barabati Stadium in 1954-55. The same year, an international friendly tournament was held between India and Malaysia at Cuttack.
Mango Cup and Bhairab Mohanty Hockey Tournament were two all-India hockey tournaments to be held at Cuttack in 1970-80s. Yuba Bandhu Culture Group of Cuttack organised the all-India hockey tournament in the name of the Mango Cup. The tournament was held at Barabati Stadium from 1979 to 1994. “Different hockey clubs in our country used to take part in the Mango Cup. Teams of Indian Railways, Indian Airlines, Services and many other clubs participated in the tournament,” reveals Satpathy.
Later, in the year 1988, the Barabati Cultural Union introduced the All India Bhairab Mohanty Gold Cup Hockey Tournament. This tournament continued till 1996 at Barabati Stadium where reputed clubs of the country participated. A club from Bangladesh also took part in the Gold Cup. Both the all-India tournaments gradually had to fold up due to lack of sponsorship, said a senior citizen of Cuttack.
Dr Prabhat Mishra, SK Prasad, SK Alam, P K Chakraborty, Ananta Ray, Subhankar Ghose, Daya Ram, and Michel Benson were players who started professional hockey in Cuttack. The state also hosted a national senior hockey tournament in 1970 at Barabati Stadium.