Stephen and the Media

AFC Magazine

Award for Stephen Constantine

By: Tim Maitland 
Nepal (23.3. 00)

An English football coach, almost completely unknown in his native country, will on Friday (24th March) have his status confirmed as a national hero in Nepal when he is awarded one of the Himalayan country's highest honors.

Stephen Constantine, the 36-y'ear-old coach of the Nepalese national tearn, has been summoned to the royal palace in Kathmandu to be presented with the Prabal Gorkha Dakshin Baahu Medal by His Majesty the King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev.

Constantine, along with officials and players from the Nepalese national team, is being recognized for finishing second in last year's South Asian Federation Games.

"It's unbelievable," says Constantine with a modesty he might have learned when his playing career bit its high point at Non-League Enfield Town.

"I don't know if 1 fully deserve such an honor though 1 am absolutely chuffed. 1 do think that there are a lot more people who have done a great deal more than me and will not be receiving this award."

Forced to retire by a snapped anterior cruciate ligament at the age of 27 after scraping a living playing in the United States, Constantine

had enjoyed some success as a coach in the lower divisions of football in Cyprus. His previous claim to fame was coaching Apep FC to the island's second division title in 1996. Ten months ago he was told he was too young to coach in the first division in Cyprus because he couldn't "influence the referees .

Then in August last year he arrived in Nepal to take over a national team that had won just two games in five years. Within a month his name was on everyone's lips as Nepal reached the final of the SAF Games, South Asia's regional Olympics, before losing 1-0 to Bangladesh.

"The people that 1 have spoken to seem to feel that 1 deserve it, not just because of the silver medal, but because of our fighting spirit and the fact that for the semi-final 1 decided to wear Nepal national dress," explains the former Millwall and Chelsea youth team player."I did it as a gesture to show that 1 was 100% behind the boys no matter what happened, and that if we lost, we all lost.

"Apparently no coach had ever worn their national dress, not even their own coaches. 1 am sure this had something to do with it because we didn't win the gold.

"I was in tears when we went up to receive our silver from the Crown Prince. 1 was so gutted. It would have been brilliant to give them the gold, but it just wasn't meant to happen 1 suppose.

"We hit the underside of the crossbar three minutes from time; Hari our forward swore It crossed the line which is why he turned away to celebrate."

"Everybody was very happy when we saw him in the national dress ... recalls Ganesh Thapa, the president of the All Nepal Football Association. "He was trying to bring unity. He behaves like he has , Nepalese blood. "He has worked very hard. The awards are really a great encouragement for all footballers in our country. Our boys' performance in the SAF Games was excellent. They played very well, even in the final. This is really a great honour and a great moment in their lives."

The Nepalese public, starved of success, were treated to a 7-0 victory over Bhutan (for whorn it was a first involvement for 10 years in the SAF Garnes) and a 3-1 win for Pakistan In the group phase.

With qualification guaranteed they suffered a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of India, a defeat that Constantine believes was crucial as it cured a growing over-confidence. Then in the semi-finals, with their coach Inspiring them with his traditional costume, they defeated Maidives 2-1 with more than 20,000 fans packed into the National Stadium.

"The country went absolutely nuts," says Constantine. "There was such a feel good factor. 1 have never seen anything like it. It was, 1 have been told, a very long tirne since the whole country was so united. It would have been fairy tale stuff if we could have won the gold.

"A number of things happened as a result of our performances: we earned a little respect from the other countries in our region, it was morally good for Nepal, a bit of pride if you like, and it made me look good as a coach."

On a global scale, of course Nepal's achievement is negligible, but it represents an immediate payback for ANFA's ambition and their implementation of a carefully constructed youth development programme.

"In the last three or four years football In Nepal has had a revolution at the grass roots level," says Thapa. "We have decentralized rnany of our activities into the 25 districts and football is going Into all parts of the country.

"Soon we'll have five regional academies as well as the central one in Kathmandu. We'll have 20 boys in each age group in each area, and we'll pay for their education and accommodation, everything.

"We can be one of the best teams, maybe not as good as Iran, japan, China, Korea Republic and Saudi Arabia, but maybe in four or five years we can reach the level of the second tier of countries in Asia. We can certainly aim to be one of the best teams in the South Asian region."

As for Stephen Constantine, he's still pinching himself to make sure it's really happening.

"I can't begin to describe what this means to me from Enfield, the States, to Cyprus, pretty much unknown, to this. It is a dream. I sometimes think how lucky I am to not only be involved in this beautiful game, but out of the blue to have become a national team coach at 36. Then to win the silver with a team that had won two games in like five years and if that was not enough, to be awarded this medal is just fairy tale stuff. I am extremely honored and grateful for the award."

Back to Media