Nurunnabi Chowdhury (Bengali: নুরুন্নবী চৌধুরী; 1934 – January 2003), better known as Nabi Chowdhury, was a former Bangladeshi football player and the first East Pakistani or Bengali to captain the Pakistan national football team.[1][2][3]
 Nabi Chowdhury in 1981 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nurunnabi Chowdhury | ||
| Date of birth | 1934 | ||
| Place of birth | Feni, Noakhali District, Bengal (present-day Bangladesh) | ||
| Date of death | (aged 68–69) | ||
| Place of death | Dhaka, Bangladesh | ||
| Position(s) | Center-half, Right half | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1952–1953 | Pakistan Air Force | ||
| 1954–1956 | Dhaka Wanderers | ||
| 1957–1958 | PWD SC | ||
| 1958 | Mohammedan SC | ||
| 1959–1968 | Police AC | ||
| International career | |||
| 1957–1961 | East Pakistan | ||
| 1954–1958 | Pakistan | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Early life
editNabi Chowdhury was born in Aziz Fazilpur village in the Feni sub-division of Noakhali District, Bengal.[4]
Club career
editNabi began his career in inter-school football, representing Comilla Victoria College while simultaneously playing in the Cumilla Football League with Pak United. In 1952, he joined the Pakistan Air Force and, under the recommendation of veteran striker Moideen Kutty, represented Pakistan Air Force FC in the Inter-Service Championship until 1954.[5]
He earned recognition while playing for Dhaka Wanderers from 1954 to 1956, winning a hat-trick of First Division titles during his tenure there.[6][7] In 1958, he represented Mohammedan SC in the IFA Shield in Calcutta, India.[8] In the same year, he captained PWD Sports Club in the inaugural edition of the Aga Khan Gold Cup held in Dhaka.[9]
In 1958, he left his duties at the Pakistan Air Force and, the following year, joined the East Pakistan Police, representing its football team until his retirement in 1968.[10]
International career
editEast Pakistan
editIn 1957, Nabi participated in the National Football Championship held in Dhaka as a member of the eventual runners-up, East Pakistan Whites. He played as a center-half, alongside fullbacks Amir Jang Ghaznavi and Eugene Gomes. He scored in the first round against Pakistan Navy FC in a 5–2 victory on 22 October, during which Ashraf Chowdhury scored a hat-trick.[11] In the final against Punjab, held in Dhaka Stadium on 10 November, Nabi was forced to leave the field for five minutes after sustaining a nose injury, during which time his team conceded a goal and would eventually go on to lost the game 1–2.[12][13]
In the 1958 edition of the National Championship helf in Multan, Nabi captained East Pakistan, as his team exited the tournament in the quarter-final, falling 1–3 to Punjab Reds, the junior string of the team they had faced in the previous year's final.[14] On 16 October 1959, Nabi represented East Pakistan during an exhibition match in Gujranwala against the local Al Hilal Club, scoring the winner in a 2–1 victory from a direct corner after Shah Alam scored the first for East Pakistan.[15]
Nabi remained part of the East Pakistan team during the 1959 National Championship held in Hyderabad, where his team again finished runners-up, losing to 0–1 to Baluchistan in the final held on 7 November 1959.[16] Eventually, in the following edition held in Karachi, he was part of the East Pakistan team that won its maiden National Championship,[17] defeating Karachi White 1–0 in the final held on 27 November 1960.[18]
Following 1960, when the EP Sports Federation began sending divisional teams to the National Championship, Nabi started representing the Chittagong Division. In January 1961, he represented East Pakistan in two exhibition matches against the touring Burma national team in Dhaka and Chittagong.[4]
Pakistan
edit
Nabi made his debut for the Pakistan national team during the 1954 Manila Asian Games.[19] Prior to the tournament, he participated in an 80-minute exhibition game against Singapore in Kallang, which ended in a 2–2 draw.[20]
He later participated in both the 1954 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament and 1955 Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament, with the latter held on home soil, in Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). In 1956, he represented Pakistan during a series of friendlies against Singapore, China and Ceylon.[4] Nabi captained Pakistan at the 1958 Tokyo Asian Games, the first Bengali to do so.[1][21][22] The team, including six Bengali players, tied the first game 1–1 with South Vietnam and lost its final game 1–3 to the Republic of China.[2][23] Prior to the tournament, he captained the team during exhibition matches against the likes of Malaya and Singapore.[24]
Organizing career
editNabi served as the chairman of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) national team selection committee from 1973 to 1974 and as the general secretary in 1979. He was a member for four terms, specifically in 1975, 1977, 1982, and 1992–1993. Nabi played an integral role in selecting the first Bangladesh national football team alongside Sheikh Shaheb Ali, Manzur Hasan Mintu, and Ranjit Das for the 1973 Merdeka Cup.[25] He served as the team manager of the Bangladesh U20 team under Werner Bickelhaupt at the 1978 AFC Youth Championship in Dhaka.[26]
Death
editNabi died of diabetes-related complications in January 2004.[4]
Honours
editDhaka Wanderers
- Dhaka League: 1954, 1955, 1956
- Pakistan Day Football Tournament: 1955
- Independence Day Cup: 1956
East Pakistan White
- National Championship runner-up: 1957
East Pakistan
- National Championship: 1960; runner-up: 1959
Pakistan
- Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament runner-up: 1955
Individual
- 1978 − National Sports Awards.[4]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "এশিয়ান গেমস অনেক দূরে চলে গেছে" [The Asian Games going far away]. kalerkantho.com (in Bengali). Kalerkantho. 19 September 2014. Archived from the original on 13 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
- ^ a b "এশিয়ান গেমস হোক সাফের প্রস্তুতি" [Asian Games should be preparation for SAFF]. www.kalerkantho.com (in Bengali). 2 August 2018. Archived from the original on 28 November 2023. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
- ^ "বাঙালির ফুটবল-সাফল্য এখন কেবলই স্মৃতি" [Bengali football success is now only a memory]. U71news (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 6 April 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Dulal, Mahmud (2014). পাকিস্তান জাতীয় দল বাঙালি খেলোয়াড় (transl. Bengali players in the Pakistan national team) (in Bengali). Bishhoshahitto Bhobon.
- ^ "Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore) - Sunday 18 April 1954". p. 8. Retrieved 21 June 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Wanderers back in the big league with nostalgia and new hope". The Daily Star. 25 April 2024. Archived from the original on 1 June 2024. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
- ^ Alam, Masud (18 October 2020). "টানা ৬ লিগজয়ী ওয়ান্ডারার্সের বর্তমানটা লজ্জার" [The Wanderers, who recorded 6 league wins in a row, are now in shame]. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ Kabir, Iqbal (2 July 2022). "পঞ্চাশের দশকে ঢাকার ফুটবলে রক্ষণ ভাগের দুই প্রহরীর গল্প" [The story of two defenders in Dhaka football in the fifties]. ctgsangbad24.com (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ "Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore) - Tuesday 23 September 1958". p. 12. Retrieved 24 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ Kabir, Shajahan (6 January 2024). "ফুটবলে তখন নাম ছিল, টাকা-পয়সার ব্যাপার ছিল না" [Football had name back then, Money was not a problem]. Kalerkantho (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 7 January 2024. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
- ^ "Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore) - Wednesday 23 October 1957". p. 12. Retrieved 20 June 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore) - Monday 11 November 1957". p. 10. Retrieved 5 October 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Organisers wake up". archive.thedailystar.net. 13 February 2006. Archived from the original on 8 August 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ "Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore) - Sunday 16 November 1958". p. 11. Retrieved 21 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore) - Saturday 17 October 1959". p. 9. Retrieved 21 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore) - Sunday 08 November 1959". p. 4. Retrieved 21 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore) - Wednesday 02 November 1960". p. 8. Retrieved 5 October 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Pakistan - List of Champions". www.rsssf.org. Archived from the original on 12 April 2023. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
- ^ "Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore) - Tuesday 06 April 1954". p. 6. Retrieved 5 October 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Page 12 Singapore Standard, 26 April 1954". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
- ^ Ahsan, Ali (23 December 2010). "A history of football in Pakistan – Part I". Dawn. Archived from the original on 4 September 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
- ^ "Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore) - Sunday 13 April 1958". p. 14. Retrieved 5 October 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Asian Games 1958 (Tokyo, Japan)". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ "S'pore saved by late penalty The Straits Times, 18 May 1958, Page 19". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
- ^ "সেদিন লাল-সবুজ পতাকা উড়িয়েছিল ফুটবল" [Football flew the red-green flag that day]. kalerkantho.com (in Bengali). Kalerkantho. 26 July 2020. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ Mahmud, Dulal (20 April 2021). "ঢাকার মাঠে সবচেয়ে বড় ফুটবল উৎসব" [The biggest football festival in Dhaka]. Utp al Shuvro (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 22 November 2023.
Bibliography
edit- Mahmud, Dulal (2014). পাকিস্তান জাতীয় দল বাঙালি খেলোয়াড় (transl. Bengali players in the Pakistan national team) (in Bengali). Bishhoshahitto Bhobon.
- Mahmud, Dulal (2020). খেলার মাঠে মুক্তিযুদ্ধ (transl. Liberation war in the playground) (in Bengali). Bishhoshahitto Bhobon. ISBN 978-984-8218-31-0.
- Alam, Masud (2017). ফুটবলের গল্প ফুটবলারদের গল্প (transl. The story of football the story of footballers) (in Bengali). Bishhoshahitto Bhobon. ISBN 9789849134688.
Further reading
edit- ভালোবাসার কাজটি করতে পেরেছি বলে আনন্দ ছিল অফুরান [I was very happy to be able to do the work of love]. Kalerkantho (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
- "'জয়বাংলা একাদশের' অধিনায়ক ছিলাম আমি" [I was the captain of Joy Bangla XI]. Kalerkantho (in Bengali). 5 July 2015. Archived from the original on 5 June 2024. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
External links
edit- Nabi Chowdhury at SonaliOtitClub.com