Ashoka Football Academy

Ashoka Football Academy

This club was formed as a colony club in New Rajinder Nagar in1972. School-boys of the colony received training from Novy Kapadia, captain of St. Stephens College, Delhi University  and who played in the Delhi league for President’s Estate and Young Bengal FC.  Interest and enthusiasm for the game increased rapidly and groups of players trained seriously in spacious local parks and open spaces of the colony.

  Gradually the players gained confidence and decided to form a club, to play local matches. Anil Kohli was the president, Rohit Mehra (‘Giggi”) the secretary-cum treasurer and Novy Kapadia, coach-cum-captain. Inspired by Arsenal’s FA Cup and League winning double in 1971, the players democratically chose the club name as Arsenal Youth Football Club (YFC) New Rajinder Nagar. For two years matches were played against local school and college teams and the team participated in local tournaments like the Gugli tournament.   As the confidence levels grew the young set of players wanted to play in the Delhi Football league. In 1975, a proper application was submitted to the Delhi football association officials seeking permission to play in the local league. The local soccer association was divided into two groups that year and the Subash Chopra faction gave Arsenal YFC permission to play in their league in July –August 1975.   The team started with a bang and won their first few matches against Victory FC, Lodhi Road Athletic Club, Timarpur, Golden Stars, Young India and Usmania FC respectively. In their opening match at the Ambedkar stadium Arsenal YFc trounced Victory FC 6-0 with Keith Brown, then captain of St. Mary’s school scoring a hat-trick. Keith brown has now migrated to Australia.   In 1976, Arsenal YFC approached the dominant faction in the Delhi Football Association, under secretary the late G.L. Juneja for permission to play in the league, as a new club. After much procrastination in August 1976, G.L Juneja instructed Bachi Ram of BB Stars to find a way to let this team from New Rajinder Nagar play in the local league. Bachi Ram suggested that Arsenal YFC purchase the now defunct Ashoka FC and play the league under that banner. A small sum of money was paid and Arsenal YFC took over the management of Ashoka FC. At the insistence of the DFA League, Arsenal YFC changed its name to Ashoka FC as no new club was being allowed to play in the league. A perfect compromise was reached and that is how Ashoka FC was born in August 1976.

  In 1977 Ashoka got a chance to play in the B division league at the Central Secretariat grounds. In their opening year in the B Division league, Ashoka FC became undefeated champions beating prominent clubs like Garhwal Heroes, South India, Union FC and Shastri FC. Maturity, combination and team-spirit helped Ashoka FC win the B division league in their first attempt.  

The team had matured by 1977 and become very cohesive as almost the same set of players had been playing together for nearly five years. That same year goalkeeper Naveen Gupta and defender Lalit Malik were selected to play for Delhi University. Two players from the North-East, midfielder Dorjee and striker Tashay who were studying in the Pusa School of Hotel management strengthened Ashoka FC that year. Due to their impressive performance Ashoka FC was promoted to the senior division of the DFA League in 1978. Edgar Armstrong had taken over as treasurer of the club. The bulk of players were still from the Rajinder Nagar-Patel Nagar region.   From 1978—1980, Ashoka FC played in the senior division league but often struggled against established clubs. By 1979, goalkeeper Naveen Gupta had represented Combined Universities and been chosen to play for the Delhi Junior team in the junior nationals. Defender Lalit Malik played for Delhi in the Santosh Trophy in Chennai in 1979. Both these players became the first to leave the club when they joined Delhi Cantonment the next season.   So in the 1981 season new players were inducted into the team from St. Columbus’ school and Ashoka FC ceased to be a colony club. The team started practicing either at St. Columbas school ground or the Talkatora grounds.

  In 1985, most of the senior players had stopped playing due to work commitments and so players from the junior Ashoka club were promoted to the senior team. That year Ashoka FC had the youngest team in the DSA league. The team was very fit and combined due to long hours of daily practice at the Spring dales School ground in Pusa Road. Initially the young team struggled and despite heavy defeats against Shastri FC, Moonlight and City Club, the players gradually gained confidence and scored memorable wins over Young Boys and Shahdara FC. Sumit Joshi became the youngest scored in the DSA league, when as a 13-year-old he scored against Young Boys.   Due to their impressive performance that year, seven players from Ashoka FC goalkeeper Rochan Malik, defenders Pradeep Loomba, Rajesh Khanna (Shishu) and Ajay Sharma, midfielders Sanjay Rawal and Sumit Joshi and forward Manmeet Singh were chosen to represent Delhi in the sub-junior nationals in Bangalore. Novy Kapadia went as coach of Ashoka FC with the state team and I.P. Handa as manager. Due to their impressive performances in the 1985 sub-junior national championships, both Rawal and Sumit Joshi were called for the national training camp in May 1986 in Calcutta.  

Midfielder Tarun Chandna played for the Delhi junior team in 1985 and Rawal represented Delhi schools the same year. In 1986 Rawal, Loomba and Ajay Sharma represented the Delhi junior team. In 1987, the goalkeeper of the club T.R. Narayanan who was in Kirori Mal College, Delhi University. was selected for   By 1988, the generation of players who were associated with the club since its inception either left the colony or got heavily involved in their personal lives. In the 1990s Ashoka FC took a new turn. Boys, who were being trained at the Sports Authority of India’s camp in Nehru stadium, formed the nucleus of the team. Ex-international Surender Kumar became the coach and Novy Kapadia the secretary of the club. Rishi kapoor who later played for both Salgaocar and Mohun Bagan (won the National Football league title in 2002 with this club) started his career as a schoolboy in Ashoka FC. From 1992-94, JCT sponsored the kit of the players.