The Parade Ground at Fort Kochi wore a festive look on Saturday morning as Union Minister Suresh Gopi landed in the view for honoring the Football Uncle of Kochi. Rufus D’Souza, the 91-year-old football coach was the cynosure of all eyes as the union minister felicitated him for completing more than five decades of coaching at the Parade Ground from where he had trained hundreds of star players including Xavier Pius, Hamilton Bobby, Sebastian Netto and a host of other players who wen on to don Indian boots in the international arena.

Rufus who started as a club level player in his teens is described as the first professional soccer player from Kerala. While representing the WIMCO Club in the then Madras League , he had teamed up with Da Cunha from Brazil and helped the team to lift many cups and shields.

A stickler for rules and a tough disciplinarian, Rufus started football coaching   at the Parade Ground maidan in 1970 and that too free of any cost. He launched his own club, the Santos, as a tribute to the legendary Pele who was his role model.

Rufus is a sad man nowadays as football in India has reached nowhere despite the Indian Soccer League and many other carnivals like the Kerala Soccer League. “We had so many teams in Kerala itself but as on date there are no teams worth their name. The all India tournaments , an annual feature, died a natural death leaving no avenues for the youngsters to display their prowess. Nothing surprising as football stagnates in India,” Rufus told minister Suresh Gopi. 

Borussia Dortmund, a football team that plays in Bundesliga in German League had honored Rufus with life term achievement award and invited him to be the guest of honor during the club’s matches. In his passion for football, the Uncle forgot to get married. The result> Every morning at 5.30, the maidan wakes up to see Football Uncle coaching the young talents with the basics of the game. Referring to AIFF’s spree of hiring foreign coaches, Rufus says ; “We need foreign football administrators and not coaches.” Hope Kalyan Chaubey reads this.