Kochi :

For the footballing fraternity of Poojappura, P Natarajan is popularly known as MRC Natarajan. But the fanfare and recognition for having been the one who guarded the goal for the illustrious MRC Wellington football team stops there for this veteran.

Natarajan spent 15 years with Madras Regimental Centre at a time when they were a name to be reckoned with in Indian football and won many honours, including the Seth Nagji Trophy, Chakolas Trophy and Kollam Municipal Gold Cup in Kerala.

The former goalkeeper is described to have been ‘fearless’ on the pitch.

“Sometimes you were the last line of defence and everything was at stake and you had to go all out to deny the goal,” says Natarajan who has a bruised lip and a missing incisor to show for it. He began his career with Sporting Union, Poojappura as a schoolboy and joined MRC at Ooty in 1968. Returning from MRC after a highly successful stint, which included a Santosh Trophy appearance with the Services, he played football with KSRTC for six years before retiring in 1989.

But that was not to keep him away from the game. Ever since, Natarajan has been a regular presence at Mandapam Ground in Poojappura, training the youngsters of Sporting Union on most of the evenings.

“We have to fend off competition from cricketers to get some space to play. So, most of the time, we end up playing under the streetlights after sunset,” he says, adding that they are hopeful of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation sanctioning the club’s proposal to start a coaching centre for kids.

Natarajan also conducts two-month long coaching camps for children aged below nine years during the summer holidays. “I teach them very simple things like kicking, close control and passing. And more importantly, I share all the experience from my 21-year long career,” he says.

“Natarajan was a top performer for MRC and Services. He has also been serving as a referee for the Kerala Football Association for the past three decades,” says S Geevarghese, secretary of the Thiruvananthapuram District Football Association. Natarajan makes a living by working as a dispatch clerk at the KSFE here. But for this former goalkeeper, it is football that makes his life.

He is someone who believes in the value of experience than coaching certificates. Though he has been engaged in the game as a player, coach and referee for so long, he has never attended a coaching certificate course. “Some things you can only gain by experience and football is like that,” Natarajan says

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Kochi / by Adwaidh Rajan / July 02nd, 2014