By Gollylover
I sometimes wonder why the heck we Yetis – Himali Folks– are drawn to this round thing called golly_soccer?
I grew up with this game of golly_football in Darjeeling and many of you did in your own cities and hometowns. Wherever we go, we find atleast one Yeti popular in kicking! I feel, some thanks must go to British Bajeharu who must have brought dozens of those leather ko gollys_footballs with them and played with our grandfathers -Yeti Bajes- while their sweetheart Bojus prepared some delicious DalBhaat, RaayokoSaag and Kukhra ko Masu at their Chimtemaato le lipeko Chula! That era was bereft of television and other attractive media like Internet. Thus with my telescopic imagination, I feel this game of golly_football must have physically bounced in our mountains, valleys and communities with those Gore Sahebs.
As the ball of time rolled, there came an gradual sunset over the British Empire and poor British Bajes had to leave for good but the game of golly_football remained with our yetis of those times and even today, wherever we go, the game still kicks with Yetis with the same flavour as with our Baje Peles. Talking of Gorkhey Peles playing golly_soccer, some of our Baje Yetis earned a good name in this field of sport and inspired young yetis of their era and have become Legendary Yetis in their own right. But at the same time many of our Yeti Peles of yester years have sadly gone unsung.
Yetis of the 80`s in Darjeeling, Nepal, Dehradun and Sikkim grew with "Shyam-thapa-kick" , a back-volley kick which our Yeti Shyam Thapa from Dehradun was too famous for.
Infact, the general public of Darjeeling and adjoining areas waited for Gold Cup to watch the likes of Shyam Thapa than to peek at FIFA`s World Cup`s pictures in Sportstar, glossy sport magazines. Gold Cup lived upto its glamour and used to be a prestigious annual football tournament held in Darjeeling for clubs from India and Nepal. Today very few know about Late Chandan Singh Rawat who was the first Gorkhey who represented Indian football team in the Helsinki Olympics of 1952.
As the ball of time rolls, the inspiration and love to play golly_football_soccer like the legendary yetis of yesteryears still continues and is passed on generation to generation.
One name which will be inscribed forever is Bhaichung Bhutia, young Yeti from Sikkim who is the first Yeti to play in English Football League for Bury Football Club from 1999 to 2002. In the World Cup of 2002, he was one of the ESPN football analysts, sitting along with former heavy weight World Cup players from Europe for billions of viewers glued to TV in Asia! He battled the tough competition of the British soccer for couple of years and returned home to lead Indian National Football team as Captain. Under his able captaincy, India won the prestigious Nehru Cup for the first time in 2007. 
Another Yeti who is making the Gorkhey world proud today is Sunil Chhetri. Born in Darjeeling, this yeti started his professional football with some local club in Delhi. Soon with his loaded skills in ball control and bullet power shots, he moved on to play with prestigious clubs like Mohun Bagan and East Bengal in Kolkata. Recently, bro was in London to do some trial games to play in Englsih League.
Another yeti whose name is like Pele of Brazil, is, Ganesh Thapa of Nepal!
He headed Nepal’s Football team to numerous international tournaments. He later played professional football in Bangladesh. Today he is the President of All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) and South Asian Football Federation. He continues to inspire yetis of all age towards this game and works hard for the development of sports in Nepal. These days he is seen presiding over various sports tournaments held in South Asian countries.
But there were other Yetis in our villages, cities and hometown who were local heroes for golly_soccer lovers and were highly skilled players. Unfortunaely, there names could not echo beyond the limited opportunities but it will be a fitting salute, if we remember their names by-heart and picture their faces in our thoughts and say, "Bro, because of You...I am a HimSoc Yeti today."
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Pictures: (Top to bottom) Nakale-NepaliFan, Sundar-Shyam Thapa (with Pele), Classic-(Late) Chandan Singh, Bravo-Bhaichung Bhutia, Shinning-Sunil Chhetri, Glamorous-Ganesh Thapa.
I sometimes wonder why the heck we Yetis – Himali Folks– are drawn to this round thing called golly_soccer?
I grew up with this game of golly_football in Darjeeling and many of you did in your own cities and hometowns. Wherever we go, we find atleast one Yeti popular in kicking! I feel, some thanks must go to British Bajeharu who must have brought dozens of those leather ko gollys_footballs with them and played with our grandfathers -Yeti Bajes- while their sweetheart Bojus prepared some delicious DalBhaat, RaayokoSaag and Kukhra ko Masu at their Chimtemaato le lipeko Chula! That era was bereft of television and other attractive media like Internet. Thus with my telescopic imagination, I feel this game of golly_football must have physically bounced in our mountains, valleys and communities with those Gore Sahebs.
As the ball of time rolled, there came an gradual sunset over the British Empire and poor British Bajes had to leave for good but the game of golly_football remained with our yetis of those times and even today, wherever we go, the game still kicks with Yetis with the same flavour as with our Baje Peles. Talking of Gorkhey Peles playing golly_soccer, some of our Baje Yetis earned a good name in this field of sport and inspired young yetis of their era and have become Legendary Yetis in their own right. But at the same time many of our Yeti Peles of yester years have sadly gone unsung. Yetis of the 80`s in Darjeeling, Nepal, Dehradun and Sikkim grew with "Shyam-thapa-kick" , a back-volley kick which our Yeti Shyam Thapa from Dehradun was too famous for.
Infact, the general public of Darjeeling and adjoining areas waited for Gold Cup to watch the likes of Shyam Thapa than to peek at FIFA`s World Cup`s pictures in Sportstar, glossy sport magazines. Gold Cup lived upto its glamour and used to be a prestigious annual football tournament held in Darjeeling for clubs from India and Nepal. Today very few know about Late Chandan Singh Rawat who was the first Gorkhey who represented Indian football team in the Helsinki Olympics of 1952. As the ball of time rolls, the inspiration and love to play golly_football_soccer like the legendary yetis of yesteryears still continues and is passed on generation to generation.
One name which will be inscribed forever is Bhaichung Bhutia, young Yeti from Sikkim who is the first Yeti to play in English Football League for Bury Football Club from 1999 to 2002. In the World Cup of 2002, he was one of the ESPN football analysts, sitting along with former heavy weight World Cup players from Europe for billions of viewers glued to TV in Asia! He battled the tough competition of the British soccer for couple of years and returned home to lead Indian National Football team as Captain. Under his able captaincy, India won the prestigious Nehru Cup for the first time in 2007. 
Another Yeti who is making the Gorkhey world proud today is Sunil Chhetri. Born in Darjeeling, this yeti started his professional football with some local club in Delhi. Soon with his loaded skills in ball control and bullet power shots, he moved on to play with prestigious clubs like Mohun Bagan and East Bengal in Kolkata. Recently, bro was in London to do some trial games to play in Englsih League. Another yeti whose name is like Pele of Brazil, is, Ganesh Thapa of Nepal!
He headed Nepal’s Football team to numerous international tournaments. He later played professional football in Bangladesh. Today he is the President of All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) and South Asian Football Federation. He continues to inspire yetis of all age towards this game and works hard for the development of sports in Nepal. These days he is seen presiding over various sports tournaments held in South Asian countries.But there were other Yetis in our villages, cities and hometown who were local heroes for golly_soccer lovers and were highly skilled players. Unfortunaely, there names could not echo beyond the limited opportunities but it will be a fitting salute, if we remember their names by-heart and picture their faces in our thoughts and say, "Bro, because of You...I am a HimSoc Yeti today."
************************************************************
Pictures: (Top to bottom) Nakale-NepaliFan, Sundar-Shyam Thapa (with Pele), Classic-(Late) Chandan Singh, Bravo-Bhaichung Bhutia, Shinning-Sunil Chhetri, Glamorous-Ganesh Thapa.
