UTTAR PRADESH: The Chief Office Superintendent (COS) at DLW, a public sector unit, is crazy about football. With his ‘little champs’ surrounding him in the DLW greens each evening and waiting for his instructions, Bhairab Datt ‘sir’ believes these guys must have a goal in their life. Like, he had, decades back. And like these youngsters, the Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand) lad had no money.
All that he had was a mother, a younger brother and a sister, for whom he would do anything, as his father had died. But what could the 11-year-old Datt do?
He did dishes, menial jobs at restaurants and grazed cattle belonging to others. Football excited him, and he had a dream: if there was anything that could “liberate” him, it was the sport. Haldwani was his first destination, the next was the holy city of Varanasi. That was 45 years ago.
Today, Datt is a football coach who has ushered in a soccer revolution among kids belonging to poor families of Varanasi. A recipient of ‘Uttar Pradesh Gaurav’ and ‘Uttarkhand Ratna’ awards, Datt trains over 250 boys and girls in the age group of 4-18 years. “In Haldwani, I had bought a form for `5 for enrolling into Sports College, Lucknow. In 1976, I was selected to the Lucknow Sports College, but couldn’t afford the annual fee of Rs 700.
The principal came to know about it and waived it till Class XII,” recalls Datt. “I didn’t want it to happen to children in Ganeshpur Pahari village of Varanasi. So, I started coaching them for free.” For the last 12 years, Datt, a veteran of 11 Santosh Trophy Championship, has been training poor children of Varanasi and adjoining districts. He sets aside Rs 4,000 of his salary to arrange jerseys, shoes and kits. He is supported by his colleagues, son Akshay and daughter Akanksha.
Over 50 of his trainees have been selected at various sports hostels and colleges, including Sports Authority of India hostels in Udaipur Goa, Ranchi and Lucknow. Jyoti Kumari, 16, who used to help her mother with cow dung cakes eight years ago, is now a promising right back of Indian junior team. She has been part of India’s junior team at the SAFF Soccer Championships in Bhutan in 2016 and other prestigious tournaments in Mongol ia and Turkey.
Jyoti is a part of the national camp from where players would be selected for the Indian team for the FIFA U-17 Women World Cup to be held in India in 2021. At least 46 girls and boys of the academy, which is now based on DLW campus, are regulars in UP soccer teams under various age groups. Akash Kumar, 17, and his elder brother Sunil Kumar – sons of a daily wager – have already featured in two editions of the premier I-League.
‘It’s our duty to ensure Sir’s tapasya succeeds’
Bhairab Datt’s students are proud of their teacher. “I still remember when Sir had asked me to play soccer, while I was preparing cow dung cakes with my mother eight years ago,” says Jyoti, one of trainees. She harbours a dream of heading India to a podium finish one day. Akash Kumar, part of Jharkhand’s U-19
team, says “It’s our duty to ensure that our Sir’s ‘tapasya’ succeeds.” So far over 50 trainees of Datt’s academy have been selected at various sports hostels and colleges across the country while 46 are regulars in UP teams under various age groups