There's a sad history of the Travancore-Cochin team that went to play in the 1953-54 Calcutta (present Kolkatta) Santosh Trophy, having to watch the game from the stands. After weeks of travel, when they arrived in Kolkata by train, they learned that the All India Football Federation had made boots compulsory for domestic football. Many players on the team didn't have boots then. The Travancore-Cochin team, after watching a few matches from the stands, returned home. The very next year, they played in Madras with boots but couldn't achieve much.
In the 1955-56 season, the Santosh Trophy arrived for the first time in Kerala. It was the hard work of Lt. Colonel G.V. Raja (Godavarma Raja) that brought the tournament to Ernakulam, and the venue was Maharaja's College Ground, Ernakulam. The land and its people were immersed in the joy of football. For the first tournament, a strong team had to be fielded. Remember this was before the formation of the state of Kerala.
Vattaparambil Nainam Thomas, known as Pappachan, who was considered for the Indian football team for the 1948 London Olympics, was made the coach of the Travancore-Cochin team. After excellent preparations, the team entered the field. The first match was against Rajputana (an area that included parts of today's Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat states). A resounding three-goal victory. Krishnan Nair, Indrapalan, and Vincent were the goal scorers.
On January 3, 1956, the second-round match was against Bihar. A win would take them to the quarterfinals. That was another brilliant victory by give goals. Krishnan Nair and Diclaus scored one goal each, while M. Vincent, the forward from Transport, scored a hat-trick. This was the first hat-trick by a Malayali in the history of the Santosh Trophy. Subsequently, many Malayali hat-tricks were scored in the Santosh Trophy.
In the quarterfinals, they faced Bengal, whose attack was led by the Indian football trinity: P.K. Banerjee, Chuni Goswami, and Balaram. The thrilling match on January 8, 1956 at Maharaja's Ground ended in a 1-1 draw. Indrapalan made a sharp reply to P.K. Banerjee's goal. In the second leg on the tenth, P.K. Banerjee and Chuni Goswami rained goals into the post guarded by Benjamin, shattering Travancore-Cochin's semifinal dreams.
Encouraged by the enthusiasm in Ernakulam, G.V. Raja secured the hosting rights for the following year as well. But they lost 2-1 to Punjab in the very first round. Iqbal Singh and Mohinder Singh scored for Punjab, while Vincent gave the consolation goal for Kerala.
Vincent, a native of Kunnukuzhi Thamburanmukku, Thiruvananthapuram, gained a reputation as an outstanding striker even during his school days at Trivandrum St. Joseph's School. He didn't have to wait long for a call to join the then-dominant Transport team. When Transport emerged victorious in tournaments, including the Kottayam Mammen Mappillai Trophy, it was Vincent's boots that roared.
While working at Transport, Vincent left the field of life on July 17, 1982. He was only 50 when he passed away leaving behind his wife Vijayamma and children Roy Vincent, Ellen Vincent and Jose Vincent