George Telegraph Sporting Club is an Indian multisports club based in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...

, that competes in the

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by Indian Football Association (WB), under state football leagues in India. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is off ...

, the top tier state football league in

. The club plays all their home matches at the

Rabindra Sarobar Stadium The Rabindra Sarobar Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Lake Gardens, Kolkata, India. It is used for football matches and it serves as the home of many Calcutta Football League matches. History The venue opened in 1961. It also was the home gr ...

. They have also competed in the

I-League 2nd Division I-League 2, previously known as I-League 2nd Division and officially known as or Hero I-League 2 (for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp), is an Indian men's professional football league. It is the 3rd tier of Indian football, behind India ...

, the second tier of

Indian football league system The Indian football league system is the league structure of football club competitions in India. The highest level of men's club football competition in India is the Indian Super League. Indian Women's League, founded in 2016, is the highest ...

History

The club was founded by Haripada Dutta in 1925, and A. L. Corbett, principal of the George Telegraph Institute, became first chairman. They started out on the 4th division of the Calcutta League and after 21 years they were finally promoted to the 1st division of

beating Rajasthan Athletic Club 3–1. In the same year, they reached the final of the

IFA Shield The IFA Shield is an annual football competition organized by the Indian Football Association. The IFA is the governing body of football in the state of West Bengal, came into existence in 1893. Named after the association, the IFA Shield t ...

, but due to the anti-British riots the final couldn't be held. Instead of declaring them as joint winners with

Mohun Bagan AC Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

, the entire tournament was scrapped. Some of notable Indian footballers including Rajen Ghosh, Monimohan Ghosh,

Sheoo Mewalal Sheoo Mewalal (also known as Sahu Mewalal; 1 July 1926 – 27 December 2008) was an Indian footballer in Kolkata. He played as a striker and was known for his fitness, bicycle kicks, and goal-scoring abilities, especially using the rabona kic ...

Sushil Bhattacharya Sushil Bhattacharya (1924 – 18 July 2015) was an Indian professional football player and coach, who is credited for becoming the first manager of the India women's national football team. He was also the first head coach in history of East Be ...

, Runu Guha Thakurata,

Monoranjan Bhattacharya Monoranjan Bhattacharya, nicknamed ''Mona'', is a retired Indian professional footballer and football manager. During his playing career, he represented the "Big Two" of Kolkata football, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. He also represented Ind ...

Satyajit Chatterjee Satyajit Chatterjee is an Indian former footballer and coach, who captained Mohun Bagan and represented India internationally. He is currently the assistant general secretary of Mohun Bagan AC. He was born in Bally in the Howrah district of W ...

, Aloke Mukherjee, Shasthi Duley, appeared with George Telegraph. They stayed at the top flight for 66 years but in 2002 and 2003, they suffered back-to-back demotions. Then again they got promoted twice in two successive years and since then they have been staying in the top flight. In 2004, they emerged as the runners-up of the

All Airlines Gold Cup The All Airlines Gold Cup was a domestic football tournament organised by the Indian Football Association. It was launched in 1986 and Mohammedan Sporting Club won the inaugural edition beating Mohun Bagan A.C. 3-2.I-League 2nd Division I-League 2, previously known as I-League 2nd Division and officially known as or Hero I-League 2 (for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp), is an Indian men's professional football league. It is the 3rd tier of Indian football, behind India ...

was in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, where they finished 4th, behind

Oil India FC Oil India Football Club is an Indian professional football club from Duliajan in Assam. The club was founded by Oil India in 1964. It also participated in I-League 2nd Division, then second tier football tournament of Indian football league s ...

and were eliminated in the group stage. Therefore, George Telegraph was unable to qualify for the

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the win ...

, then top tier of

football in India Football in India has historically been among the top 3 most popular sport in terms of players participation and TV viewership, together with long time number one cricket and re-emerging kabaddi. India's current top domestic football league is ...

. In 2013, they again got a chance to play in

, which became their second season. In

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

, the George Telegraph emerged as the runners-up in the prestigious

tournament, the third oldest

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

tournament in the world, losing to 2–1 to the

side

Real Kashmir FC Real Kashmir FC is an Indian professional football club based in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, Club competes in both the I-League, and J&K Premier Football League. Nicknamed ''Snow Leopards'', it is the first ever club from Jammu and Kashmir ...

. They reached the semi-finals of

2021–22 Calcutta Premier Division The 2021 Calcutta Football League Premier Division A was the 123rd season of the top state-level football league of West Bengal. It was held between mid-August and November of 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to cancel Calcu ...

in November 2021, but their campaign ended with a 1–0 loss to Railway FC.

Home stadium

George Telegraph plays their home matches of

Calcutta Premier Division The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by Indian Football Association (WB), under state football leagues in India. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is of ...

at the

, which has a capacity of nearly 20,000 spectators. Barasat Stadium

They also use Barasat Vidyasagar Krirangan for some of their home games. It has

Artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

and achieved a two-star rating from FIFA.

Players

First-team squad

Club officials

* General secretary: Subrata Dutta * Joint secretary : Anirban Dutta * Executive secretary: Adhiraj Dutta * Team manager: Sabyasachi Sarkar Coaching and medical staff * Head coach: Goutam Ghosh * Assistant coach: Samar Deb * Goalkeeping coach: Jagadish Ghosh * Physio: Murtuza Sabuwala

Honours

League

* CFL Senior Division B **Champions (3): 1985, 1990,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Cup

**Runners-up (1):

All Airlines Gold Cup The All Airlines Gold Cup was a domestic football tournament organised by the Indian Football Association. It was launched in 1986 and Mohammedan Sporting Club won the inaugural edition beating Mohun Bagan A.C. 3-2.Darjeeling Gold Cup All India Darjeeling Gold Cup, also known as All India Brigade of Gorkha's Gold Cup Football Tournament, or simply GTA Chairman's Gold Cup, is an Indian association football tournament held in Darjeeling and organized by the Indian Darjeeling Go ...

**Champions (1): 1977 *Kohima Royal Gold Cup **Runners-up (1): 2004

References

External links

* * {{West Bengal Sports Sports clubs in India Association football clubs established in 1925 Football clubs in Kolkata 1925 establishments in India Multi-sport clubs in India