Bhopal, MADHYA PRADESH :
We came from a modest background and my father (Abdur Rahim Siddiqui) was a religious, honest, disciplined and upright man. I got the virtues of devoutness, honesty and truthfulness from him and they have stood me in good stead. I would like to narrate an incident from my early playing days as an example. I was playing for East Bengal in 1963. A night before we were scheduled to play a crucial match against arch rivals Mohun Bagan, which was the top club then, I was called to the home of the Mohun Bagan president Dhiren Dey, the owner of Dey’s Medicals.
I was offered a Rolex to not score the next day. I said: ‘Dada, you keep the watch and if a goal is to be scored tomorrow, I will score it.’ As it turned out, I scored and East Bengal went on to become champions that season. This incident later became public and brought all the Bhopal players a lot of respect in Bengal. I played 10 years in Bengal, though I joined Mohun Bagan the next year at higher wages.
I was instrumental in Mohun Bagan winning all four major national tournaments in 1964. As a result, I was called up to the 1964 Olympic trial camp. During the camp in Jalandhar, Ashwini Kumar, the president of the Indian Hockey Federation, offered me a job with the Punjab Police (Kumar was a senior cop) though I was still only a student. But, keeping in mind the focus on education in my family—my siblings studied till doctorate level—I refused as I was not yet a graduate.
Kumar was unhappy and this resulted in me not being selected in the Olympic side despite being highly rated and performing outstandingly against Olympics host Japan the previous year. There was also the historic reason of Bhopali players migrating to, and doing well for, Pakistan. The resultant negative sentiment further hampered my chance of making it to the 1964 team.
In retrospect, I feel that my decision to refuse Kumar’s offer turned out to be a historic blunder not only for me, but for all Bhopal hockey players. He had made me an irresistible offer that would have allowed me to continue my studies. I was also offered an attendant to take care of all my needs, but naive as I was, I simply decided to say no. Had I said yes, the negative sentiment against Bhopal players may have reduced and many more talented Bhopal players would have found places in international and Olympic tournaments.
I was included in the Mexico 1968 camp and this time, luckily, our coach was dada Dhyan Chand. I was dropped again, but Dhyan Chand refused to sign the team list unless I was selected. Thus, a Bhopali made it to the Olympic squad after 20 years. But, I was not fielded in any of the initial matches. Then there came a crucial match against Japan, which we had to win to get into the semi-final and I was included in the team given my record against them.
The Japanese team walked off to protest a penalty stroke awarded to us after I was pushed down, and were disqualified. The movements by me that could have led to goals were then calculated and we were awarded five goals. I was not fielded in the semifinal and the Indian team lost to Australia. Then for the bronze medal, I played again and we easily beat Germany (2-0). Pakistan won gold; we were far better than Pakistan and would have easily beaten them had we reached the finals. I later joined Indian Airlines and formed its first team by drafting in seven boys from Bhopal. I captained the team for many years and it became one of the top teams in India.
As told to Sravani Sarkar
source: http://www.theweek.in / The Week / Home> The Week / by Inam Ur Rehman – as told to Sravani Sarkar / July 18th, 2021