KOLKATA, Jul 11: Roads and stadiums in the city will be named after former football greats like Amal Datta, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said as the ‘diamond coach’ was given a state funeral here today.
“He was our pride. The loss is irreparable. We will name streets and the upcoming stadiums after greats like Datta and Sailen Manna,” Mamata announced while paying her last homage to Dutta at the Rabindra Sadan.
Datta’s body was kept at Rabindra Sadan before being taken to his former clubs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan in his last journey as hundreds of football fans gathered to pay their last tributes.
Suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and age-related illness, Datta, who was the country’s first professional coach, was bedridden for several months and passed away near Baguiati last evening.
Paying rich tributes to Datta, Indian football icon Bhaichung Bhutia said, “I was fortunate enough to meet him quite a number of times and was amazed to see how he kept talking about strategies.”
Among his many tactical innovations was the famous diamond formation in 1997 when a marauding Mohun Bagan routed Churchill Brothers 6-0 before taking on PK Banerjee coached East Bengal on July 13, 1997 in the Federation Cup semifinal.
Amid the hype over diamond formation, there was the verbal duel between the two coaches — and former teammates — that saw a record turnout of more than 1.20 lakh.
As fate would have it, Bhutia struck a hat-trick in that match to lead East Bengal to a famous 4-1 win that led to Datta’s ouster.
“What he introduced those years were seen among many European teams these days. He had some futuristic ideas. He was outspoken but equally loved by everyone,” Bhutia added. (PTI)
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