Wari Club’s glorious history tarnished by gambling
In recent times, the club – with such a glorious past – became involved in running illegal gambling operations
Wari Club has been one of the top sporting clubs in the sub-continent with close to a hundred years of glorious history and heritage.
In 1898, when the Wellington Club discontinued, a few of its sports-loving members decided to form the Wari Club.
A top sportsperson of that era, Rai Bahadur Suredranath Rai, played a key role in forming the club and he is now considered as its founder.
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In the beginning, there were many challenges, with one of them being the lack of a playing field or a clubhouse. But, within a very short time, the club became very popular, and in 1930, they found their playing field at Paltan ground.
From there began a series of successes for the club as it went on to produce lots of excellent players.
The first success came in 1910 at Cooch Behar, when Wari defeated the British Kings' House club.
Next came participation in the IFA Shield tournament where they had moderate success till 1945. One of their most noteworthy achievements came in 1917 when they defeated defending champions Lincoln Club.
In 1931, Wari expanded to cricket, hockey, tennis, volleyball, table tennis and indoor games facilities.
That led to them hosting multiple football and hockey tournaments like the Nirmal Smrity Football Shield and the Durano Shield.
In 1948, the club won the Nar Narayan Shield tournament jointly with Victoria Club.
The hockey team also started to do well as it became league runners-up in 1953 and then champions in 1964.
Success also followed the table tennis team as in 1976 and 1977, the Wari Club table tennis team won the Akhtar Memorial table tennis tournament.
The volleyball team also started to do well as they became the dominant team in the '70s and '80s, winning leagues on numerous occasions.
While the dominance of the football team dissipated with time, they were still regarded as a dangerous team capable of upsetting big teams at any moment.
However, in recent times, the club – with such a glorious past – became involved in running illegal gambling operations.
"I started watching in 1978 and they were known as giant slayers. Back then, 'Wari ailo' [here comes Wari] was the slogan printed on big banners for the team. But it is so sad and unexpected that the club turned towards gambling," said Special Correspondent for JagoNews24, Arifur Rahman Babu.
"Actually, the main issue here is that the clubs never did their branding and marketing properly. With expenditure rising and funds drying out, an unwanted group got in here to take advantage of the lack of funds, and start running illegal casinos out of the clubhouses," Babu concluded.
How Wari Club can recover from such a fatal blow, remains to be seen.
