#OnThisDay in 1948, India played their first international match Competing at @Olympics, the Indian team - most of whom were playing barefoot - pushed France all the way before going down to a 2-1 defeat
Indian football's unique tale
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.
Humble beginnings to I-League exposure 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.”
While East Bengal and Mohun Bagan remain easily the most successful teams in Indian football history, and while Kolkota remains its firm hotbed, other teams and other cities have forged firm places on Indian domestic football’s map. Salgaocar and JCT – from the Goa and Punjab states respectively – have also enjoyed their own successes over the years, and the 2007 introduction of the impressively sponsored and cutely marketed I-League has soared the sport’s popularity all over the globe’s second-most populous country. Goa outfit Dempo have won three of its first five editions.
Glory to gloom and back again India’s first international competition came at the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament London 1948, where they met France for a place in the second round. And if anybody had given the Asians a chance of a gargantuan upset on their way to Cricketfield Stadium, nobody did when they saw the Indians take to the pitch barefoot! The Europeans expectedly took the lead, but roared on by the crowd – who were in awe of them playing without footwear – India equalised and laid siege to their opponents goal thereafter. However, after missing two penalties, they were hit with a sucker-punch when Rene Persillon snatched a last-gasp winner for the Europeans.
“Princess Margaret told me how impressed she was that we could give such a good account of ourselves without boots,” India captain Talimeran Ao later recalled. Those words from the distinguished royal, whose father, George VI, was the last Emperor of India, were not the only source of pride the Indians took from that trip to Europe: before returning home, indeed, they beat Dutch giants Ajax in a friendly.
India, boasting super talents such as PK Banjeree and Neville D’Souza, established themselves as the best team in Asia over the next 15 years. They won the First Asian Games in 1951, incredibly reached the semi-finals at the Olympics five years later, overcame Korea Republic in the Fourth Asian Games decider in 1962, and finished as runners-up at the AFC Asian Cup two years later.
As the likes of Iran, Japan, Korea Republic and Saudi Arabia emerged, India descended into continental nobodies thereafter, until a stirring recent revival. Following the appointment of Englishman Bob Houghton in 2006, and inspired by outstanding forwards Baichung Bhutia and Sunil Chhetri, the Blue Tigers won the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008, back-to-back Nehru Cups and SAFF Championships, and last year participated in their first Asian Cup in 27 years. And under new coach Wim Koevermans, the Indians upset Cameroon on Sunday to make it three consecutive Nehru Cup titles.
“This is a golden era for Indian football,” enthused All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel recently. “It’s no longer about cricket. Children in India are crazy about football. They have seen the national team’s success in recent years. Now they will see Sunil [Chhetri] playing in Portugal (Chhetri has joined Lisbon giants Sporting’s B side) and dream of emulating him. Football is the future.”
What would probable I-League absence mean for Goan football?
The state's football is already reeling from years of neglect and mismanagement and losing its crown jewel would be its lowest ebb.
With just less than 90 days remaining to the start of I-League 2018-19 season, Goa's Churchill Brothers entry is still uncertain. And if the Goan club is left out from the country’s present top tier, this will be the first time in the history of Indian Football that the football-rich state will have no representative in the top tier.
With Dempo SC, Sporting Clube de Goa and Salgaocar FC withdrawing from the league in the 2015-16, Churchill Brothers was the only team from the western state competing in the league for last two seasons but the club finished ninth, just above Indian Arrows who had immunity from the relegation, forcing their demotion.
If the Goan club does not get an entry in the league, it will be a huge loss to the state where Football is the official sport. Though the state government has announced it in 2012, football is rapidly losing its fame in the state. Goa Professional League which is the top tier of the state has been without sponsors in the last three seasons, while the league has also lost its charm as average attendance was less than 50 fans per match, last season, which actually runs for more than six months (the longest domestic league in the country).
The Indian National team used to field almost six-seven Goan players in the past but the present scene is a complete contrast – as the recently named probable list revealed by Stephen Constantine doesn't have any Goan player.
“There are major ramifications here to start with; it’s not good for Goan football & Goan players. The demand for & of the players go down, as a result, the salary goes down which is the case at this moment. Non-participation in the I-league means players can’t catch the eye of the National selectors. Four-five month season, means, players aren’t given a 12-month contract. The overall effect is, good budding players have to abandon their dreams to pursue some other career and most importantly the clubs that have been there for so many years have started to shut down.” Former India International and FC Goa Development side head coach, Clifford Miranda said with much concern.
Already three Goan teams have withdrawn from the I-league which has already cut down the platform for the native players at the top level and now if Churchill Brothers does not get its entry in the league, the situation for the upcoming stars from the state will be very knotty as they will have to move out of the state in search of bigger platform to prove their calibre.
In the 2016-17 season when players like Adil Khan, Brandon Fernandes, Rowilson Rodrigues, Richard Costa, Seriton Fernandes, Anthony D’Souza, Keenan Almeida and many more who were making a comeback in their second stint, Churchill Brothers was the team who gave them the platform to prove their caliber. The same players were either picked by ISL clubs or bigger teams from the I-League in the next season after their superb performance with the Goan club but the current scenario will cut down the platform for the upcoming talents from the state.
SESA Football Academy is one of the well-known academies in the state but the players who are well furnished in the academy to become professional players will have no employment in the near future if the present scenario does not gets changed. The head coach of the academy, Ajay Acharya said “When I joined the academy, there were plenty of teams from Goa in the I-League. So, it was very easy for our graduates to find the teams but the situation is completely different now. If Goa does not represent at the higher level then it will make our path little difficult but now our target is to get our player into the ISL’s development sides or into other outstation I-League teams.”
"Even a newly formed Dempo Football Academy which was accredited with three stars by the All India Football Federation is doing a great job at the grassroots level but looking at the state’s present condition, the near future of these players is very dark. Another former India International and present Dempo SC head coach Samir Naik is also sadden with the current situation of the Goan Football as he said “When we (Dempo) and other three teams use to play in the I-League there use to be more employed players from the state but now many football players are unemployed due to no Goan team in the top tier of the country. That also made it difficult for the players to get the attention of the national team selectors."
"Frankly speaking, Goan football is in the worst stage. Goan players still have that caliber to compete at any level but present situation has cut down their options. You won’t get the experience of a higher difficulty level just by playing Goa Pro League. There are many talented players in the GPL but they need a higher level of football to groom their talent. The day when Goa will have more than three teams in the top tier, I can assure you that there will be more Goans in the national team.”
With so much of talent in the state, Goa deserves more teams at the top tier but the AIFF has overlooked the contribution of the Goan football clubs who have been contributing to Indian Football since the past 50 years.
Comments
#OnThisDay in 1948, India played their first international match Competing at @Olympics, the Indian team - most of whom were playing barefoot - pushed France all the way before going down to a 2-1 defeat
Indian football's unique tale
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.
Humble beginnings to I-League exposure
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.”
While East Bengal and Mohun Bagan remain easily the most successful teams in Indian football history, and while Kolkota remains its firm hotbed, other teams and other cities have forged firm places on Indian domestic football’s map. Salgaocar and JCT – from the Goa and Punjab states respectively – have also enjoyed their own successes over the years, and the 2007 introduction of the impressively sponsored and cutely marketed I-League has soared the sport’s popularity all over the globe’s second-most populous country. Goa outfit Dempo have won three of its first five editions.
Glory to gloom and back again
India’s first international competition came at the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament London 1948, where they met France for a place in the second round. And if anybody had given the Asians a chance of a gargantuan upset on their way to Cricketfield Stadium, nobody did when they saw the Indians take to the pitch barefoot! The Europeans expectedly took the lead, but roared on by the crowd – who were in awe of them playing without footwear – India equalised and laid siege to their opponents goal thereafter. However, after missing two penalties, they were hit with a sucker-punch when Rene Persillon snatched a last-gasp winner for the Europeans.
“Princess Margaret told me how impressed she was that we could give such a good account of ourselves without boots,” India captain Talimeran Ao later recalled. Those words from the distinguished royal, whose father, George VI, was the last Emperor of India, were not the only source of pride the Indians took from that trip to Europe: before returning home, indeed, they beat Dutch giants Ajax in a friendly.
India, boasting super talents such as PK Banjeree and Neville D’Souza, established themselves as the best team in Asia over the next 15 years. They won the First Asian Games in 1951, incredibly reached the semi-finals at the Olympics five years later, overcame Korea Republic in the Fourth Asian Games decider in 1962, and finished as runners-up at the AFC Asian Cup two years later.
As the likes of Iran, Japan, Korea Republic and Saudi Arabia emerged, India descended into continental nobodies thereafter, until a stirring recent revival. Following the appointment of Englishman Bob Houghton in 2006, and inspired by outstanding forwards Baichung Bhutia and Sunil Chhetri, the Blue Tigers won the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008, back-to-back Nehru Cups and SAFF Championships, and last year participated in their first Asian Cup in 27 years. And under new coach Wim Koevermans, the Indians upset Cameroon on Sunday to make it three consecutive Nehru Cup titles.
“This is a golden era for Indian football,” enthused All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel recently. “It’s no longer about cricket. Children in India are crazy about football. They have seen the national team’s success in recent years. Now they will see Sunil [Chhetri] playing in Portugal (Chhetri has joined Lisbon giants Sporting’s B side) and dream of emulating him. Football is the future.”
https://twitter.com/IndianFootball?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author
What would probable I-League absence mean for Goan football?
The state's football is already reeling from years of neglect and mismanagement and losing its crown jewel would be its lowest ebb.
With just less than 90 days remaining to the start of I-League 2018-19 season, Goa's Churchill Brothers entry is still uncertain. And if the Goan club is left out from the country’s present top tier, this will be the first time in the history of Indian Football that the football-rich state will have no representative in the top tier.
With Dempo SC, Sporting Clube de Goa and Salgaocar FC withdrawing from the league in the 2015-16, Churchill Brothers was the only team from the western state competing in the league for last two seasons but the club finished ninth, just above Indian Arrows who had immunity from the relegation, forcing their demotion.
If the Goan club does not get an entry in the league, it will be a huge loss to the state where Football is the official sport. Though the state government has announced it in 2012, football is rapidly losing its fame in the state. Goa Professional League which is the top tier of the state has been without sponsors in the last three seasons, while the league has also lost its charm as average attendance was less than 50 fans per match, last season, which actually runs for more than six months (the longest domestic league in the country).
The Indian National team used to field almost six-seven Goan players in the past but the present scene is a complete contrast – as the recently named probable list revealed by Stephen Constantine doesn't have any Goan player.
“There are major ramifications here to start with; it’s not good for Goan football & Goan players. The demand for & of the players go down, as a result, the salary goes down which is the case at this moment. Non-participation in the I-league means players can’t catch the eye of the National selectors. Four-five month season, means, players aren’t given a 12-month contract. The overall effect is, good budding players have to abandon their dreams to pursue some other career and most importantly the clubs that have been there for so many years have started to shut down.” Former India International and FC Goa Development side head coach, Clifford Miranda said with much concern.
Already three Goan teams have withdrawn from the I-league which has already cut down the platform for the native players at the top level and now if Churchill Brothers does not get its entry in the league, the situation for the upcoming stars from the state will be very knotty as they will have to move out of the state in search of bigger platform to prove their calibre.
In the 2016-17 season when players like Adil Khan, Brandon Fernandes, Rowilson Rodrigues, Richard Costa, Seriton Fernandes, Anthony D’Souza, Keenan Almeida and many more who were making a comeback in their second stint, Churchill Brothers was the team who gave them the platform to prove their caliber. The same players were either picked by ISL clubs or bigger teams from the I-League in the next season after their superb performance with the Goan club but the current scenario will cut down the platform for the upcoming talents from the state.
SESA Football Academy is one of the well-known academies in the state but the players who are well furnished in the academy to become professional players will have no employment in the near future if the present scenario does not gets changed. The head coach of the academy, Ajay Acharya said “When I joined the academy, there were plenty of teams from Goa in the I-League. So, it was very easy for our graduates to find the teams but the situation is completely different now. If Goa does not represent at the higher level then it will make our path little difficult but now our target is to get our player into the ISL’s development sides or into other outstation I-League teams.”
"Even a newly formed Dempo Football Academy which was accredited with three stars by the All India Football Federation is doing a great job at the grassroots level but looking at the state’s present condition, the near future of these players is very dark. Another former India International and present Dempo SC head coach Samir Naik is also sadden with the current situation of the Goan Football as he said “When we (Dempo) and other three teams use to play in the I-League there use to be more employed players from the state but now many football players are unemployed due to no Goan team in the top tier of the country. That also made it difficult for the players to get the attention of the national team selectors."
"Frankly speaking, Goan football is in the worst stage. Goan players still have that caliber to compete at any level but present situation has cut down their options. You won’t get the experience of a higher difficulty level just by playing Goa Pro League. There are many talented players in the GPL but they need a higher level of football to groom their talent. The day when Goa will have more than three teams in the top tier, I can assure you that there will be more Goans in the national team.”
With so much of talent in the state, Goa deserves more teams at the top tier but the AIFF has overlooked the contribution of the Goan football clubs who have been contributing to Indian Football since the past 50 years.