Tulsidas Balaram: Indian football’s tragic hero

Tulsidas Balaram made football look effortless on the pitch, but his own life has been anything but easy.

Alongside Chuni Goswami and PK Banerjee, Tulsidas Balaram is considered one of the three pillars who ushered in the Indian football team’s golden era in the 1950s and 60s.

Balaram is best remembered for playing an instrumental role in India’s gold medal win at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta and his performances at the Rome 1960 Olympic Games.

Where was Tulsidas Balaram born

Tulsidas Balaram was born on October 4, 1936, in the Ammuguda village near Secunderabad in the erstwhile British-occupied India’s state of Hyderabad.

Hailing from a family with limited means and several siblings, Tulsidas Balaram was raised in poverty and football, at that time, was a luxury his family couldn’t afford.

“There was little scope in football back then and my mother wanted me to focus on studies so I could land a government job. But I was mad for football,” Tulsidas Balaram remembered.

Perhaps the finest example of Tulsidas Balaram’s early struggles to play the game he loved is the story of how he acquired his first pair of football boots.

Football boots were expensive and Balaram’s family couldn’t afford one for him. So, one day Tulsidas Balaram caught hold of a cobbler, who said he could make a pair out of some old army or police boots.

“I found a traffic police and continued to hound him for a pair of old boots. He kept abusing and shooing me away but eventually gave me a torn pair of boots after seeing my perseverance,” Tulsidas Balaram said.

The youngster rushed the boots to the cobbler, who asked for Rs 2 to make the repairs and turn them into usable shoes to play football.

“I told my mother I needed the money for textbooks. She didn’t hesitate,” Tulsidas Balaram smiled.

With his patched-up police boot, Tulsidas Balaram took the local football scene by storm. At the age of 19, Balaram caught the eyes of legendary Indian coach Syed Abdul Rahim while playing in a local tournament in Secunderabad.

Tulsidas Balaram’s achievements and medals

Known as the father of Indian football, Rahim was an influential coach who was coaching the Hyderabad Police side at the time.

Having recognised Tulsidas Balaram’s talent, Rahim asked him to attend the Hyderabad team’s trials for the 1956 Santosh Trophy. Balaram, inevitably, made it into the squad and helped Hyderabad lift the trophy and even scored in the final against Bombay.

Rahim even used to pay Tulsidas Balaram a monthly allowance so he could rent a bicycle to travel to practice in Hyderabad from his village.

The 20-year-old Tulsidas Balaram was picked for the Indian national football team for the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Coached by Rahim, the team finished fourth - India’s best-ever finish in football at the Summer Games.

Tulsidas Balaram made his India debut in the semi-finals against Yugoslavia - a match which India lost 4-1. That was his solitary appearance at the Melbourne 1956 Olympics but the exposure of playing football at the highest level served as a great learning experience for the youngster.

After coming back to India, Tulsidas Balaram took another major step and left his home to join Kolkata giants East Bengal. Over the years, the city became his home and the octogenarian still resides in Uttarpara, a Kolkata suburb.

Balaram was an instant hit with East Bengal and even captained the historic team. He won several trophies wearing the famed Red and Gold jersey, including the 1958 IFA Shield. He also guided the Bengal team to three Santosh Trophy titles in 1959, 1960 and 1962.

Tulsidas Balaram’s best moments, however, came in the Indian jersey. He was part of the Indian side which made the semi-finals of the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo and played a big part in India’s runners-up finish at the 1959 Merdeka tournament held in Malaysia.

He was subsequently picked for the Indian squad for the 1960 Olympics in Rome and scored India’s first goal in the tournament against a star-studded Hungary side in the opening match of Group D.

Tulidas Balaram was again brilliant against European giants France in the second match. He played a big role in PK Banerjee’s opening goal but a late goal by France’s Gerard Coincon denied India a famous victory.

Balaram also scored in India’s 3-1 loss to Peru in the final group fixture, thereby accounting for two of his team’s three goals in the tournament.

Tulsidas Balaram’s gold medal win at Asian Games 1962

Tulsidas Balaram’s crowning achievement, however, was the gold medal at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta. He played in every single match for the Indian football team in the tournament, scoring two goals - one each against Thailand and Japan.

“​​Tulsidas Balaram was a complete player and could've fitted very well into today's total football. He could dribble, he could score and he had a brilliant header. Balaram was probably the best in Asia in his days,” eminent Indian football historian Gautam Roy told Olympics.com.

He was conferred with the Arjuna Award - India’s second-highest honour for sporting excellence - in the same year.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be the end of Balaram’s career as the classy striker was forced to retire in 1963 at the age of 27, just as he was reaching his peak. He was diagnosed with pleurisy - an inflammation of the tissues that line the lungs and chest cavity. Pleurisy causes sharp chest pain and difficulty in breathing, especially while running, which made playing football a life-risk for Balaram with the limited medical facilities available at the time.

It was due to the same condition that Balaram never married as he didn’t want to burden someone else with his condition. With no immediate family members, Balaram resides alone at his Uttarpara home. With modest financial resources, the Indian football legend still lives alone with only doting neighbours and fans as caregivers.

After his retirement from football, Balaram had stints as a selector and coach of youth teams. He was the mentor to India internationals like Basudeb Mandal, Mehtab Hossain and Sangram Mukherjee.

In one of the greatest controversies in Indian football, Tulsidas Balaram was nominated for the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award, in 1989 but never received the title officially due to unknown reasons even after all the formalities were completed. The Indian football legend was left heartbroken by the incident.

After a prolonged illness, Tulsidas Balaram died on February 16, 2023. He was 86. A widower, the Indian football great lived his last years in a flat on the banks of Hooghly river in Uttarpara. He was, however, in hospital since December.

Tulsidas Balaram football achievements

• Gold medallist at 1962 Asian Games with Indian football team

• Fourth place with Indian football team at 1956 Olympics - India’s best-ever finish at the Summer Games

• Runners-up at 1959 Merdeka Cup

• Scored two of India’s three goals at 1960 Olympics

• Arjuna Award winner in 1962

• Santosh Trophy winner - 1956 (Hyderabad), 1958, 1959 and 1962 (Bengal)

• IFA Shield winner - 1958 (East Bengal)