Latey Bhakundo

  The All India Governor's Gold Cup will kick off very soon, and I just felt like writing a bit about my earliest memories of this tournament, which were with my grandfather, Late Prakash Rai. Whenever I have had the opportunity, I have always shared with people how much my grandfather loved football. A small-time footballer himself in his younger days, football lived in his heart till his last breath. It had almost become a ritual in the 1990s that my grandfather would visit us during the Gold Cup in Gangtok. My father was no less a football fan, so the three of us would troop off to the Polo Ground in the afternoon to watch the matches. My father used to get off from his office after showing the match tickets. So Mr. Purna Rai would rush down from his office to join us and head for the stadium. Grandfather always carried his ubiquitous umbrella while going to the matches, though the chance of rain in October in Gangtok was very slim. No rain, no problem. The umbrella became hi...

Gelephu Mindfulness City has captured the imagination of the world and it's tipped to become one of the top cities in the near future with state of the art infrastructure. A certain football team is also blossoming in this city of dreams. At the moment their dream might not compare with the gigantic dream of the city but they have already proved their dream is also big and they are already on the way to fulfilling it.  Southern City FC was formed in 2022 at Gelephu but they didn’t participate in the top league in Bhutan in the beginning. Instead, they focused on local open tournaments and competed in neighboring Assam, India. In 2023, they participated in the District League in Sarpang Gelephu, where the team emerged as champions. They also played in the Bhutan Premier League (BPL) qualifier, but unfortunately, didn’t qualify. Despite this, the team's performance was strong and they did this with a designated coach.  In 2024, Southern City participated again in the District Le...

Hill Boys United FC was originally launched at Kolkata in the year 2009 by a group of youth from the hills of Darjeeling and Sikkim. It included a mix of college students and some professionals working in different companies. Their common love for football had brought them together.  Every week the boys used to play matches with different local teams of Kolkata or with the students of other North Eastern States based in the city. Soon they realised it will be better to start a proper team and the Hill Boys United was formed.  Hill Boys United FC played in number of tournaments along with some friendly matches in the next few years. However the match which they always looked forward to was an exhibition match held annually with the prestigious Calcutta Cricket & Football Club (CCFC). The team also participated in the Kolkata Parsee Club 5-A side football tournament where they reached the quarter finals.  With time some of the boys returned back to the hills and some jo...

Long before the well known tournaments of our region which are doing so well in the present times, Rongo had started a Gold Cup football tournament in the 90s officially "KB Rai Memorial Gold Cup" organized by the Rongo Sporting Club. If I'm not wrong the first edition was held in 1991 & after continuing for few more years it never happened again. I hope when someone writes the history of football in the Darjeeling hills. Rongo Gold Cup will find a place in it. I still remember as a little boy how impressed I was with the Gold Cup trophy. It hand a silver hand holding the gold football. Nicely placed inside a glass frame, have to say the design was way ahead of times. The winning team was awarded the trophy and they could keep it till the next edition of the tournament. Rumours had also spread that one of the teams had tried to scrub off the gold and silver from the Cup.  Many teams from across the region used to come and participate. Few are remember vividly are Unit...

Focus at the grassroots  With a firm focus & commitment to help in development of talent at the grassroots, Sanju Football Academy's Residential Winter Coaching Camp kickstarted from today. More than 40 young footballers  from across Sikkim & outside are taking part.  The opening ceremony was held this morning which was attended by CLC President Mr. Tika Hang Subba as the Chief Guest & host of other dignitaries along with the Academy's Founder/Mentor Mr. Sanju Pradhan, Executive body members, officials, senior players. Parents/Guardians of some players were also in attendance.  The camp will continue till 16th January 2022 where the players will receive guidance on all aspects of football with an aim to improve their individual game. Mr. Sanju Pradhan himself will coach the players & some very talented ones will be selected for the Academy's hostel, which will be set up soon where they will undergo training for further 3 years & after that they'll...

(Facebook Live screenshot) As a person with some experience in Live Broadcast. Today, as I was watching a football match live streamed from a remote village up in the Darjeeling hills, a thought struck my mind about how much live streaming has revolutionized the world especially Facebook Live. 10 years back just imagine how much money, man power and equipments the organizers of the tournament might have required to broadcast the match live.  Even big sports channels thesedays have come to realize the power of live streaming that they show their feed in both platforms- streaming (mostly youtube & facebook) and broadcast in their channel which we see in our TV sets.  Difference between Live Broadcast and Live Stream in brief-  Live Broadcast The term broadcast defines how many viewers can watch the same live video at the same time. The technical working behind this shows a single signal being received by many receivers simultaneously. Live Stream  Unlike live broad...