Bengal Nagpur Railway Football Club (also known as BNR Recreation Club) is an Indian institutional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. Founded in 1929, the club competes in the Premier Division B of the

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by the Indian Football Association (WB) as part of the state leagues. It is the oldest football league in Asia. The CFL ...

History

The Bengal Nagpur Railway Recreation Club was established in 1929 as the recreational arm of

Bengal Nagpur Railway The Bengal Nagpur Railway was one of the companies which pioneered development of the railways in eastern and central India. It was succeeded first by Eastern Railway and subsequently by South Eastern Railway. History The opening of the ...

(BNR), now known as South Eastern Railway (one of the companies credited for pioneering the development of railways in eastern and central India). The BNR Club was associated with numerous sports including football, cricket, field hockey and water polo. BNR reached the first division of

in 1949 and as an institutional team was a force to reckon in Kolkata football during their golden period in the 1960s. They won prestigious

IFA Shield The IFA Shield is a football competition organized by the Indian Football Association, the football governing body in the Indian state of West Bengal. The IFA came into existence in 1893, and was named after the association. The IFA Shield to ...

in 1963, and ended up as runners-up in 1966. and

Rovers Cup The Rovers Cup was an annual football tournament held in India, organized by the Western India Football Association. Incorporated in 1890, it was the third oldest tournament in India after Trades Cup. History Rovers Cup was incorporated by s ...

in 1964–65. They also achieved success at the 1967

Durand Cup The Durand Cup (also called the IndianOil Durand Cup Powered by Coal India Limited for sponsorship reasons) is an annual domestic football competition in India which was first held in 1888 in Annadale, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. Hosted by the ...

, by finishing as runners-up. The club later took part in 1985 IFA Shield, where they faced noted Uruguayan club

Centro Atlético Fénix Centro Atlético Fénix is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The football team currently plays in Uruguayan Segunda División. Fénix is one of the most popular and traditional teams of Uruguay's 2nd Division, along with Racing Club de Mo ...

. The club was later briefly managed by legendary Indian footballer

Tulsidas Balaram Tulsidas Balaram (30 November 1936 – 16 February 2023), also known as Tulsidas Balaraman, was an Indian association football, footballer. Balaram represented India national football team, India in multiple international tournaments, including ...

. Later in the 1990s, BNR consecutively appeared in Super Division of the CFL, playing home matches at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium.

Ownership

Notable players

Association football

Notable players who have played for the Bengal Nagpur Railway FC include Sheoo Mewalal,

Arun Ghosh Arun Ghosh (born 7 June 1941) is a former Indian football player who represented India internationally. He also played club football for both the Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan and East Bengal Club. He later managed the India national team. Playin ...

K. Appalaraju K. Appalaraju () was an Indian professional football player. He was part of the Indian Squad that finished runners-up in 1964 AFC Asian Cup. He scored a goal in a 2–0 win over South Korea in 1964 Asian Cup. He also scored two hat-tricks in a ...

, Rajendra Mohan,

Samar Banerjee Samar "Badru" Banerjee (; 30 January 1930 – 20 August 2022) was an Indian association football, footballer who played primarily as a striker for the India national football team. He captained India at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, wh ...

, Chandreshwar Prasad, Mihir Bose, Sudip Chatterjee. Among them, Appalaraju emerged as top scorer of the CFL in 1959 with BNR. Indian coach

Amal Dutta Amal Dutta (4 May 1930 – 10 July 2016) was a former Indian footballer, coach and football manager. Born in Calcutta, then Bengal Presidency, he is considered as the first professional football coach in the country. A finest thinker of the sp ...

also appeared with BNR; he later managed the team too. Former

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

international Tarapada Ray, who later gained Indian citizenship, also appeared with the club.

Field hockey

Leslie Claudius Leslie Walter Claudius (25 March 1927 – 20 December 2012) was an Indian field hockey player from Bilaspur. He studied in South Eastern Railway (Now SECR) English Medium School Bilaspur, which has produced many national sportsmen. Leslie Cla ...

– member of Indian hockey team that won the gold medals at the

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

, and silver medal at the

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

Summer Olympic Games. * Joseph Galibardy – represented India at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

in Berlin and won gold medal, played domestic hockey for BNR.

Honours

League

* CFL Second Division **Champions (1): 1949 * CFL First Division **Third place (1): 2022

Cup

**Champions (1): 1963 **Runners-up (1): 1966 *

**Runners-up (1): 1967 *

**Champions (1): 1964–65 * Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup **Runners-up (1): 2009 *EK Nayanar Memorial Gold Cup **Champions (1): 2012

Other departments

Field hockey

Alongside football,

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

is practiced in BNR. From the British rule in the country until 1960s, it was having Anglo-Indian players, who led the club various nationwide tournaments. Notable players of the team in Colonial era were Carl Tapsell, Dicky Carr and Joe Gallibardy. Affiliated with the Bengal Hockey Association (BHA), the club participated in prestigious

Beighton Cup The Beighton Cup (also known as the Coal India Beighton Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a field hockey tournament organized by Hockey Bengal (formerly the Bengal Hockey Association). Instituted in 1895, it is one of the oldest field hockey tourn ...

and Calcutta Hockey League. ;Honours *

**Champions (5): 1937, 1939, 1943, 1944, 1945 **Runners-up (8): 1931, 1932, 1935, 1938, 1942, 1946, 1968, 1994 * Calcutta Hockey League **Champions (4): 1965, 1966, 1967, 1994 * Bombay Gold Cup **Champions (1): 1965 *Obaidullllah Gold Cup **Champions (9): 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1972 *Khandwa Gold Cup **Champions (3): 1966, 1969, 1970 *BHA Hockey League **Runners-up (2): 2009, 2017 *Lagden Cup **Champions (1): 2020

Cricket

BNR club has its

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

section, which is affiliated to the

Cricket Association of Bengal The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) is the governing body for cricket in the Indian state of West Bengal. It owns the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata, where its headquarters are located. CAB is a full member of the Board of Control for Cr ...

(CAB), and competes in numerous regional tournaments including the First Division League, and J.C. Mukherjee T-20 Trophy. ;Honours * CAB First Division League **Champions (1): 2010–11 * CAB Senior Knock-out Championship **Champions (1): 1962–63

Women's football

Women's football is also being practiced in BNR, and the team participates in regional tournaments.

References

General sources

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* of BNR Recreation Club
Bengal Nagpur Railway FC
at Soccerway {{West Bengal Sports Association football clubs established in 1929 Football clubs in Kolkata 1929 establishments in India Railway association football clubs in India

History

Ownership

Notable players

Association football

Field hockey

Honours

League

Cup

Other departments

Field hockey

Cricket

Women's football

See also

References

General sources

Bibliography

Further reading

External links