Austin Town boy who went on to captain India

His contemporaries remember him for his positive attitude, the ever-smiling face and his ‘happy go lucky’ personality, as Bruno Coutinho puts it. And his football skills, of course. But it’s the person more than the footballer or coach that the Indian football lost on Monday.

Former Indian captain and one of the finest footballers from Karnataka, Carlton Chapman, passed away following a cardiac arrest in the early hours on Monday. He was 49. The funeral will be held on Tuesday.

A recent video that was doing the rounds on social media shows Coutinho smash a thunderous shot into the net during a World Cup qualifier clash against Philippines. Rewind it a bit and there is Chapman, making the powerful run that made the goal. A ‘selfless one’ as IM Vijayan puts it. Always happy to help his team-mates make the headlines.

It shows as he spent his club career playing at the zenith of Indian football’s hierarchy. After cutting his teeth at SAI, Bengaluru and the Tata Football Academy, Chapman moved to East Bengal. He was a top pick when JCT Mills and FC Kochin embarked on their ambitious project in the 90s.

“I am probably the one who played the most with him as a striker. He was one of the greats of our generation. When you think of comparing him, there is no one else,” says Vijayan who played and won with him in JCT, FC Kochin and the national team.

“I was very close to his family, I stayed at his house in Austin Town when I came over for Indian camp in Bengaluru,” adds Vijayan.

His achievements make for an impressive resume. He won the National Football League with East Bengal and JCT. With JCT, he won the Federation Cup, IFA Shield and Durand Cup in 1996.

In East Bengal he won the Calcutta league four times, IFA Shield twice, Durand Cup, Rovers Cup and Kalinga Cup.

“Whereever he went, he was in the starting eleven,” says Raman Vijayan, an ex-international.

At the international stage, the boy from Austin Town was able to translate his sleek footwork and tidy ball control into 39 caps for the national team in which he scored six goals, winning the SAF Games (1995) and Nehru Cup (1997). He also won the SAFF Championship in 1997 and 1999, the former as the captain.

He was a beacon for the next generation from Bengaluru.

“He was a role model for players from Bengaluru. I played under his captaincy in Asian Games, that’s a big memory for me. It was my dream to play with him,” says Shanmugam Venkatesh, who played for the Kolkata giants, Salgaocar and Mahindra United.

Post his playing days, Chapman also coached in TFA molding the next generation of talent before taking over Royal Wahingdoh, Bhawanipore FC, Student’s Union FC and Sudeva FC. His last job profile was that of Technical Director of Quartz FC in Kozhikode.