Veteran footballer Subhani Hassimdeen no more
Former Sri Lanka football player, coach and expert of the game, Subhani Hassimdeen, passed away yesterday at the age of 77. A former winger, Hassimdeen was a veteran of 60 international games and was considered one of the most reliable strikers between 1965 and 1975.
Hailing from a family of four brothers who represented Sri Lanka, Hassimdeen was a student of Zahira College, Colombo and also represented his school in athletics besides football. He was 19 years old when the doors were opened to represent the country. He went on to play for Eleven Youngsters, Black Square, Victory, Wellawatta Mills and the Royal Ceylon Air Force. He also played for Combined Services, City Football League, Colombo League and Mercantile Leagues, which he successfully led in 1970 and 1971.
He donned the national jersey in 1965 and represented the country at football till 1975, displaying his inborn skills to his innumerable fans.
Hassimdeen played a significant role in helping Sri Lanka win the Agha Khan Gold Cup in 1968. This, incidentally, was the first occasion Sri Lanka won a top drawer Trophy of this kind, abroad. In 1970, he played an important role at the Quadrangular Tournament held in Colombo, in which Sri Lanka were unbeaten champions. His final appearance was at the Vittal Memorial Trophy Tournament held in Tamil Nadu in 1975, where he scored the winning goal for Sri Lanka to enter the finals.
He was part of the famous European tour to Israel, Iran, England and West Germany, with his brother Muzzamil, apart from making several other tours to Asian and Middle East countries. He captained the National team in 1972 at many prestigious tournaments held in India, Malaysia and Singapore.
He has a unique record of being a member of the national team to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Kuwait, Dubai, Iran, Israel, West Germany and England.
He also represented Sri Lanka at various international competitions here and abroad, such as the Asian Cup Tournaments, Pre-Olympic competitions, prestigious tournaments such as Merdeka, Pesta Sukan, Jakarta Anniversary, Aga Khan Gold Cup, Vittal Trophy and Quadrangular tournaments. In friendly encounters here and abroad played against top European clubs in the calibre of Nuremberg FC, Pallenberg and Essen FC in Germany, Macabi FC in Israel, Dallas Tornado from USA, Zalgaris and Moscow Dynamo of Russia, Manchester FC and South Hampton of England at home.
Subhani was a qualified and a very knowledgeable coach who has followed many coaching courses here and abroad, conducted by the AFC and FIFA. He was a member of the England Coaches Association from 2001 to 2004.
He coached several schools, clubs and other institutes which won major titles and promoted to top positions such as St. Peter’s College, Prince of Wales College, St. Thomas’ Prep, Kollupitiya, Red Stars FC, Pettah United FC, Maligawatta Youths, Eleven Youngster SC, Ratnam FC, Sri Lanka Army, Colombo FC, Java Lane FC, Sarasavi FC and Kirulapone FC.
At national level he was a selector in 1988, national intermediate coach in 1989, junior national coach in 1996, national youth coach in 1998, Under-23 and the Pre-Olympic coach in 1999, senior national coach in 1999 and Director Youth Football Development in 2000.
Hassimdeen contributed to the Sunday Times as a football columnist for many years until health issues deprived his commitment as a guest writer. His final rights took place yesterday evening at the Jawatte Burial ground in Colombo.