Jamshedpur: The factory of footballers

Surrounded by the picturesque Dalma Hills and situated on the Chota Nagpur Plateau, Jamshedpur was founded in the first decade of the twentieth century by Jamshedji Tata and is the sports capital of Jharkhand.

Surrounded by the picturesque Dalma Hills and situated on the Chota Nagpur Plateau, Jamshedpur was founded in the first decade of the twentieth century by Jamshedji Tata and is the sports capital of Jharkhand. The city is renowned for its world class facilities for the development of sports at grassroot level and has groomed many a talented footballer who have gone on to represent the national team.

As far as Jamshedpur’s RFYS journey though, they have yet to reach the same kind of landmark. The city began their RFYS campaign last year and received immense participation with the institutes competing hard in the city championship. While Jamshedpur Women’s College won the top honours in the School Girls category, ABM College edged past Shaheed Nirmal Mahato Inter College to emerge victorious in the College Boys category. SP Intercollege Khasma was the most successful institute and were the runners-up in Senior Boys and Junior Boys categories. But none of the city’s institutes could find a place in the National Championship and it will be interesting to see if they are able to turn it around this time.
With the defending School Girls champion suffering a 1-5 defeat in their first match of RFYS 2018-19, one can expect the competition to be tougher this year as more institutes will be keen to showcase their footballing prowess. Here are a couple of interesting facts about the Steel City -

1. Churning out champions - Tata Football Academy has been nurturing sporting talent for decades now. Some of the prominent names who have been groomed at the academy include the Indian national team’s goalkeeper Subrata Paul, Syed Rahim Nabi, Pronoy Halder, Deepak Mondal, Rino Anto and Robin Singh.

2. Their own ISL team - Jamshedpur FC made their ISL debut last season JFC missed the playoffs narrowly last season and a late surge in the second half of the season ensured they finish at 5th place. With the marquee signing of Australian legend Tim Cahill, expect them to do well again this season.

As RFYS gets underway in Jamshedpur, the institutes will be hoping to improve on their last year’s performances and who knows, we might unearth a future champion from the city, which has the reputation of producing champions in the past.

Jamshedpur: The factory of footballers