Amtali village of Santal community in Godagari upazila of Rajshahi. Agriculture is the occupation of most of the people. But not on their own land, but on the land of the landlords, they earn their living by plowing. A teenager in such a society would play football, it is a bit of a luxury.
But Manik Tudu used to play football himself, and introduced his son Rafael Tudu to the game. Suffering from illness, Manik Tudu has gone to eternity leaving the little Raphael behind. But did he know that his son will come to Dhaka one day and make a storm of goals?
The title of Bangladesh Championship League (BCL), the second tier of football in the country, was decided on Tuesday night. Youngmen’s Fakirpool Club is returning to the highest level of domestic football after a long time as champions. Rafael Tudor contributed greatly to their title win. He is the top scorer in the league. He has 12 goals in 9 matches. Rafael also received the best player award of the tournament.
Rafael made himself known very well when he played in the BCL for the first time.
Interestingly, this is the first chance for Youngmen’s club Rafael did not play in the first five matches of the league. In the fifth match against Uttara FC, what coach Imtiaz Khan Labu thinks is that he put him on the field, and he did not play. He scored 4 goals with a hat trick.
After that, Raphael did not have to look back. He made his appearance memorable by making a big contribution to the team’s success. Club-mate Dalim Burman has battled with Rafael in the race to be the highest goalscorer. His goals are 9. Rafael, however, failed to score in the league title win over PWD the day before yesterday, 2-1. But Dalim scored a goal.
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Sitting at the Youngmen’s Club pavilion in Motijheel, Raphael gave a startling information about himself. He went to Rajshahi city to play football in his village and was enrolled in Kishore Football Academy. The coach there, Mamunul Islam, preferred him as a goalkeeper to build Doha.
But Rafael did not like playing as a goalkeeper at all. In Dhaka, it was Mamunul who sent him to play in the first division (third tier) club Badda Jagarani, that too as a goalkeeper. In 2020-21, at the age of 15, he was in the squad of Victoria Sporting in the BCL as a goalkeeper. Did not get a chance to play a single match.
The ‘goalkeeper’ Rafael, who returned to Rajshahi in pride, changed his position and started playing as a striker. This time, the club’s senior team-mate signed up as a striker for the Youngmen through Shibulal Tudu from his village. The rest is history.
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Rafael said, ‘I didn’t like playing as a goalkeeper. However, I played as a goalkeeper in Badda Jagarani in the first division, then I was also a goalkeeper in Victoria’s squad in BCL. I returned to Rajshahi in anger. I started playing in the striker position with a lot of insistence in the local football there. The club’s elder brother Shibulal is from my village, he is the one who brought me to Youngmens. But I am thankful to coach Labu bhai (Imtiaz Khan) and manager MH Peepul sir. They trusted me.’
Youngmen’s manager MH People has been involved with the club for a long time. 18-year-old Rafael reminds him of Mizanur Rahman, a former striker of Youngmen, Mohammedans, Brothers, freedom fighters and the national team, ‘I saw the shadow of Mizan in Rafael. Make a similar pattern. If he works hard, the country can get a great goal scorer. He has proved himself in this year’s BCL.’
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Raphael left mother Makhlu Hembrom in Amtali village. He talked to his mother last night, ‘Mother wants me to be a big footballer. He brought me up with great difficulty. He works day and night. He was just crying.’
Raphael knew it was a cry of joy. The mother was crying and telling her son, ‘If your father could see that you scored so many goals in the league, he would be very happy.’
Rafael, however, believes that the father must be watching him!
Tags: Rafaels goalfest goalkeeper striker
