Sailen Manna

Manna (right) being felicitated by Chief MinisterBuddhadeb Bhattacharjee (left), 2006
Personal information
Full name	Sailendra Nath Manna
Date of birth	(1924-09-01)1 September 1924
Place of birth	Howrah,Bengal Presidency,British India
Date of death	27 February 2012(2012-02-27) (aged 87)
Place of death	Kolkata,West Bengal, India
Position	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1940–1942	Howrah Union
1942–1960	Mohun Bagan	748	(46)
International career
1948–1956[1]	India	14	(1)
Managerial career
1961	India
1968	India
Medal record Men'sfootball Representing India Asian Games 1951 New Delhi Team
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Sailendra Nath Manna (Bengali:শৈলেন মান্না; 1 September 1924 – 27 February 2012), known popularly asSailen Manna,^[2][3] was an Indianfootball player who represented theIndia national team between 1948 and 1956.^[4] Predominantly played as a left-back,^[5] Manna is considered as one of the bestdefenders the country has ever produced.^[6][7] He has represented and captained India in different international competitions, including theOlympics^[8][9] andAsian Games.^[10] In 1971 Manna was awarded withPadma Shri by Government of India.^[11]

In club football Manna has representedMohun Bagan,^[12][13] one of the oldest clubs in India,^[14] for a continuous period of 19 years.^[15] He was conferred with the inaugural Mohun Bagan Ratna award in 2001.^[16] Manna was the only Asian footballer to be named among the ten best Captains in the world by theEnglish FA in 1953.^[17]

Sailendra Nath Manna was born in aMahishya family in Byantra, Howrah at his maternal home. His mother's name was Gouri Devi, and father was Fanindra Nath Manna, who had ancestral house in Ramnathpur,Hooghly. Manna later shifted toBidhannagar FD block.^[18]

Manna graduated from theSurendranath College, an affiliated college of theUniversity of Calcutta. He worked for theGeological Survey of India.^[19]

Manna started his playing career withHowrah Union, then a club in the second Division of the Kolkata Football League, in 1940.^[15][20][21] After turning out for the club for a couple of seasons, he joinedMohun Bagan in 1942 and continued playing for the club till his retirement in 1960.^[22] Between 1950 and 1955, he featured as the club's captain.^[15] During his 19-year association with the club as player, he reportedly earned only₹19.^[23] Speaking toSportstar in 2006, he reasoned that he "played out of love for the sport and was happy with the salary I got from my employer, theGeological Survey of India."^[24]

As a defender, Manna was known for his anticipation, covering and a strong free kick.^[23] He also representedBengal football team inSantosh Trophy and played alongsideSheoo Mewalal,^[25] winning the tournament in1953–54 season defeatingMysore 3–1 in final.^[25] He was also part of Bengal's multiple Santosh Trophy wins under coaching ofBalaidas Chatterjee.^[26]

Manna was part of theIndia national team managed byBalaidas Chatterjee^[27][28] that participated at the1948 Summer Olympics inLondon.^[29][30] He went to Europe with the national team in July to play preparatory matches against English teams likePinner F.C.,Hayes F.C. and Alexandra Park FC before the main tournament.^{[31][32][33][34]} In the Olympics, their first match was againstBurma, and it was a walkover. Then, they played their one and only match againstFrance, and was defeated by a margin of 1–2 with Indian goal coming fromSarangapani Raman.^[35][36][37] Manna played in the tournament in bare feet; their bravery earned admiration ofPrincess Margaret of England.^[38][39] With India, he later went on to play few friendly matches with captainTalimeren Ao in their Nederlands tour, where they went down toSparta Rotterdam but won 5–1 againstAjax Amsterdam.^[40][41][42]

Under his captaincy, India won the gold medal in the1951 Asian Games,^[43][44] and also won theAsian Quadrangular Football Tournament for four consecutive years from 1952 to 1956.^{[45][46][47][15]} In 1953, the England Football Association rated him among the ten best skippers of the world in its yearbook.^[17] Manna was also the captain of theSyed Abdul Rahim managed Indian team in1952 Helsinki Olympics^[48] and a member of the1954 Asian Games.^[49] The 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki was not suitable for his team as they tasted a defeat of 10–1 to Yugoslavia.^[50][51]

Manna used to keep a picture of theHindu deityKali, tucked away in his pocket. Two of his greatest regrets in life are missing the first penalty kick against France in the London Olympics, and turning down the chance of taking the second penalty because he was afraid of missing again, and India had not gone to the1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil,^{[52][53][54][55]} with him as captain, because the Indian Football Federation had not realized its importance.^[56][57][58]

Manna also appeared with the India against numerous visiting European teams in exhibition matches in 1954, including a 1–0 defeat toAllsvenskan clubAIK atCC&FC Ground in Kolkata.^[59] He hung up his boots on 27 August 1960 after playing in India's international charity match againstIndonesia inNew Delhi.^[60]

After retiring from football, Manna went on to become head coach ofIndia at the 1961Merdeka Cup in Malaysia,^[61] in which he guided some of India's notable players likeJarnail Singh,^[62]P. K. Banerjee,^[63]Peter Thangaraj andTulsidas Balaram. He also managed the national team in 1968 Merdeka Cup.^[64] He later became team official of Mohun Bagan and went withKaruna Bhattacharya managed team to newly independentBangladesh in May 1972, where they defeatedDhaka Mohammedan in first match, but lost toShadhin Bangla football team in their last match.^[65]

After being unwell for quite some time, Manna died at a private hospital in Kolkata on Monday, 27 February 2012. He was 87 years old and was survived by his wife and daughter.^[66]

I have no hesitation in calling him one of the best footballers of the country. He was definitely an accomplished player and also endeared everyone with his great human qualities.

Mohun Bagan Athletic Club began giving the "Sailen Manna Memorial Award for best sportsperson" in memory of him.^[68][69]

In 2013,Howrah Municipal Corporation Stadium, which was one of the venues of the2006 AFC Youth Championship, was renamed as Sailen Manna Stadium by theHMC in honour of him.^[71][72] In March 2020, Chief Minister of West BengalMamata Banerjee announced the renaming of Dumurjola Indoor Stadium as Sailen Manna Indoor Stadium.^[73][74]

India

• Asian Games Gold medal:1951^[75]
• Asian Quadrangular Football Tournament:1952,1953,1954^[76]

Mohun Bagan^[77]

• CFL 1st Division: 1944, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965
• Durand Cup: 1953,^[78] 1953, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1965
• IFA Shield: 1947, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1960, 1961, 1962
• Rovers Cup: 1955, 1956

Bengal^[77]

• Santosh Trophy: 1945–46, 1947–48, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1951–52,1953–54, 1955–56, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1962–63

Individual

1. Included in the list of the 10 best Captains of the world byEnglish FA in 1953.^[17]
2. Awarded thePadma Shri in 1971 by the Government of India.^[15][11]
3. Awarded the "Footballer of the Millennium" by All India Football Federation in 2000.^[79]
4. Awarded "Mohun Bagan Ratna" in 2001.^[16][80]
5. AwardedBanga Bibhushan in 2011 by theGovernment of West Bengal^[81]
6. Sportskeeda All time Indian Football XI^[82]

• History of Indian football
• List of India national football team managers
• History of the India national football team
• List of India national football team captains
• India national football team at the Olympics

• Kapadia, Novy (2017).Barefoot to Boots: The Many Lives of Indian Football. Penguin Random House.ISBN 978-0-143-42641-7.
• Dineo, Paul; Mills, James (2001).Soccer in South Asia: Empire, Nation, Diaspora.London, United Kingdom: Frank Cass Publishers. p. 33.ISBN 978-0-7146-8170-2. Archived fromthe original on 25 July 2022.
• Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (2008)."Football in Bengali culture and society: a study in the social history of football in Bengal 1911–1980".Shodhganga. University of Calcutta. p. 35.hdl:10603/174532. Archived fromthe original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved7 October 2022.
• Martinez, Dolores; Mukharjiim, Projit B (2009).Football: From England to the World: The Many Lives of Indian Football.Routledge.ISBN 978-1-138-88353-6. Archived fromthe original on 2 July 2022.
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• Majumdar, Boria; Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (2006).A Social History Of Indian Football: Striving To Score.Routledge.ISBN 9780415348355. Archived fromthe original on 29 June 2021.
• Basu, Jaydeep (2003).Stories from Indian Football. UBS Publishers' Distributors.ISBN 9788174764546. Archived fromthe original on 11 October 2022.
• Mitra, Soumen (1 January 2006).In Search of an Identity: The History of Football in Colonial Calcutta. Kolkata: Dasgupta & Co. Private Ltd.ISBN 978-8182110229. Archived fromthe original on 21 October 2022.
• Nath, Nirmal (2011).History of Indian Football: Upto 2009–10. Readers Service.ISBN 9788187891963. Archived fromthe original on 22 July 2022.
• "Triumphs and Disasters: The Story of Indian Football, 1889—2000"(PDF). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 13 August 2012. Retrieved20 October 2011.
• Mukhopadhay, Subir (2018).সোনায় লেখা ইতিহাসে মোহনবাগান (transl. Mohun Bagan in the history written in gold).ISBN 978-93-850172-0-9.
• Majumdar, Boria, Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (2006).Goalless: The Story of a Unique Footballing Nation.Penguin India.ISBN 9780670058747.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Banerjee, Argha; Basu, Rupak (2022).মোহনবাগান: সবুজ ঘাসের মেরুন গল্প (transl. Mohun Bagan: Green fields' Maroon stories). Shalidhan.ISBN 978-81-954667-0-2.

• "The passage of football in India".ifawb.org. Kolkata:Indian Football Association. Archived fromthe original on 29 January 2021. Retrieved11 September 2022.
• "এশিয়ান গেমস অনেক দূরে চলে গেছে" [The Asian Games going far away].kalerkantho.com. Dhaka: কালের কণ্ঠ. 19 September 2014. Archived fromthe original on 13 February 2023. Retrieved13 February 2023.
• Choudhury, Chandrahas (11 June 2014)."Blame India's World Cup Drought on the Shoes".bloomberg.com. Bloomberg View. Archived fromthe original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved22 November 2018.
• Mitra, Atanu (12 July 2016)."Amal Dutta (1930—2016): the Indian football coach whom players swore by and swore at".Scroll.in. Kolkata. Archived fromthe original on 10 October 2022. Retrieved26 November 2022.
• "Sports in West Bengal".wbpolice.gov.in. Kolkata: West Bengal Police. Archived fromthe original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved26 November 2023.

• Sailen Manna atOlympedia
• Saliendra Manna –FIFA competition record (archived)
• Obituary - The Economist

• 1924 births
• 2012 deaths
• Men's association football defenders
• Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics
• Footballers at the 1951 Asian Games
• Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics
• Footballers at the 1954 Asian Games
• Footballers from West Bengal
• Mohun Bagan Super Giant players
• Indian men's footballers
• India men's international footballers
• Olympic footballers for India
• Sportspeople from Howrah
• Medalists at the 1951 Asian Games
• Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports
• Surendranath College alumni
• University of Calcutta alumni
• Asian Games gold medalists for India
• Asian Games footballers for India
• Indian football managers
• India national football team managers
• Calcutta Football League players
• Asian Games gold medalists in football

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