New Delhi: Former India football captain Carlton Chapman died Monday following a heart attack in Bangalore. He was 49. Carlton Chapman formed a deadly trio in club football with Bhaichung Bhutia and IM Vijayan in the 1990s.
Chapman was hospitalised on Sunday night at a hospital in Bangalore, and passed away early Monday morning.
“I got a call from Bangalore from one of his friends that Chapman is no more. He passed away early this (Monday) morning. He was a happy-go-lucky man, always smiling and ready to help others. I will certainly miss him,” Chapman’s one-time India teammate Bruno Coutinho said.
A creative midfielder, Chapman played for India between 1995 and 2001. India won the 1997 SAFF Cup under his captaincy. At the club level, he had two successful spells with East Bengal and one with now-defunct JCT Mills.
Chapman was a product of the Tata Football Academy. In the early 1990s, Chapman joined East Bengal in 1993 and scored a hat-trick in his team’s 6-2 win against Iraq club Al Zawra in a first round match at the Asian Cup Winners Cup that year.
However, his best came after moving to JCT in 1995. Chapman won 14 trophies with the Punjab-based club, including the inaugural National Football League in 1996-97. He formed a formidable combination with Vijayan and Bhutia.
Chapman later joined now-defunct FC Kochin. But after one season, he returned to East Bengal in 1998. The club won the NFL under his captaincy in 2001. He announced his retirement from professional football in 2001.
As coach, Chapman had stints with I-League 2nd Division club Tata Football Academy, Royal Wahingdoh FC of Shillong and Sudeva Moonlight FC of Delhi. Then he became the technical director of the Kozhikode-based Quartz International Football Academy in 2017.
It was Chapman who hand-held Bhaichung Bhutia, literally, in his first East Bengal game. Even though he never got the same stardom as Bhutia it never bothered Chapman. The two along with Bruno Fernandes, Renedy Singh, IM Vijayan and Jo Paul Ancheri were an integral part of the Indian team.
“We were like brothers,” Renedy said interrupting his training in Imphal. “I was with him for three years at East Bengal (1997, 1998 and 1999). He was my senior at TFA (Tata Football Academy) and my captain at East Bengal. He was a leader who led not by talking but showing how good he was on the ground.
