Former Indian footballer Subimal Goswami who is popularly known as Chuni Goswami breathed his last at a Kolkata hospital on Thursday after suffering from prolonged illness. At 82, he was survived by his wife Basanti and son Sudipto.
AIFF condoles Subimal (Chuni) Goswami’s death 🙏
Read here 👉 https://t.co/zMwC2WfYFX#IndianFootball pic.twitter.com/QaeL3wskQy
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) April 30, 2020
“He suffered a cardiac arrest and breathed his last in the hospital at around 5 p.m.,” a family source said.
For the last few months, Goswami was suffering from underlying ailments with sugar, prostrate and nerve problems and was admitted to the hospital earlier on the day.
The former Indian captain, Goswami, was the leader of the gold medal-winning team in the 1962 Asian Games and was also the skipper of the Indian team that made it to the final of the 1964 Asia Cup.
In a career spanning over 15 years, Goswami always played for Mohun Bagan, while representing India in 32 international fixtures and scoring nine goals. Unlike his club career, he had cut short his international career at an age of 27.
He had represented Mohun Bagan from 1954 to 1968, and scored 200 goals for the Green and Maroons including 145 in the Calcutta Football League, 25 goals in the IFA Shield, 18 goals in the Durand Cup, 11 goals in the Rovers Cup and 1 goal in the Dr. HK Mookerjee Shield.
He had helped the Mariners win the Calcutta Football League nine times, the IFA Shield and the Durand Cup five times each, the Rovers Cup thrice, the Dr. HK Mookerjee Shield five times, Babu Kuer Singh Shield thrice, and the Ananda Bazar Centenary Trophy once. He won 14 trophies for Mohun Bagan as captain.
At the domestic level, Goswami was part of the Bengal’s triumphant Santosh Trophy squad thrice – in 1955, 1958, and in 1959.
Goswami was also a first-class cricketer, representing Bengal in 46 matches. After making his debut in the 1962-63 season, Goswami went on to captain the Bengal side to the final of the Ranji Trophy in the 1972-73 season. As a complete all-rounder – right-handed batsman and medium-pacer – the maestro had 1592 runs and 47 wickets under his name.
He was the hero, alongside Subroto Guha, in the combined team of East and Central zone which had scripted a heroic innings victory over Sir Garfield Sobers’ West Indies team. Goswami had taken eight wickets in that match.