Celebrations for Indian football club's 60th birthday

Chennai's Nethaji Sports Club has celebrated its 60th anniversary. Started by "three simple football lovers" the Indian club received rich praise from important guests from around the country. All India Football Federation Secretary, Alberto Colaco, said what impressed him most about the club was that it had a vision for the future. Earlier, the club's coach Z. Mohammed Amjad gave a power-point presentation on the club's past, present and future. Special mention was made of the club member K. Sankar, the FIFA assistant referee and the only Indian to have done duty at a World Cup (Korea-Japan 2002).

AIFF vice president, C.R. Visswanathan, who is also the president of the Tamil Nadu and Chennai Football Associations, complimented club President Govindarajan, a co-founder with Vadivelu and Kanakasabai. The Hindu Sports Editor, Nirmal Shekar, described Govindarajan as a remarkable man with an amazing passion for the sport. Visswanathan announced a personal donation of Rs 60,000 to mark the club's 60 successful years. He wanted the amount to be used for starting a Nethaji-TRG endowment fund through the Chennai Football Association.

Brenden Menton, acting director, Vision Asia conveyed his compliments and also of the President and Secretary of the Asian Football Confederation. Noting the club's progress, he said, "it makes us start our work here with lot of hope in our hearts."