Archive

Variously described as "the grand old man of Indian football,” "Mr Football,” "the voice of Indian football,” 68-year-old Novy Kapadia’s passing away in New Delhi on November 18, 2021 evoked reminiscences from his fellow commentators, producers/directors of sports channels and reputed sportsmen in the leading city dailies. His encyclopedic knowledge of the game while pursuing a concurrent career as an English lecturer had resulted in the football pundit reporting, writing, commenting and promoting the sport at different forums.
Suffering from a motor neuron disease which causes the nerves in the brain and spine to lose function over time, he was on a ventilator for over a month. "His funeral at the Parsi aramgah was well attended by sports journalists, officials and sportspersons, especially footballers,” mentioned author Gul-Fraaz Ezekiel who had interviewed him for Parsiana nearly two decades ago. Following the cremation, his ashes were interred in the Delhi Parsi aramgah.
"He will always be a chapter in Indian football history that we will turn to often,” the captain of the Indian team Sunil Chhetri was quoted in The Indian Express of November 19. Describing his passing as "the loss of an institution,” Chhetri added, "He brought the game closer to all of us in a way that was unique to him.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Known to have covered nine FIFA World Cups as also the Olympic Games, European Championships, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games until 2018, Kapadia’s commentaries kept the viewers engaged. Initially a commentator with All India Radio and subsequently for television, Kapadia had noted in an interview with Parsiana (see "Novy’s stories and statistics,” August 21, 2006), "A TV commentator’s role is to add to the pictures rather than describe the pictures. That is the major difference between TV and radio commentary.” As he had further related, "I had to provide the technical expertise, give predictions about tactics and style of play. In serious commentary, however, gossip about a player’s love life or girlfriends is not permitted.” He had also referred to the homework a commentator is expected to undertake by studying the newspapers, magazines and the Internet in advance.
In addition to being the ESPN-Star Sports English commentator for over two decades, he was also a sought after bilingual (English and Hindi) studio expert on sports shows of NDTV, CNN-IBN, Headlines Today, Zee News and Zee Sports, among other channels, not just for football but for hockey tournaments as also Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations.
Kapadia was the author of three books on football, the most recent being Barefoot to Boots: The Many Lives of Indian Football. As recalled in the book, as a young 13-year-old, he sneaked away from his maternal grandmother’s funeral to watch a football match at the stadium. He was expecting a reprimand on his return, but to his surprise, his father, uncle as also the late Ervad Darius Bagli were as eager to learn the score! His other work, The Football Fanatic’s Essential Guide was equally popular. He was the editor of Durand Football Journal, served as the Delhi correspondent for The Telegraph of Calcutta and contributed to other leading dailies too. He also wrote a lengthy chapter "A Sporting Tradition: Winning Accolades” for Volume IV of Enduring Legacy, Parsis of the 20th century, covering Parsi sports achievers over a period of 100 years.
Besides sports, his other interest was literature, authoring publications as required by his teaching profession. He had written over 36 research papers on eminent Parsi novelists and further edited books on Parsi literature. Working as an academic during the first half of the day and as a journalist and commentator later "left me no time for socializing; maybe this is the reason I remained unmarried,” Kapadia had conveyed to Parsiana two years earlier (see "The sporting life,” August 7-20, 2019).
An active member of the Delhi Parsi Anjuman, he would edit their journal Dipanjali on special occasions. Advocating a liberal attitude to interfaith marriages, Kapadia believed, "A conciliatory approach has now become a historical necessity. Acceptance of children of mixed marriage couples and openness on the adoption issue are changes which the community must embrace soon.”
Born in Delhi to Soona and Minoo Kapadia, Novy was an alumnus of St Colomba’s School and completed his BA, MA and MPhil in literature from St Stephen’s College where he had captained the football team. He later played for the Delhi XI and the Delhi University teams. From 1977 to 2017 he was a lecturer in English at the Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College from where he retired as associate professor and convener of the department of English.
Once the owner of a football club, Ashoka, which played in the Delhi League, during his illness towards the end, the bachelor needed financial assistance from others. The Union Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry had in March 2020 sanctioned four lakh rupees towards Kapadia’s medical expenses once it came to light that he was yet to get his pension from the Delhi University from where he retired as a professor after 40 years of service. He was also given financial assistance from the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare Fund for Sportspersons, reported Hindustan Times of November 18.