Thenmadom Mathew Varghese (1920 – 10 January 1979) was an Indian professional footballer who played as a defender and was also known as Thiruvalla Pappan and Tata Pappan. He began his football career at the age of 16 by playing for '' Thiruvalla'' ''Town Club.'' He was inducted into Travancore State Police team by the first Inspector-general of police Khan Bahadur Sayid Abdul Karim Sahib Suhrawady. Then he was handpicked into Tata Sports Club, Mumbai. He had represented Tata SC for

Santosh Trophy The Santosh Trophy, officially known as Hero Senior Men's National Football Championship due to sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp, is a state-level football competition contested by the state associations and government institutions under ...

tournaments. From there he found his way to the India national football team. T. Varghese represented India at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

and was considered one of the best defenders for India during the 1940s and 1950s. He is the first Malayali to participate in a team event in Olympic Games (

1948 Olympics 1948 Olympics may refer to: *The 1948 Winter Olympics, which were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland *The 1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an internation ...

) and also the second Malayali to ever participate in Olympics. He was part of the Indian football team which won gold medal in

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

1951. After retiring from field he was associated with Tata Football Academy in Bombay for some period as a trainer. He died in 1979 while at Bombay. He was married to Saramma and the family had four children including three daughters namely Lilian, Shanta Alex and Ann and a son named Mathew Varghese, who also died.

Honours

India *

Gold medal:

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Varghese, Thenmaddom 1920 births 1979 deaths People from Thiruvalla Indian footballers Association football defenders Footballers from Kerala India international footballers Olympic footballers of India Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1951 Asian Games Footballers at the 1954 Asian Games Medalists at the 1951 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games medalists in football Mumbai Football League players

Honours

See also

References

External links