was going through indian fottball team wikipedia page
found out this
After withdrawing from the 1950 FIFA World Cup, India did not enter the qualifying rounds of the tournament between 1954 and 1982 Since the 1986 qualifiers, with the exception of the 1990 edition of the tournament, the team started to participate in qualifiers
My simple question WHY THE HELL DID NOT??? Well I thought India were not able to qualify because they may may have not come 1st in any group just like these days. So many opportunities missed just because we didn't play in the qualifying rounds, Also went through wikipedia of Asian qualifiers, until 1998, there were only 2 teams from Asia. Also found out many top teams like japan, korea also didn't play much qualifiers regularly too. Many a times teams withdrew from wcq competitions. This has come as a shock for me.
Just image Indian players like PK Banjerjee, Balram, Chuni Goswami being in the same league as Pele, Garrincha, Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore etc
Bob Houghton was vocal to reduce participation of top 30 players in all tournaments which was misinterpreted by bengali media as Bob wants to shut down CFL, Durand etc. His point was let top players play in NFL & Fed and have them some International tours. I agree with him as season was longer for NFL that time. However I strongly feel its all about a proper scheduling. I have not seen a perfectly scheduled season matched with FIFA window yet. Yes it is true India did not play in WCQ as sports was dominated by IOC thanks to Nehru. IOC considered only Oly is important. BCCI, AIFF was not at all strong. Thanks to BCCI we have some counter voice now. Also PK, Chuni etc wanted to be blue eyed boys and considered Oly, Asian Games (Not Asian Cup) as prestigious and FIFA WC was for professionals, 100% Indian players and coach were job holders (there is a misconception about Rahim sab that he was professional, he wasnt actually, Amal Dutta was first professional coach and Bhaichungh Bhutia is first prof footballer). FIFA WC was not much popular also and Indian mostly followed Oly. It became popular with Amal Dutta's video shows, telecast by DD, triumph of Brazil in Jule Remiet and of course 1986 show be Maradona. Honestly Indian (football lover) came to know about modern football after watching WC. (Indian stadium started fading). Then Ciric Milovan pushed a bit but it was may be the first blow in the face of tunnel (we are still digging and yet to see light from other side) Hence actually India started playing in WCQ when other Asian teams went miles ahead. We had only IMV, Akil Ansari ,VP Satyen, Bruno Coutinho as quality players when we first participated. We had no chance. We started performing well in age group after induction of TFA. Do you guys know in 1978 we were Asian youth champion beating all middle eastern teams, Japs, Koreans etc. Team had Surajit Sengupta, Biswajit Bhattyacharya, Brambhananda (Need to check as I dont remember). They all bagged good job in RBI, SBI, Rails etc and become happy and fat. Their counterparts in Korea, Japs ventured in Europe and took their country in new footballing high.
Yes it is true India did not play in WCQ as sports was dominated by IOC thanks to Nehru. IOC considered only Oly is important.
Ok. Even in that case apart from hockey, no individual medals till 2000(bronze), 2008(gold).
Also PK, Chuni etc wanted to be blue eyed boys and considered Oly, Asian
Games (Not Asian Cup) as prestigious and FIFA WC was for professionals
- Professional here Meaning?
Honestly Indian (football lover) came to know about modern football after watching WC
- Means after 1986. It was the first telecasted event. Man even then how many had TV's in home. Only privileged people in cities. My father said in 80's there was only 1 TV in kannur district in kerala in an auditorium which was probably provided by a rich person for community viewing. There was no electricity either. Even people watched cricket world cup 1999 in a large group in families who owned TVs. All use to sit in the floor to watch. That too a small CRT set. I first watched FIFA WC in 98, i kept asking the elders where is India?
They all bagged good job in RBI, SBI, Rails etc and become happy and
fat. Their counterparts in Korea, Japs ventured in Europe and took their
country in new footballing high.
- Ahh. The constant government settled job mentality. This sports quota system in govt. jobs is the biggest killer of talents India. Still people play sports to get into Railways and do jobs like TTE. (like what is shown in MSD movie)
Professional means you need to have a professional contract with a club. However all these Indian players never showed their contract as a professional contract as they were employed by govt. Even Asim Biswas, Rahim Nabi employed in Metro Rail, Calcutta Electric Supply Corp etc. Amal Dutta played a huge role to show FIFA world cups' video to sub urban cities and villages of WB. He went to London to get a coaching degree from FA. He bought VCR and cassettes of the series - Giants of Brazil. He used to show on screen and give commentary in Bengali. People of Bengal got a real taste of world football that time. Yes more or less scenario is same for owning a TV and others. I can go on and on with reasons why India has never played a single WC. I used to play in the day and research in night after my 10th and 12th (we had some gap to enjoy after board exam). I found many reasons - 1. Preference to barefoot football as sole dodge was main tool of Indians (In FIFA WC, boot was mandatory, even in preparatory camp of 1950 WC camp, Sailen Manna had trouble with boots). 2. People did not want to have such a long voyage to Brazil. Actually footballer were happy to get the trip cancelled. (You can't blame footballers, that was Indian mentality that time. I read Sunil Gavaskar had booked air ticket to US for a vacation along with family considering Indian would not qualify into semis of 1983 CWC. He had to cancel tickets after Kapils' knock against Zimbabwe) 3. We had 60 mins game (30 - 30) later increased to 70 mins (35 - 35). Entire world played 90 mins. Even we shifted to paneled football afterwards. PK, Chuni, Balaram all played in one panel football (panel was for pumping air). Ball was heavier and bouncy. International football shifted to panel football long back which allowed players to bend, curl, or trap easily which led to good passing and eye shooting football. We had first fefernova ball in 2005 when Constantine came to India for the first time. He insisted we should play in international ball as players were having difficulties in Intl matches. 4. Sorry to say that players used to get hero worship after wining Rovers, Durand or CFL whereas getting defeated by International would have hampered godly image of them 5. People who think that if we would have played WCQ and got qualified may need to think twice as when strong team came in Nehru cup, India did not do well. * Its only in 1984 Asia cup under Ciric Miloval India tried to adapt 4-4-2 formation. Earlier formation was mostly 3-2-5 (yes five forward, three in the center and two in wing). 6. Hockey was Delhi's favorite team and may be Kabaddi, football was neglected because mostly played in Bengal and Kerala, Punjab. (Goa, Sikkim annexed later) 7. We never had any quality foreigner before Majid Baskar who came from Iran's youth team. Hence our players were not actually tasted. 8. When Krisanu Dey, Sudip Chatterjee, Atanu Bhattacharya, Bikash Panji, Inder, Zizou Jackob all were inform India got badly defeated by Bangladesh when Jewel Rana and Rumi (just two quality players who played in India) was in form. 9. Victory in 1962 was in Asian Games not in Asia Cup. Other teams sent their Olympic team not professional teams. Hence no need to think our footballers were so great like legends. If they really had the quality sudden deterioration of next generation is very rare, you may refer Hungery which is an exception. 10. Its a collective failure, lack of - infrastructure, administration, exposure, youth development, ego, coach, money, glamour short slightness all contributed to the present situation of Indian football.
@dhritiman7 , listed the reasons very well. Fully agree.
A lesser responsible reason would be the duration -- or staging -- the football season during the monsoons, which hampered development of players. We shifted to winter much later, when the NFL started, in 1996.
On a different note, much plurality existed in sports till the seventies. Hockey, Basketball, Tennis were popular. We had Basketball stars like Sunil Panda, Pradip Srivatava and Abbas Moontasir; Tennis stars like Amritraj Bros, Premjit Lal, Naresh Kumar, Joydeep Mukherjee, Vece Paes and so on. All players of the Indian Hockey team were stars. Post '83, cricket swallowed other sports and we happily became single sport country.
In football, we started lagging from the late sixties, or early seventies, but we ignored. We were directionless even after starting NFL in the nineties on FIFA prodding. But then, we have already missed the bus by a long margin.
Meanwhile, hoodwinking ourselves still continues with shifting participation date in WC ...
Why football did not develop as Cricket in India despite both of them being English games? Why did the British empire not popularise Cricket in their colonies? So many countries play football, yet only 10 teams play Cricket?
Calcutta, June 1942. Some players and officials at the East Bengal football ground were shocked to see a thin man, looking almost destitute, walk into the tent. The man was a refugee from Rangoon. What happened next is a stuff of legends. A thread. 1/18
It was the summer of 1942. The world was in the throes of the most devastating war mankind had seen. Slowly, the embers of war had spread to Asia. In February, Rangoon fell to Imperial Japan. 2/18
This watershed event prompted a great exodus of Europeans, Anglo-Indians & Indians from Rangoon back to Indian territory. The British administration only allowed Europeans to be repatriated back on ships and boats. 3/18
Other refugees were left to fend for themselves. In the face of Japanese invasion & growing anti-Indian sentiment, these hapless people were left with only one option: to trek thousands of miles through forests and mountains and reach India through Manipur or Arakan. 4/18
Astonishingly, more than 2 lakh people risked their lives and walked to India by foot while navigating the perilous terrain. The actual number of refugees who perished while travelling may have been higher than the estimated 4,000. 5/18
One of them, our hero, travelled about 500 kilometres solely on foot while clutching the hands of his wife and daughter and navigating the treacherous terrain of mountains, dense forests, and rivers. 6/18
After he entered the East Bengal ground, some of the officials recognized him. 7/18
They'd met him during a football trip to Burma. He was one of the top footballers in Rangoon in the 30s and early 40s. And now, he was one of the unfortunate millions who had traversed hundreds of miles on foot for a better future. 8/18
His name was Fred Pugsley and this is his incredible tale. Having arrived in Calcutta with his young family, Pugsley went to the only place he knew, the East Bengal club. Seeing his miserable condition, the officials decided to sign him. But they were concerned. 9/18
Pugsley was already past his best. Plus the arduous journey through Arakan had left him in a sickly state. Pugsley could play only 3 games in the 1942 season. So poor was his condition that in one of the matches, he started vomiting blood. 10/18
Doctors advised not to field him. Luckily at this time, Pugsley secured a job at Burnpur steel plant & moved with his young family there. With a war raging, it was difficult for him to get leave and he only made sporadic appearances in '43 & '44 seasons. 11/18
By 1945, Pugsley was thought to have been done as a player. But a surprise awaited. With the end of war approaching, Pugsley was able to convince his employer to grant him leave for the full Calcutta Football league season. 12/18
In the season opener against EC Customs, he scored 3 goals in a 6-0 win. In the next Vs Rangers, Pugsley went one better as EB won 6-1. He remained prolific in that season ending as top scorer with 21 goals as EB defended their league title successfully. 13/18
But Pugsley's best was yet to come. Calcutta football was just warming up to the Calcutta derby sentiment. The 1945-46 IFA shield final pitted the two Calcutta giants against each other. Excitement was at an all-time high. 14/18
Large crowds had come in from the districts to watch the final. Allegations of sabotage flew thick & fast to the point that additional police forces were kept ready in anticipation of violence. Meanwhile, while the war had ended in Europe, it was still raging in Asia. 15/18
The British crown was determined to recover Burma and a casualty was Pugsley's leave - he hadn't made a single appearance till then. Hours before the final was to start, Pugsley shocked everyone by walking into the tent. 16/18
In a tightly fought encounter at Mohun Bagan ground, East Bengal defeated their arch rival by a solitary goal netted by the thundering left foot of Pugsley. It was East Bengal's first Calcutta League/IFA Shield double. 17/18
And the man who made it possible was the Anglo-Burmese refugee who had travelled through forests and mountains in search of a better future. Fred Pugsley was a goal-machine like no other in Indian football and this is the greatest refugee story Indian football ever had. 18/18
Source: The story is exclusively sourced from Wikipedia articles and relevant citations. For further reading follow the links -
Bipin Behari Kapur, Rangoon, Burma, poor citizens flee as Japanese warplanes approach December 1941, public domain from Wikimedia
Jugantor Patrika, 1945 IFA Shield Final – East Bengal and Mohun Bagan captains before the match, in which, Pugsley scored the lone goal. CC BY-SA 4.0 from Wikimedia.
Comments
However I strongly feel its all about a proper scheduling. I have not seen a perfectly scheduled season matched with FIFA window yet.
Yes it is true India did not play in WCQ as sports was dominated by IOC thanks to Nehru. IOC considered only Oly is important. BCCI, AIFF was not at all strong. Thanks to BCCI we have some counter voice now.
Also PK, Chuni etc wanted to be blue eyed boys and considered Oly, Asian Games (Not Asian Cup) as prestigious and FIFA WC was for professionals, 100% Indian players and coach were job holders (there is a misconception about Rahim sab that he was professional, he wasnt actually, Amal Dutta was first professional coach and Bhaichungh Bhutia is first prof footballer).
FIFA WC was not much popular also and Indian mostly followed Oly.
It became popular with Amal Dutta's video shows, telecast by DD, triumph of Brazil in Jule Remiet and of course 1986 show be Maradona. Honestly Indian (football lover) came to know about modern football after watching WC. (Indian stadium started fading).
Then Ciric Milovan pushed a bit but it was may be the first blow in the face of tunnel (we are still digging and yet to see light from other side)
Hence actually India started playing in WCQ when other Asian teams went miles ahead. We had only IMV, Akil Ansari ,VP Satyen, Bruno Coutinho as quality players when we first participated. We had no chance.
We started performing well in age group after induction of TFA.
Do you guys know in 1978 we were Asian youth champion beating all middle eastern teams, Japs, Koreans etc. Team had Surajit Sengupta, Biswajit Bhattyacharya, Brambhananda (Need to check as I dont remember). They all bagged good job in RBI, SBI, Rails etc and become happy and fat. Their counterparts in Korea, Japs ventured in Europe and took their country in new footballing high.
Also PK, Chuni etc wanted to be blue eyed boys and considered Oly, Asian Games (Not Asian Cup) as prestigious and FIFA WC was for professionals
Honestly Indian (football lover) came to know about modern football after watching WC
Amal Dutta played a huge role to show FIFA world cups' video to sub urban cities and villages of WB. He went to London to get a coaching degree from FA. He bought VCR and cassettes of the series - Giants of Brazil. He used to show on screen and give commentary in Bengali. People of Bengal got a real taste of world football that time.
Yes more or less scenario is same for owning a TV and others.
I can go on and on with reasons why India has never played a single WC. I used to play in the day and research in night after my 10th and 12th (we had some gap to enjoy after board exam). I found many reasons -
1. Preference to barefoot football as sole dodge was main tool of Indians (In FIFA WC, boot was mandatory, even in preparatory camp of 1950 WC camp, Sailen Manna had trouble with boots).
2. People did not want to have such a long voyage to Brazil. Actually footballer were happy to get the trip cancelled. (You can't blame footballers, that was Indian mentality that time. I read Sunil Gavaskar had booked air ticket to US for a vacation along with family considering Indian would not qualify into semis of 1983 CWC. He had to cancel tickets after Kapils' knock against Zimbabwe)
3. We had 60 mins game (30 - 30) later increased to 70 mins (35 - 35). Entire world played 90 mins. Even we shifted to paneled football afterwards. PK, Chuni, Balaram all played in one panel football (panel was for pumping air). Ball was heavier and bouncy. International football shifted to panel football long back which allowed players to bend, curl, or trap easily which led to good passing and eye shooting football. We had first fefernova ball in 2005 when Constantine came to India for the first time. He insisted we should play in international ball as players were having difficulties in Intl matches.
4. Sorry to say that players used to get hero worship after wining Rovers, Durand or CFL whereas getting defeated by International would have hampered godly image of them
5. People who think that if we would have played WCQ and got qualified may need to think twice as when strong team came in Nehru cup, India did not do well.
* Its only in 1984 Asia cup under Ciric Miloval India tried to adapt 4-4-2 formation. Earlier formation was mostly 3-2-5 (yes five forward, three in the center and two in wing).
6. Hockey was Delhi's favorite team and may be Kabaddi, football was neglected because mostly played in Bengal and Kerala, Punjab. (Goa, Sikkim annexed later)
7. We never had any quality foreigner before Majid Baskar who came from Iran's youth team. Hence our players were not actually tasted.
8. When Krisanu Dey, Sudip Chatterjee, Atanu Bhattacharya, Bikash Panji, Inder, Zizou Jackob all were inform India got badly defeated by Bangladesh when Jewel Rana and Rumi (just two quality players who played in India) was in form.
9. Victory in 1962 was in Asian Games not in Asia Cup. Other teams sent their Olympic team not professional teams. Hence no need to think our footballers were so great like legends. If they really had the quality sudden deterioration of next generation is very rare, you may refer Hungery which is an exception.
10. Its a collective failure, lack of - infrastructure, administration, exposure, youth development, ego, coach, money, glamour short slightness all contributed to the present situation of Indian football.
Why did the British empire not popularise Cricket in their colonies? So many countries play football, yet only 10 teams play Cricket?
Ideas?
The Paperclip
Calcutta, June 1942. Some players and officials at the East Bengal football ground were shocked to see a thin man, looking almost destitute, walk into the tent. The man was a refugee from Rangoon. What happened next is a stuff of legends. A thread. 1/18
Source: The story is exclusively sourced from Wikipedia articles and relevant citations. For further reading follow the links -
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Pugs…
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_I…
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Beng…
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_f…
Bipin Behari Kapur, Rangoon, Burma, poor citizens flee as Japanese warplanes approach December 1941, public domain from Wikimedia
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1605080361335394306.html