Jamshedpur FC had a season full of ups and downs in ISL 2020-21. The club saw a string of new signings as well as a new coaching staff led by Owen Coyle. The club also promoted former Reserve and Youth Team's Manager and Jamshedpur local, Rohit Kumar Singh, to the post of the First Team Manager.
Rohit, who resides in Bhalubasa, completed his school education from Tagore Academy and DAV Public School, Patel Nagar. Rohit was keen on sporting events since his childhood as he said, “Joining DAV in 6th standard was a turning point in my life as that is when I developed an attraction towards sports and participating in inter-school tournaments.”
“I mainly participated in Athletics (800 meters & 1500 meters) and Football. I have represented my school in many Inter School Championship, Zonal Championship and Regional Championship. I have captained my school’s football team for 3 years (2010, 2011 and 2013).”
In balancing education and sports upon joining Karim City College, Rohit could not pursue becoming a sports professional in football or athletics, so instead, he took a different route and became a football referee.
“Clearing a refereeing exam (Fitness, Theory, Viva and Practicals) was not an easy task. I have given my Cat-5 examination in 2015 at Bokaro. I cleared all tests except practicals, which was to be held at Jamshedpur during JSA League. I had cleared my practicals too and that’s when I became a Cat-5 Referee. I was given the task of officiating JSA League matches in 2015 across various divisions. It was a proud moment for me. I used to read about teams like Tata Steel, Tata Motors, TFA, Aruna Samity, etc. in the newspaper and now I was getting to officiate their matches.”
Rohit was one of the candidates nominated for Project Future India (PFI) but could not attend the course due to an injury. Rohit said, “My refereeing career was short, but in that short period I learned a lot and enjoyed the experience of being a referee. In 2017, I met with an accident and broke my right arm just after I was nominated for PFI, but because of my broken arm, I was unable to attend the course.
“But, there is a saying that if God takes something from you then God will give you something back, something that you haven’t even thought about. In June 2017, all local newspapers had carried out the big news stating TATA STEEL is going to have a Professional Football Team which will participate in the ISL.”
“This was big news for Jamshedpur, a city considered as the sports capital of Jharkhand. And having an ISL club in the city of Jamshedpur on the world map.”
At the time, little did Rohit know that he would become an integral part of Jamshedpur Football Club.
In the first season of Jamshedpur FC in the ISL, Rohit worked as the Match Officials Liaison Officer (MOLO) in the competition area of the stadium. “It was a wonderful feeling to be part of something so big,” he claimed.
He continued, “After the inaugural season ended, I was offered a job with the Reserve Team by the club. It was very unexpected, and gave me goosebumps the first time I got to know of it. Majority of the players in the Reserve Team were TFA graduates of the same year and since I had interacted with them earlier during my refereeing days, it was easy for me to fit in.”
“Later on, I was also involved with other projects of the club like Grassroots, Coach Education, Matchday Operations and managing youth teams before getting promoted to First Team Manager’s post in November 2020.”
There was a sense of pride when Rohit spoke of his work and being the First Team Manager of his city’s club. He said, “To be the Team Manager of the First Team of my city's club is something which can't be expressed in words. Working with the top professional is something which gives an individual a lot of courage, knowledge, dedication, calmness, leadership, decision making, etc.”
“By the word ‘First Team’, anyone can understand that there is no second chance in the work which is assigned. Everything related to work needs to be done with perfection, dedication and before time. Becoming Team Manager of the First Team brings a lot of responsibility, integrity, respect which an individual needs to maintain.”
The promotion meant Rohit would get a chance to directly work with top officials like Owen Coyle and Sandy Stewart along with former Reserve Team coach, Noel Wilson and Adrian Dias.
“Owen and Sandy are wonderful men. Working with them was a wonderful experience. Having such wonderful coaching as well as technical staff around is something rare to find in my opinion. The camaraderie within the staff was amazing and there was a great lot of respect among all of us. Owen, especially, was the team leader and always kept us all going in the bio-bubble. He is a great man manager.“
The season was spent in a tough environment, a Covid-19 bio-bubble maintained well with the amazing help provided by the league. “Due to Covid-19, the season was very tough for each one of us. There were lots of barriers in our day to day operations with the team, but we all have fulfilled our responsibilities very well,” said Rohit.
Rohit hopes to see more and more people from Jamshedpur to be actively involved in sports, not just to play but in management and administrative aspects too. “Sports serve societies by providing vivid examples of excellence, and the sports administrators work from behind the scenes so that excellence would come in the eyes of society. I encourage more and more people from Jamshedpur to pursue this amazing field of sports,” concluded Rohit.
