At a tender age of eight, Chuni broke into organized football by joining the Mohun Bagan Junior team in 1946. By that time, his individual brilliance as a footballer had become the talk of the town, and it was only a matter of time for him to join the senior club team, which he did in 1954. Nobody had seen a player like him in India before, one who could score with consummate ease, and at times with the nonchalance of a billionaire. From 1960 to 1964, Chuni captained Mohun Bagan.Chuni retired from the game in 1968 in a surprise decision because he was still at his peak when he decided to hang his boots. This was so evident when four years later, after the independence of Bangladesh, Abahani Krira Chakra visited Kolkata to play in the IFA shield. Chuni, turning out for an IFA combination in an exhibition game, grabbed the ball at the centre-line and dribbled past six regular Abahani players, years junior to him, to score a spectacular goal. But Chuni’s talents were not confined to just football. He was also one of India’s first-class cricketers, representing West Bengal in the Ranji Trophy. He had led Bengal to the final of the tournament in the 1971-72 season.

One of Chuni’s best moments in cricket came when he faced the hostile West Indian fast bowler Roy Gilchrist and scored off him in the 1962-63 season. Gilchrist was representing Hyderabad and South Zone that season. He kind of had a Midas touch for every game he played. Come to think of it, he even played hockey for his club Mohun Bagan in the world’s oldest hockey tournament, the Beighton Cup. He played 46 first-class games, scored 1592 runs, seven fifties and took 47 wickets. Chuni Goswami won the Padma Shree in 1983, the Arjuna award in 1963 and the Best Asian Striker award in 1962. He passed away at the age of 82 in Kolkata after prolonged illness. To date, Chuni Goswami has remained as Indian football’s only poster-boy.