Mohammedan Sporting is a football club that takes pride in its history and goes that extra mile to honour its yesteryear stats. Now in Malappuram for the I-League season opener against Gokulam Kerala, the club decided to pay tributes to a player from the 1970s in a novel way.
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A few representatives of the club, led by football secretary Dipendu Biswas, Thursday evening visited the relatives of former captain Kavungal Abdul Aziz, who passed away two years ago at the age of 73, and gifted them a Sporting jersey.
“After a long time, we have come to play in Kerala. We have good support in Kerala. We wanted to give the fans here a good message and thought we would honour the memories of a former player like Aziz, who served the club for several years and won us a lot of games,” Biswas, the former India footballer, who is currently the manager of Sporting’s senior team, told indianexpress.com.
Abdul Aziz during his playing days. (Special Arrangement)
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Aziz’s family members were humbled by the Kolkata club’s recognition. “It’s a great gesture by the club to remember a former player in this manner. Mohammedan Sporting is a favourite club for all of us. We are all truly grateful to the club for this act,” said Aziz’s nephew Anwar, also a former footballer, who had played for and coached Titanium FC. Anwar is the son of Aziz’s brother Chekku, who was a Santosh Trophy winner with Kerala.
Chekku’s wife Jameela received the jersey from Dipendu as Aziz’s wife Safia was not around. The Mohammedan Sporting contingent which visited the house at Kavungal had a player from Kerala as well – Fasalu Rahaman, a Santosh Trophy winner with Kerala, who joined the club this year.
Aziz played for Mohammedans as a midfielder between 1974 and 1981 along with legendary footballers like Mohammad Habib Syed Naimuddin and Tarun Bose. “Aziz began his footballing career with an army team in Bengaluru as a teenager before he joined Mohammedan Sporting. He won the Santosh Trophy with Mysore.
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With Sporting, he won the DCM Trophy in 1980, Calcutta League in 1981 and Sree Narayana Trophy. He also won the Maharashtra league with Orkay Mills once,” said Kerala-based football historian Jafar Khan.
According to Khan, Aziz, a reserved man, was even called up to the national team twice but he was reluctant to join for some reason or the other.
Biswas said Mohammedan Sporting wants to do more to honour former players and preserve its history. “We want to create an archive documenting the club’s history. It will have the details of all our players from the past so that the young players coming up can learn what it means to play for Mohammedan Sporting and that will motivate them to do well on the field,” he said.
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Mohammedan Sporting will begin their I-League campaign against two-time defending champions Gokulam Kerala in the opening fixture of this season, at Malappuram’s Payyanad Stadium Saturday.
