By Dr. Syed Ahmed for TwoCircles.net,
Imphal: Athletic Brothers’ Association (ABA), an athletic association of Muslims in Manipur, celebrated Diamond Jubilee at a function organized at ABA Ground, Khetrigao in Imphal East District, Manipur on March 31, 2013.
The function was graced by Parliamentary Secretary, Minorities & Other Backward Classes and Sc. & Tech. Md. Amin Shah, Chairperson Manipur State Minorities Commission A. Halim Chowdhury (Retd. IAS), Advisor and General Secretary of ABA Mohd. Tameez Ali, Advocate M.A. Qayum, Associate Professor of G.P. Women’s College A. Hakim Shah Khullakpam, Assistant Professor of Lilong Haoreibi College Dr. Syed Ahmed, Advisor and General Secretary of ABA Md. Syed Suleiman, Executive members of ABA Md. Naziruddin and Alhaj Nazir Raja, and President of ABA M.A. Jalil (Retd. MPS) as Chief Guest, Guests of Honour and President respectively. The function was attended by sympathizers of ABA, sportsmen and local people.
Releasing the Souvenir
A souvenir of ABA was also released to commemorate the occasion. Former executive members and advisors of ABA highlighted the history and achievements of the association.
In his speech, Mohd Tameez Ali said, “The Muslims of Khetrigao, one of the largest Muslim concentrated areas in Imphal East district, have been showing keen interest in games and sports from early days. Muslims of Khetrigao started playing football and hockey soon after the games were introduced in the state, besides the traditional indigenous games like mukna, kangjei, etc.”
Interestingly football was the first among the modern games introduced in Manipur by the British in the late 19th century. The game was played for the first time by British Indian sepoys at the Paltan ground, also known as Manung Kangjeibung, near Kangla Fort. Christian Missionary Rev. William Pettigrew, the then teacher of Johnstone School introduced the game to his students in 1899. Shortly a football team of the Johnstone School was formed followed by a second one known as Maharaja Team under the patronage of the Maharaja of Manipur Sir Churachand Singh. The Maharaj was, in fact, the founder patron of modern sports movement in Manipur. With his initiative hockey, cricket, athletics, badminton, etc. were introduced and popularized in Manipur.
Manipur Town Club, formed in 1920, started organizing tournaments mainly football and hockey at Kalimai ground, the present 1st Battalion Manipur Rifles ground. The Club was formed by a Bengali settled in Manipur, named Phoni Mukerjee along with few local youths. Md. Hussain from Lilong Bazar became the first Muslim to play football for the Town Club. He was followed by Md. Najibul Husain from Khetrigao, Md. Nazir Ali from Keikhu and Roushan Ali from Kairang.
In the 40s and 1950s Arzad Ali, Nazir Ali, Naki Muhammad, Abdul Ali, Husamudin, Nazmul Hussain, Mansur Ali, Nur Ali, Nazimuddin, A. Halim Chowdhury were some of the prominent Muslim hockey players from Khetrigao. Halim Chowdhury played in the Beighton Cup Hockey Tournament held at Calcutta representing Manipur Team in 1948 and 1949.
Tameez Ali further said, “In the 1950s there used to be two prominent clubs in Khetrigao, namely Friends Athletic Sports Organization (FASO) and Kshetri Iril Mapal Youth Club (MIYC). The two clubs played in many of the tournaments organized by All Manipur Sports Association (established in 1948) in Football, Hockey and Athletics. Under the instruction of this Association the two clubs merged to form ABA in 1951. It became a registered body in 1965. The Association started playing football in Senior B Division from 1960-61. From 1968 ABA was promoted to Senior-A Division. In the same year ABA played in the prestigious Sir Churachand Singh Memorial Football Tournament, or CC Meet, for the first time. ABA has been the League Champion in Senior-A Division for three times.”
ABA became the League Champion in Senior-A Division tournament for the first time in 1970. In those days 10 clubs of Manipur played in the Senior A, namely ESU, MBSU, NACO, SSU, Imphal Sporting Club, NISA, KYC, USA, TRAU and ABA. In the same year ABA played CC Meet and reached quarter final. K. Sonamani Singh of ABA became the first player of the association to be included in the Manipur Eleven football team. In 1972 Najir Ali was inducted in the Manipur Eleven team. In the same year Manipur became a State. In 1973 Manipur started participating in national tournaments. ABA became the League Champion in Senior-A Division for the second time in 1983-84. It became League Champion for the third time in 2003. ABA played in football tournaments held in many parts of India and outside. The association played in many parts of Assam, like Golaghat, Karimganj, Hojai, Lamka, Kohima in Nagaland, Bhutan etc.
Over the years the Association has produced many outstanding sportsmen, particularly in hockey and football. It has produced national players like M.A. Jabbar in Hockey, Md. Ali Muhammad Itomba, Md. Tayeb Ali, Md. Nasir Ali (Tomba) and E. Sonamani Singh in Football, and Thouba Singh in Swimming. Besides them ABA has also produced other fine hockey and football players, namely Md. Azizur Shah, Md. Suleiman, Md. Abdul Kadir, Md. Barik, Md. Abdul Bashir, Md. Tameez Ali Syed, Md. Kora, Md. Abdul Haque, Md. Abdul Sattar, Md. Abdul Sammad, Md. Kashim, Md. Umeed Ali, Md. Karimuddin, Md. Islamuddin, Md. Sahidur Rahman, among others.
Md. Tayeb Ali is still regarded as one of the finest stoppers that Manipur has produced so far. He was popular in the 1980s as “the wall.” He played for Santosh Trophy representing the Manipur team from 1978-1984. Afterward, he played for Manipur Police. Under his captaincy, Manipur Police participated in many tournaments held within and outside the state. Later he served as a coach for Manipur Police. He is presently serving as Subehdar in Manipur Rifles.
Some of the most prominent Muslims of the State have been associated with the management of ABA. Former Ministers of the State, namely (Late) Md. Muhammudin Shah and (Late) Md. Alauddin Khan, Retd. Chief Engineer Azizul Haque, Professor M.A. Janab Khan, Writer Syed Muhammuddin Sheikh, etc. had served as President of ABA. Today A. Halim Chowdhury and A.R. Khan (IAS Retd.) are in the Advisory Board of the association.
ABA lifting the League Champion’s trophy in 1983-84.
In his speech, Md. Amin Shah said, “ABA has been the heart and soul of our fathers and forefathers. They had promoted the club for so many years. Now it is our duty to further promote the club and help in nurturing our youths. I, as the representative of Khetrigao Assembly constituency, will give all my efforts to develop the club. I have made the proposal of converting the ABA ground into a mini stadium to the concerned authorities of the Government of Manipur. They have accepted the proposal. I hope that the people of the area would co-operate in developing the playground.”
In his Presidential speech, M.A. Jalil expressed gratitude to all those who had supported ABA financially and physically all these years. He also shared some of the plans that the present executive body has developed to improve the financial condition of the Association, which included construction of shopping cum office building of ABA.
In his written message to ABA, Parliamentary Secretary Youth Affairs & Sports and Tourism M. Prithiviraj Singh said, “Manipur is being recognized as a sports powerhouse within and beyond the country, and the State has produced players, who had represented the country on several events and had brought laurels for the country and the state. But at the grass root it is the local clubs and organizations who discover the young talents of our state and nourish and expose them to reach various locals. It is a matter of pride that the Athletic Brothers’ Association (ABA), Khetrigao nurtured and produced athletes and players for sixty one long years, which is no mean feat.”
“The contribution of ABA in the society in general is huge. I do wish the association to grow from strength to strength,” Member of Parliament Dr. Thokchom Meinya expressed in his message.