In 1971, the Boys Union Club was suddenly relegated to the ‘B’ Division. Following this, the club’s entire responsibility was entrusted to me, and the club’s president, Dr. Huta Ram Baidya, left for Banaras for studies.

That team included Nepal Rupak Raj Sharma, Suresh Panthi, Achyut Shrestha, and others. After the relegation, it was out of the question for Rupak and others to play in the ‘B’ Division. They joined the neighboring New Road Team (NRT).

I, however, took on the responsibility of the club’s acting president and dedicated myself to the campaign of restoring the image of Boys Union. In the course of this, the club election was held in 1975, and a unanimous agreement was reached to make me the president. The same year I became president, Boys Union was promoted back to the ‘A’ Division from ‘B’.

After this, both pressure and challenge were added simultaneously. This was because Rupak and the others had already joined NRT.

However, due to my request and his love for the club, Rupak returned to the club before playing in the 1976 Sahid Smarak League.

He also did another big thing for the club. Ashok KC was a rising star striker at that time. He used to play for NRT. Rupak managed to persuade him and bring him to our club. Suresh Panthi and Achyut Shrestha ‘Baidya,’ who had gone to NRT with Rupak, naturally returned, and he also succeeded in bringing Dhruba Chhetri of Biratnagar and Dhan Bahadur Basnet (later the national team coach), who played for NRT, into the club.

Players like Narendra Shrestha from Thamel, Narenja Subba, who played for Jubliant Jyoti of Dehradun, Ramji Thapa, Komal Sapkota, Baburam Gurung, Bidur Bista, Ananta Shrestha, and Dwarika Raut also joined the club.

A total of 16 clubs participated in the 1975 League. I was active in both the roles of club president and player. Even though there was an assembly of good players in the club, I did not initially think we would win the league. I did think we would get a good position, though. Fortunately, we won not only that year’s league but also the title of the Tribhuvan Challenge Shield. After this, there was acclaim regarding my leadership.

However, in the 1976 League, there was ‘bad luck.’ Even though we played well, we had to be content with the runners-up position. However, a historical coincidence occurred while playing the knockout tournament. The team’s offensive midfielder, Baburam Gurung, had already returned to his home in Butwal. The tiesheet was made public in Kathmandu. At that time, there was no other option besides Akashwani (wireless communication system). However, even that system did not convey the complete information! Therefore, I and Rameshwar Raut (Nepal’s first FIFA referee) rushed to Butwal to fetch Baburam. When we reached Butwal, he had gone to see a fair. It became night while waiting.

I really like Kachauri (deep-fried, spicy, stuffed pastry). When I went to the market for breakfast with Baburam in the morning, we met Lal Bahadur Gurung, Baburam’s friend who worked for the Nagar Panchayat. Baburam proudly introduced us: “Friends who have come from Kathmandu to call me to play football.” Baburam must have thought that after saying this, Lal Bahadur would add a word or two of praise for him. But he got angry instead. He started saying, “What kind of people come here? Shyam Thapa has come from India and is staying here. And he says he’s taking Baburam to play football.”

After hearing his words, Rameshwar and I were speechless. I had heard about Shyam Thapa’s game a long time ago. I had also seen the photo of the ‘bicycling kick’ he struck in Indian newspapers, but a meeting had not materialized. I was stunned as to what to say. Lowering my voice, I asked, “Will he play for our team?” Lal Bahadur spoke with the pride of being Shyam Thapa’s manager himself, “Why wouldn’t he play?” I said, “In that case, can you arrange for us to meet him?” He said with confidence, “It’s just there in Mangalapur.” As soon as I heard this, I left Rameshwar and Baburam at the same breakfast shop, put Lal Bahadur in a rickshaw, and headed toward Mangalapur.

To make the club financially capable, we had made Keyur Shumsher Rana the patron. He had given us Rs 2,500 to bring players from Butwal. Perhaps because I had the money in my pocket, my confidence in getting Shyam Thapa to play for the club also soared.

After reaching Shyam Thapa’s house, Lal Bahadur gave my incomplete introduction. He already had a good acquaintance with Shyam. He said, “This brother has come from Kathmandu. You must go to Kathmandu and play football.”

After hearing Lal Bahadur’s words, Shyam was also momentarily bewildered. It is also natural to be bewildered when suddenly presented with a proposal to play football while having come to Nepal for domestic work. He said, “There is no practice. How can I play?” While Shyam was talking, Lal Bahadur interrupted him. He said, “Why do you need to practice, too?” After hearing his words, Shyam asked for the first time, “Which team is it? What kind of team is it?” In reality, Shyam had a desire to play football in Nepal since before, but due to the busy schedule in Kolkata, the wish was not being fulfilled.

I quickly said, “It is the league champion club.” After hearing my words, he seemed a bit flexible. He asked again, “I don’t have much time. I came for a puja (a worship ritual performed by Hindus); I have to return soon.”

I urged again, “It is a knockout tournament. I will arrange for your travel by plane.” He must have also thought, Maybe it will be around seven to ten days! He nodded his head.

Shyam agreeing to play for the Boys Union Club was no less than winning the league for me. It was like finding gold in search of a stone. It was agreed to wait for Shyam for two days for his puja. We cut the plane tickets one day before our match in the Tribhuvan Challenge Shield. At that time, a Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation plane used to fly from Bhairahawa. It was ‘confirmed’ that Narendra Shahi, who played the stopper position, would also go with us from Bhairahawa to play. By the time we confirmed five tickets, including those for Shyam Thapa, Narendra Shahi, Baburam Gurung, Rameshwar Raut, and myself, almost all the money provided by Keyur Shumsher had been spent.

On the day the plane was to fly, another drama happened. Narendra Shahi and Rameshwar Raut had already left for the airport in a rickshaw. Baburam took a little time to leave the house. Shyam, I, and Baburam were heading towards Bhairahawa in another rickshaw, and before we could reach the airport gate, the plane flew away. In reality, the plane’s departure time was 3:30 PM. The plane was missed because Baburam was late. At this point, Shyam looked at me, and I looked at Baburam. The game is tomorrow. We missed the plane today. After much effort, I managed to arrange three tickets for the next day. There was also a lack of money to buy tickets. Somehow, arrangements were made.

The next day, we had already arrived at the airport two hours early. I knew that the game would have almost started by the time we landed in Kathmandu. Therefore, I requested Shyam to get ready at the airport, wearing his shoes and other clothes, except for the jersey. He seemed surprised. “What kind of guy is this? He hasn’t seen the field. And he’s asking me to get ready wearing football boots right at the airport?”

The plane took off from Bhairahawa. As the plane flew over Nagdhunga, I felt like the plane was stuck mid-air for some reason. My heart felt like it was stopping. Just as I was restlessly imagining that the game might have already started, Shyam looked towards the stadium from the plane window and said, “Look, friend, there are no people.” Shyam, who played in front of 40-50 thousand spectators in Kolkata, did not see any people when he looked at the stadium from the plane window. Fearing he might be put off, I reassured him, “The game hasn’t started. People will come slowly.”

Keyur Shumsher had come to Kathmandu airport to pick us up. Hurriedly putting Shyam into Keyur Shumsher’s car, we headed towards Tripureshwor. Another funny incident happened in the car. Keyur Shumsher had also heard Shyam’s name.

While driving the car, his hand was on the steering wheel, but his head was on the back seat. Shyam was sitting in the back seat. Therefore, Keyur kept turning his head frequently to look at Shyam’s face.

When we entered the stadium, the referee and the Parsa-11 team, which was about to play their first match against us, had already entered the field. The referee had already blown the ‘whistle’ two or three times to call the Boys Union team. But our captain, Rupak Raj, was very clever. He was deliberately wasting time until Shyam and I entered the stadium, sometimes going inside and then immediately coming back out on some pretext.

As I got out of the car carrying Shyam’s bag, there was already a commotion: “Baidya is bringing Shyam Thapa, the legend of Indian football. “But when the skinny-framed Shyam Thapa got out of the car, no one except the Boys Union team players believed it. A rumor started circulating there: “He has brought a fake Shyam Thapa.”

This suspicion was also justifiable at that time. Even an ordinary player coming from India wearing the jersey of Mohun Bagan or East Bengal would cause a sensation in Nepal and leave. In such a situation, no one had even imagined that a ‘high-paid’ Indian player would come to Nepal and play football.

For that game, the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) had appointed a Bengali person as the linesman. As he had been living in Nepal for a long time, he spoke Nepali. And he knew almost all the players and officials well. His argument was, “He is the real Shyam Thapa. If he were fake, would Bodha Bahadur carry his bag like this?”

Anyway, within a few minutes of entering the stadium, Shyam Thapa descended onto the field wearing the Boys Union jersey. In reality, this must be another coincidence in Nepali football, that a star player like Shyam Thapa had not even been able to properly see Kathmandu city.

His arrival in Kathmandu began right at the stadium. A further coincidence was that Ganesh Thapa (later the national team captain) was also playing for Parsa-11 in this same tournament. This was his first match in Kathmandu. Parsa had national-level players like Min Shah and others.

However, we were thrilled to have Shyam Thapa in our jersey. Due to Shyam’da’s arrival, everyone thought Parsa would be easily crushed. But the ‘disease’ of Boys Union flared up again here. Within two or three minutes of the game starting, we conceded an ugly goal. The reason for conceding the goal was Shyam himself.

Almost all our players forgot to play their natural game and became busy watching Shyam play. However, after conceding one goal, the club stabilized. By the time the game finished, we had already scored 11 goals. The result: Boys Union 11-Parsa 1. After that, I had to shout from the parapet, telling them not to score another goal. This was because there was a belief at that time, even if not in the rules, that a team that conceded 12 goals had to take off their jerseys.

Many in Kathmandu were still skeptical that Shyam, who took the field against Parsa, was the real Shyam Thapa. I used to get tired of giving explanations about this. The semi-final was against Delhi’s Mughal-11 team. Even if we only ‘drew’ the game, we would reach the final. However, there was ‘bad luck’ right at the start. Mughal-11 scored a goal early on.

Although they were called the Delhi team, another Bengali player who played for the Indian team alongside Shyam was also present there. We were trailing 0-1 until two minutes before the game ended. But, right then, when Shyam Thapa leaped and headed the high cross ball from right-out Mahendra Gurung into the Mughal-11 box and turned it into a goal, the whole stadium was electrified.

After that, even the fans who called him fake yesterday started accepting Shyam as the real one.

After Boys Union continuously reached the final of the Tribhuvan Challenge Shield, there was a clamor in Kathmandu. The final match was between Boys Union and Burdes Club, Kolkata. Dashrath Stadium was packed with spectators.

Prince Dhirendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev also arrived at the stadium. At that time, he was the patron of the National Sports Council. He was also a big admirer of Shyam’da. During the game, the Kolkata team once made a rough tackle on Shyam. Dhirendra got angry right from his chair. After the game ended, he was telling me, “Who fouled Shyam Thapa? He must be dealt with.”

The final match ended in a goalless draw. ANFA made good earnings from the ticket sales of this game. Therefore, ANFA wanted to replay the ‘drawn’ final match the next day.

However, the Kolkata team players requested Shyam, “We are in a hurry to return. Please ask them to declare us joint winners.” Shyam informed us of this. He also requested that we be declared joint winners. We were all impressed by Shyam’da’s personality during the tournament. His request was like an instruction for us. Therefore, after we requested ANFA to declare joint winners, for the first time in Nepal’s football history, two teams were declared ‘joint winners’ in a knockout tournament.

After this, Shyam continuously played league and knockout tournaments for Boys Union for 10 years. Which is written in golden letters in Nepali football.

(Conversation between Nabin Aryal and former Boys Union Club President Raut)