Peter Thangaraj

Some Lesser Known Facts About Peter Thangaraj

• Peter Thangaraj played many sports during his childhood and later chose football to make a career in the sport.

• When he was 14, he started playing for local clubs in Secunderabad.

• In 1953, he joined the Indian Army as a Havaldar and later promoted to the post of a non-commissioned officer.

• He initially played for the Madras Regimental Centre (MRC) as a centre forward but after a few years, he became a goalkeeper. His monthly salary at the time of joining the MRC was only Rs 37.

  

• Thangaraj helped the MRC win the Durand Cup in 1955 and 1958. In 1960, he captained Services to win its first Santosh Trophy.

• He played for India in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and 1960 Rome Olympics.

  

• In April 2024, a Bollywood film ‘Maidaan’ was released which featured Ajay Devgn as Syed Abdul Rahim, the coach of the Indian football team which qualified for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

• Thangaraj was a member of the Indian football team which gold medal at the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games. He also represented India in the 1958 Tokyo and 1966 Bangkok Asian Games.

  

• He played for India in several tournaments including the Merdeka Cup tournament held at Kuala Lumpur from 1958 to 1966 and AFC Championship in 1967.

  

• He later played for Mohun Bagan and won the Durand Cup and Calcutta League titles in 1963 and 1964 respectively.

  

• In 1963, he won the Santosh Trophy while playing for Bengal. He captained the Railways team to win the Santosh Trophy in 1965. He holds a record of winning the Santosh Trophy with 3 teams.

• In 1970, he helped East Bengal defeat the Iranian club PAS Tehran F.C. in the final of the IFA Shield.

  

• The Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin inspired Thangaraj. He was popular for his long kicks which often helped the team to build a counter-attack. He is often described as the best Indian goalkeeper for his athleticism, reflexes, and saves.

  

• In 1973, he served as the head coach of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) football team for six months. He later served as the coach of the football club Vasco SC till 1975, and the club won the Bordoloi Trophy, KFA Shield and Chakola Gold Trophy in 1973.

  

• From 1976 to 1995, he served as the coach of the football team of the Bokaro Steel Plant.

  

• He later became an advisor of the Sports and Civic community of the Bhilai Steel Plant.

  

• Thangaraj was so popular in Kolkata that coolies at the Kolkata railway station did not take money from him even after 3 decades of his retirement.

• In an interview, he said that moving to Bokaro from Kolkata was a mistake, and he would have been in a much better financial situation if he had stayed in Kolkata.

• After he died in 2008, his family members complained about their poor financial condition and no support being given by the government or football federations.

• His wife, Alphoncia Raj, was given Rs 1.5 lakh twice by the Indian government in the years 2009-2010 and 2011-2012 under the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare Fund for Sportspersons (PDUNWFS) scheme. ^[1]Sansad – Lok Sabha

• In his honour, the MRC named their stadium in Wellington, Tamil Nadu as Thangaraj Stadium.