Jamshedpur FC

Jamshedpur FC decided to spice up the tough times for the fans, with an exciting contest and a reward which every football fan would like to get.

The shortlisted winners of this contest were gratified with a live Instagram session with the skipper, Peter Hartley. The session was interactive and fun between the winners and the skipper as he answered their intriguing questions.

Here are the excerpts from the interview:

Your role model

My role model is Bonucci who currently plays at Juventus F.C. He is my favorite centre-back. I love his intensity and defensive techniques. But, I don’t model my game play around his style of play as he is much taller than me. However, I like to watch him play and gather useful tactics and tips from his strategy. As a footballer, you should watch players that play in your position as it will definitely benefit your gameplay.

Reason to choose 29 as your kit number

When I was a young player at my first club, Sunderland A.F.C., the first jersey number assigned to me was 29 and I made my professional debut with that number. So, every club that I play for, I ask if number 29 is available. If it is not available, then they assign you number 5 or 6 as a defender. But, my kit number preference has and always will be number 29.  

Favorite moments at Jamshedpur FC

I have 2 favorite moments from Jamshedpur FC. I think the fans will agree with me on this as it was a difficult circumstance for the players as well as the fans because they were not able to watch us play live. We improved a lot from the previous season which includes our attacking, defence and our passing around the midfield. But, my 2 favorite moments would be our victory against the former champions, ATK Mohun Bagan and our victory against the current champions, Mumbai City FC. Both these teams are powerful teams of the league and we showed that we can beat any team in the league if we performed at our highest potential.

Any funny incident at Jamshedpur FC

We played a preseason game against NorthEast United FC and I was in my hotel room when I received a message from our team staff which said “Make sure your door is shut”, and I could not understand what he meant by that. So, I opened my hotel room door to check out what was going on and I saw a Boa Constrictor, the longest and the biggest snake I have ever seen in my life. I just slammed the door shut after seeing it and ran to my bed.

The funny thing is, it had just been 4 weeks in Goa and I was already thinking of going home because I was scared. 

Your advice to aspiring footballers in India

If you are passionate about something like football and you cannot find a way to pursue it, then you have to create a way for yourself. There should be nothing that should stop you from following your passion and your dreams.

Your views on failure and ways to handle failure

Some days, you can be too critical of yourself. Everybody fails at some point in their life. But, what matters is how you respond to the failure. ‘One must always fail forward’ is a good saying which you should tell yourself in case you fail. If you fail, just keep moving forward and do not stop doing something because you failed in it. Everybody has failed in their lives, but have kept going and not given up.

Your thoughts on your defensive partner, Stephen Eze

I love him! He has a beautiful soul. He is a great guy and we had a fantastic partnership together at Jamshedpur FC. Hopefully, we move forward together to have another successful partnership in the upcoming season. I haven’t spoken to Stephen for a month and half now, but I am hoping we will be together in the defence again. I love playing with him, he is a fantastic player and a very tall guy as well which is good for me and the team. He is an amazing footballer and an even better human being.