E-Kantipur

AUG 14 - At the end of the recent Futuro III Referee Course, All Nepal Football Association President Ganesh Thapa was asked to deliver a concluding speech. Instead of the regular readymade speeches that chief guests usually read out, Thapa, a former footballer, spoke impromptu about the difficulties football referees face while officiating. In the process, he let the audience in on some unforgettable moments of a game between Nepal and Iran. The instances he shared were greeted with thunderous applause.

Hoping to hear more of such anecdotes, The Kathmandu Post caught up with Thapa after the programme. Luckily, he did have many things to share. Here are a few moments of Nepal’s international outing he vividly recalls: 

Iran - Nepal

Rewind 28 years. 1982. Nepal was playing in the Kaidiajam Cup in Pakistan. Infamous for their rough style of play -- ‘Gurkhali style’, as Thapa likes to put it -- Nepal was the team referees preferred to avoid. After defeating Bangladesh, Nepal was facing Iran, which had just played in 1978 World Cup in Argentina. Scared out of their wits, the only aim of the Nepali team was to concede as few goals as possible, any way possible. Playing the full 90 minutes would certainly not help their cause. So, the idea was to abandon the match by resorting to foul play.  Before the kickoff, the Pakistani referee walked up to the Nepali team warning them to behave in the field. “He told us that he had forgotten to bring the yellow card. So any wrong doing in the field would result in a straight red,” said Thapa.

The match kicked off and Nepal had already conceded two goals inside 15 minutes. Nepal were on their way to a crushing defeat. Captain Rupak Sharma’s plan of abandoning the match was slowly going up in smokes. Just as Nepal were on their way to conceding a third goal, the current ANFA General Secretary Dhirendra Pradhan caught one of the Iranians and brought him to the ground. The referee pointed to the spot, but the Nepalis started arguing with the referee, complaining the decision was not right. The Nepalis had to disrupt the match at any cost -- it was, after all, their strategy. “During those days the FIFA rules were not as strict as it is now; matches could easily be abandoned,” Thapa said. The discussions went on for about 30 minutes. Frustrated, Iran team captain told the referee to cancel the penalty and instead award an indirect kick. The referee agreed and the resulting kick was also converted into a goal. At halftime, Nepal were already four down, meaning they had to think of other ways to stop the Iranians from scoring more.

In the half time pep talk, the discussion was on finding different ways to concede less. Sharma told his team not to panic. To stop the onslaught, he had another idea up his sleeves. “I don’t know what Rupak Dai said but I heard it from my teammate Krishna Thapa that Rupak Dai approached the Iran captain while returning to the pitch from the dressing room and told him that our King would hang us if we conceded more than four goals.” Upon knowing the deadly consequences, the Iran team captain ordered his team to stop scoring. The onslaught finally stopped, and Nepal team achieved their goal of stopping a humiliating defeat.

Nepal - Buenos Aires XI, Merdeka Cup Malaysia, 1982

The Falklands war was just over. The Gurkhas had served as the frontline soldiers for the British and had showed their gallantry against the Argentines. It was natural for them to fear the Gurkhas after all that had happened in the war -- 257 British and 649 Argentine soldiers had been killed in 74 days of fighting -- eventually leading the Argentines to surrender.

This incident at the Merdeka Cup in Malaysia happened in the wake of the war. Nepal were draw with Buenos Aires XI in the tournament. Both the teams were on the same airplane. A physiological boost over the Argentines was what Nepal needed. One of the players from the Nepali squad, Suresh Panthi, got up from his seat and walked by the seats of the Argentines. Flexing his muscles, Panthi walked past them several times saying “We are Gurkhas”.

It so happened that the two teams were placed in the same hotel. In the lobby, Panthi, holding a miniature Khukrui -- brought as a souvenior -- walked up to the Argentines, uttering the same line: “We are Gurkhas”.

“This had already instilled fear among them,” said Thapa. The result: Nepal went down by a thin 2-0 margin. “It was a kind of an achievement for us albeit obtained in a negative way. Given the reputation of Argentina in world football, the scoreline was respectable.”  

Nepal - Algeria, Merdeka Cup Malaysia, 1982

After Buenos Aires 11, Nepal faced Algeria. The match, contrary to expectations, proved to be a tough one. “In fact, Nepal was dominating the possession with Krishna Thapa hitting the upright.” Since Nepal were the underdogs, the Algerians were getting a bit aggressive and were unable to control the play.

One of the opponents was constantly irritating Captain Rupak Sharma. In a moment of madness, Sharma punched the perpetrator, and was given the marching orders. Sharma did not just stop there. He created an uproar by charging at his opponents. The whole Nepali team set upon their opponents. Not just the players, even Nepali officials were on the field. Police had to intervene.

Two of the Nepali officials went even far by seizing the batons of the police. The situation was intense. In order to bring the situation under control, police had to capture the two Nepali officials who had seized the batons at gun point and force them off the pitch.

The incident grabbed the headlines of almost all the leading dailies of Malaysia the next day, describing “Nepalis as better fighters than footballers”.

Posted on: 2010-08-14 09:00

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