Former TN footballer and coach Shanmugam dead

Former Tamil Nadu football player and coach R Shanmugam died here on Saturday due to age-related illness.

He was 77 and is survived by two sons and a daughter. Shanmugam, who was born in Burma (now Myanmar) in 1943, had represented the Burmese junior and senior national teams in 1966-'67.

According to B Ravikumar David, former General Secretary of Tamil Nadu Football Association, Shanmugam had played for Indian Railways in the Santhosh Trophy in 1969 and Tamil Nadu in the Jalandhar nationals in 1970 and in Chennai in 1971.

Shanmugam had also played for Mohun Bagan in 1968.

He played for ICF in the Chennai Football Association (CFA) League from 1969 to 1977.

He had attended the FIFA Coca-Cola coaching course in 1978 & '91, and the Olympic solidarity course in 1996.

Shanmugam obtained diplomas in football coaching from the National Institute of Sports in 1975-76 and the Brazilian Football Academy in 1995.

He coached ICF, Tamil Nadu and Indian Railways in the Santosh trophy and also served as selector for Tamil Nadu and Railways.

Shanmugam has also served as the president of the Football Coaches Association in Chennai.