Tulasidas Balaram

Tulasidas Balaram was an Indian footballer who along with PK Banerjee and Subimal Goswami were known as the “Holy Trinity”. The trio helped to move India into what was regarded as its Golden Age of football during the 1950s and 1960s.

Balaram was born into poverty but showed interest in football from an early age. When he was 18 legendary coach Abdul Rahim Syed spotted Balaram and suggested he should play for Hyderabad in the Santosh Trophy. Rahim gave him money to rent a bicycle so he could travel from his home village to Hyderabad. Balaram scored in the final of the tournament with Hyderabad beating rivals Bombay 4–1. He spent the bulk of his domestic career with East Bengal, playing in more than 100 matches for the club, and captaining the side in the 1961–62 season. Balaram was the top goal scorer in the 1961 Calcutta Football League and won three more editions of the Santosh Trophy.

Balaram played in 36 international matches for India from 1956 to 1962, scoring 10 goals. He made his début for India against Yugoslavia at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. The Indian team eventually finished the tournament in fourth place. Four years later Balaram played for India at the 1960 Roma Olympics, scoring two goals for the team during the tournament. At the 1962 Asian Games he played in all of India’s matches and again scored two goals. India went on to win the tournament beating South Korea 2–1 in the final. In the same year he was bestowed with the Arjuna Award by the Indian government.