While cricket, like in other parts of the country, had been basically a middle or upper middle class game in this part of the country as well, football or soccer has been the most popular game with its enormous number of followers. The sight of congregation of huge football followers of Shillong or Meghalaya at Nehru Stadium, Guwahati, till the early 80s, coming down to watch football matches is familiar to the sports lovers of yesteryears. Bordoloi Trophy, organised by Assam Football Association, was the most popular football tournament of this region in which, by and large, all the celebrated football teams of the country besides quite a few foreign teams used to participate unfailingly.
With the beginning of 70s decade, Assam Police Football Club had emerged as a strong contender and fierce fighter with their never-say-die attitude. It became the heart-throb of the football lovers of Assam and North East on the strength of its superlative performance. Mention must be made of the names of Chandra Mohon Gonju, Bijay Nath, Subir Choudhury, Kalimuddin, the great daring goalkeeper, to name only a few, whose names are still remembered for their spirited performance. However, the man who won the heart of every one was Gilbertson Sangma. Sangma had all the ingredients of a modern footballer---skill, speed and stamina. I vividly remember that in 1971 the Assam Police team was playing the final of Bordoloi Trophy against Mohammedan Sporting. Backed by a strong 30,000 approximated crowd, the Assam Police team displayed scintillating football from the beginning itself and caught the Calcutta giant on the wrong food on a number of occasions. Towards the dying moments of the game, Gilbertson, outwitting two Md. Sporting defenders with his deft dribbling, had rushed towards the penalty region and then foxed the goalkeeper with a left-footed flick to score the solitary winning goal amidst thunderous applause of the crowd. The star-studded Md. Sporting team was stunned and shocked. When the referee blew the final whistle, not only the crowd present at Nehru Stadium went berserk but also there was jubilation in the entire state.
During the seventies, Gilbert Sangma was the darling of the crowd. The Hindustan Times, a daily published from New Delhi and other metros termed him as a man with the “golden boot” following his scintillating performance against Han Yang University, Korea, in 1976. Gilbertson had represented the country with distinction.
Mind-boggling technological advancement made by our country, especially in the last three decades along with growing popularity of visual media has resulted in making television an inseparable part of our day-to-day existence. The viewers now have the privilege of watching top class football games sitting in their drawing rooms. Consequently, the sight of long queues to watch Bordoloi Trophy matches has become a thing of the past and relegated to the pages of sporting history.
Mobile Theatre
Assam’s rich cultural legacy and heritage found fullest expression in ‘Bhramyaman theatre‘ (mobile theatres). The mobile theatre has been the heartthrob, the indispensible parts of socio-cultural life and a prolific source of entertainment for the theatre-goers of Assam, especially from the 70s decade.
‘A nation is known by the stage,’ goes the English saying. High dramatic sensibility, lofty artistic taste of the audience of Assam had a telling impact on the quality of mobile theatres in the formative years. Staging of epic Mahabharat, classic ‘Miri Jiyori‘ to Shakespeare’s immortal creations like Othello resulted in long queues of admirers before the ticket counters of Guwahati city notwithstanding the fact that Guwahati always had enormous avenues of entertainment .
Culture loving Guwahati had assembled in thousands at Gopal Bodo field to watch Titanic on mobile theatre, directed by Hemanta Dutta. At a time when the whole world was overwhelmed by the million-dollar worth Hollywood movie, Titanic was staged in 1997 in minutest details. Helicopter landing and the vast Atlantic on small stage was breath taking!! It was mind blowing drama that enchanted connoisseurs of Guwahati and the rest of Assam.
