Being Arata Part 2: footballing life in India, from East Bengal to Pune FC

In Part 1, Arata talks about his childhood, his introduction to football, early club career in Singapore and Japan and the way he came to know about Indian football and decided to join East Bengal. The story can be read by CLICKING HERE.

ARATA IZUMI was excited to come to India having watched and read about the footballing history in India. He was immensely impressed and also surprised when he learnt about the Kolkata derby.

"I was lucky enough to get this opportunity as only one PIO (Player of Indian Origin) was allowed for a team. And that PIO happened to be me so I was excited."

When asked if it was the first time he was visiting India, he said,

"Not really, I came when I was 18- years-old along with my mother and brother for personal reasons. But back then we were in Mumbai and Delhi but Kolkata was for the first time."

The first impression he had when he landed at the Kolkata airport, he expressed it was a "culture shock."

He further added about his experience,

"Ten years back, when I landed at the Kolkata airport, I was taken aback. It's very different from Japan because in my imagination airport is the best thing a city has because it's international. Lot of different people walking around but then looked around and couldn't find anyone except Indians. It wasn't clean at all (laughs)."

All these situations did not put him down,

"Looking at all of this at that moment did not make want to go back. I was with quite some determination to make it happen again, so all right no problem I can get through this."

After a pause he continued with the experience,

"Immediately I see that two people, I think they were part of the East Bengal club came to escort me and I was like, 'Oh okay, this is something great!"

Just when he was going about all the good things his tone later dipped to disappointment,

"I thought now everything will go smoothly but I had to wait for almost two hours to get my luggage and I was shattered once again but once I got them, the guys walking with me were carrying them and I was walking free hand."

His first time trip to Kolkata was indeed a roller coaster ride that saw many ups and downs. Those two men escorting him did not allow him to wait for his immigration so just when Arata thought he will have to spend more time at the airport, to his surprise he was taken out from an another way and finally he was out.

While he stepped out of the airport, he witnessed a crowd of people waiting to greet him. At first he thought they were waiting for somebody else,

"I turned back to see if there was somebody but there was no one and then I heard them scream my name. I later learnt that they were East Bengal fans. They were trying to kiss me, hold my leg, garland me and the press taking pictures and asking questions. The atmosphere was insane."

To calm them down Arata said that he was here just for the trials and not yet signed a proper contract. He finally reached the club and then began his training. It was a for a short period with East Bengal,

"It was a six month contract because I came in the middle of the season and at that time they were looking for a new player and that's how I was roped in."

It may have been a short season with East Bengal but it went a long way to seal his reputation as a dependable player in the Indian football circuit. He scored just one goal for the Kolkata side but had 10 assists.

It was his first ever goal on an Indian soil, and that came amidst a high amount of feverish drama,

"I'll have to explain how it happened, first time when we played against Air India at Cooperage which was my debut match in the National Football League. I started as a striker and I was decent and happy with my performance. I got a chance right in front of me and if that was a goal we would have won the match but (with a heavy breath) I missed. It was a good distance to score and I was confident it would go in but somehow it hit the pole. I was really disappointed thinking how I could miss it."

"We lost the match 0-1 and after that one of the players came to me and said 'you cannot go to Kolkata now, supporters will kill you' and I was like what the hell are you talking about. It's a football match and anything can happen. Next day the fans went crazy and then I realised the seriousness and felt the added pressure."

"For the next away game we had to go to Bangalore to play against HAL SC (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) and I came in the second half and scored a goal. Then the player came to me and said, 'now you are safe', and I breathed a sigh of relief. I had no idea that football would be so big here, in Japan it's about how you play the game but here it was all about the result. If you score a goal you are hailed as a hero and if you don't you are worse than s***t."

After the season was over he was approached by Sporting, Churchill Brothers, Mahindra and East Bengal too offered him a contract.

"These were the clubs who came to me and I was comparing the money factor so out of the clubs Mahindra was best. They were a good team and then coming to Mumbai, it would also give me a bit of change. So then I come to Mumbai help myself with broken English and signed a two year contract. I was happy and felt secured as I had an injury and if I would have signed the same with EB they would have removed me."

The injury where he broke his leg kept him away for six months from football.

"It was really bad and I don't have a very good memory with Mahindra. I had good time with the players, they were good people but I was never satisfied with my performance and had a level of discomfort with the coach as well, Derek Pereira. I was young and had difficulties. After I came back from the injury I thought now it would all be fine but nothing changed as I wasn't given full time playing. Sometimes I was taken out early or put in as a sub, which also affected my level of confidence. I scored few goals but wasn't happy at all. Always had this thought that I could do much better."

He wanted another change in his life and then he got himself a British agent to try for other clubs.

"Then one day Pune FC came to the Mahindra's training ground and I was playing. At that time their coach Stewart Hall and my agent were very close. Coach Stewart was impressed with me and wanted me in his team. Then I started to learn about the club and I heard about them, they wanted to go professional and were serious in building a good football club. I was like there's no harm in trying a new city but the only hiccup was at that time (2008) they were in the second division."

"But soon enough they came up to the top division and after that I was all set for the move and signed the contract. After I signed, the very next day they sacked coach Stewart and then came Derrick Pereira and I was like 'Oh my God, I wanted some change' and this happened but I took it positively and said let's begin a new life and that's how my journey with Pune FC began."

At Pune FC Arata found a niche and spent some of the most important years of his career that changed his life entirely. He recounted his days with the Red Lizards with fondness, 

"When coming to Pune, I had an old injury on my ankle and wanted to treat it. So I was treating it with the main physio but at times he could not attend me on a regular basis as there were many others whom he had to treat too. He sometimes asked Shweta, my wife who was also a physio to treat the players and that is how we met. Slowly we started talking and then we went out for dinner, met over coffee, few drinks and then yeah it clicked and we are married now."

I then asked him if Pune FC had a special place in his heart to which he said,

"Off course because that is where my career shot up and people began to recognise me, okay, here is a player called 'Arata', is a big player in India. I was also very happy with my performance. In the first season I came in as a PIO but in the second season the PIO rule was abolished. They had to choose between me and a player from Uzbekistan and finally I was chosen. This meant that I proved myself that I was a good player as a foreigner who signed at an Indian club. The level of competition between foreign players in a club was very high but it all went well and it was a huge achievement for me. Very comfortable, the owner loved me and the fans were very supportive."

Talking about the supporters he said,

"They loved me too much, even when I didn't play or start the game, they would scream, 'we want Arata, we want Arata', and sometimes coach Derek had to calm them down and I used to be like I'm sorry coach but I was really happy."

But the good days were not to last forever. Arata spoke about how saddened he was when the club had to shut down,

"I felt it was a responsibility on me as a senior player, if we could do something to not let this happen. Get Pune to be the champion then may be the situations could have been a bit different but it didn't happen. But I cannot blame the team or the management or the players. Many youngsters who used to dream to play for Pune and then one day we had to shut down, it was shame. A shocking news for the youngsters."

"But we could feel it that this could be the last season but never thought that it would actually happen. Because 6 years without being crowned as champion, the best we came was finish second but in AFC we were really miserable and at the same time didn't do well in the league. So all of these affects the owners who are businessmen, they put huge sum of money and then lost it. And since I was close to the owners, the feeling that this day could arrive was quite evident."

"My heart goes out to the players from the academy who were ready to come to the senior team but then there was no senior team, they were a good bunch of players so it was really shocking."

Even though the club shut down, Arata did not lose contact with the players or the owners.

"My house is in Pune, so whenever I go back I do interact with the owners and the players I meet them when they are playing for other teams and we face each other at the moment. And when I meet with the players we talk about all the good and bad memories."

So could they be considered as family?

"No, not really, for me family is my family. I don't get very close to players, I like to keep a little distance with them. So far I have only become close to I think 2 or 3 players. Two are Indian players and one is a foreigner. Anas Edathodika, he is a brilliant player, Sushil Kumar and Luciano Sabrosa. They are really good players. So what happened was in the last season at Pune, I was the vice-captain and Anas was the captain but then he was injured and I became the captain. At that time Luciano helped me get through the difficult times."

Talking in detail about his relation with Luciano he said,

"During the last four matches, coach Karim had to go back for some personal reasons and the players started doubting me if I pushed coach to release players because they knew I was really close to the coach. I was really upset and mind boggled at that moment. But then Luciano calmed me down and was always there for me, talking to me. 'Don't worry we'll make it, this is just a phase', and somehow I could then buckle up and concentrate on my performance and then the days at Pune FC came to an end."

TO BE CONTIUED...Part 3: Playing for India, ISL and Mumbai FC.