Where does the oldest existing football competition in the world outside Britain take place?
If you’re among the many who don’t know the answer, prepare for surprise. For it’s not the Copa del Rey or the Campeonato Paulista – the most ancient surviving tournaments in mainland Europe and South America respectively – but the Durand Cup in a seemingly remote spot on the footballing atlas: India.
It may sound like a freak curiosity from a nation that is monopolised by two other sports – India have won twice as many men’s Olympic field hockey golds as any other country, while its Twenty20 cricket championship is among the richest events in the world – but scratch beneath its surface and one will uncover a series of enchanting idiosyncrasies.
Mahatma Gandhi, the anti-violence pioneer who led India into independence, used football to help break racial barriers in South Africa and social ones in his homeland; the Indian footballers’ bravery and brilliance in bare feet at the 1948 Olympics earned them no less a fan than Princess Margaret, the younger sister of the then and still-reigning Queen Elizabeth II; Salien Manna was the only Asian to ever make the list of the world’s ten best captains in the English FA’s celebrated football yearbook; India were the dominant force in international football’s infancy in Asia; and the East Bengal-Mohun Bagan clash once boasted a stupefying attendance of 130,000 fans, and regularly attracts crowds of between 80,000 and 105,000.
The British were responsible for introducing football to countless countries the world over in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but they took it to India much earlier. British soldiers, indeed, began playing the game with locals in the late 1840s, and in 1854 the first recorded match took place there between Calcutta Club of Civilians and Gentlemen of Barrackpore.
The Durand Cup was inaugurated in 1888 – it remains the fourth-oldest existing football event across the globe, behind the English FA Cup, the Scottish Cup and the Welsh Cup – and more competitions came into existence in India the following decade. They were, however, all monopolised by the British clubs until 1911, when Mohun Bagan upset East Yorkshire regiment 2-1 in the IFA Shield final. That proved the catalyst in football’s popularity boom in Kolkota.Mohun Bagan, one of Asia’s oldest clubs having been founded in 1889, and East Bengal became instant rivals upon the latter’s 1920 inauguration, with their battles thereafter bringing ‘The City of Joy’ to a standstill.
“Kolkata’s a massive place for football – it’s without doubt the place to be in India,” East Bengal’s English coach Trevor Morgan previously told FIFA.com. “There’s cameras everywhere, so many pressers and tv stations. I coached the reserves for Hull City, and the media coverage here is on a par with the Premier League. Fans are absolutely crazy for football. There were even thousands of fans at the airport when we returned after winning the Federation Cup. They lay at your feet, touch your feet as a mark of respect. The fans live for football.”
> somesh said:
> or was it 0-0 as in the last picture
don't know the score.found these pics while searching for the result of the match. from the last pic it does seems to be 0-0. if so then its a good result against a quality opponent.
Comments
LOL...as if there was any doubt...free publicity for two journalists for a non issue
> rudra said:
> LOL...as if there was any doubt...free publicity for two journalists for a non issue
Subrata is what... 25 and he has to play for the national team if he wants to join a foreign club.
http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/news/newsid=1692684.html
> Pratik234 said:
>
any news from TFA's tour of UK??
> trojan said:
> any news from TFA's tour of UK??
or was it 0-0 as in the last picture
> somesh said:
> or was it 0-0 as in the last picture
tried to find the result for 2 days and gave up