Chathunni — the coach with the Midas contact

T.Okay. Chathunni
| Picture Credit score: File photograph: H. VIBHU

Former worldwide T.Okay. Chathunni, the person who moulded I.M. Vijayan right into a advantageous soccer gem and adjusted the lives of many others, handed away in a personal hospital close to right here on Wednesday. He was 79.

A robust defender, Chathunni performed for India within the 1973 Merdeka Cup in Kuala Lumpur and in a couple of different tournaments. He additionally performed Santosh Trophy for Providers and Goa and later rose into prominence as considered one of India’s prime coaches.

Throughout his peak, many felt Chathunni was a coach with the Midas contact and he was wanted by a few of the nation’s largest golf equipment in Goa, Kerala and Bengal the place he guided Mohun Bagan to its first Nationwide League title in 1997-98. He was additionally Kerala’s Santosh Trophy coach in 1979.

“I used to be 10 or 12 once I first met him at a three-year camp in Thrissur. He taught me all about soccer,” Vijayan advised The Hindu on Wednesday night.

A couple of years later Chathunni, who hailed from Chalakudy in Thrissur District, coached Kerala Police to the Federation Cup title in 1990, it was the primary time a staff from the State was successful the occasion.

Within the Police staff, he formed gamers like U. Sharafali, V.P. Sathyan, C.V. Pappachan and P.P. Thobias into advantageous stars. He additionally coached groups like Goa’s Salgaocar, Dempo, Churchill Bothers and Kerala’s FC Kochin, Viva Kerala and Josco FC.

“He was among the many first batch of gamers who have been recruited when the Premier Tyres staff (which reached nice heights later) was shaped in Kochi in 1972. That was the primary time I noticed him in motion however after about three months, he received a greater supply from Vasco SC and left for Goa,” stated former Indian goalkeeper Victor Manjila.

Chathunni later performed for EME (Secunderabad) and Orkay Mills (then Bombay).

Former Indian goalkeeper S. Brahmanand, who performed towards him in Goa, remembers Chathunni as a powerful defender.

“He was a towering determine in defence for Vasco…I performed towards him throughout my Panvel SC tenure and performed underneath him when he coached Churchill Brothers. He was a coach with sturdy motivational energy and a jovial individual off the sphere,” stated Brahmanand.