Aminul Islam; Department of Chemistry, AMU

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   It seems a bit sad to watch Indians celebrating the German conquest in 2014 FIFA world cup and Portugal's victory in the recently-concluded Euro-2016. Do you know that there was a time when Indian fans used to cheer their own football team? At the Olympics, no less? The glam-sham of cricket seem to have dimmed the enthusiasm for football. For the uninformed, the answer is a resounding yes. With the Rio Olympics just weeks away, we take you on a journey back in time and to the legends who made the country proud.

The football history of India is replete with the tales of The Big Three Clubs of Calcutta- Mohun Bagan Athletic Club (declared as the national club of India in 1989), Mohammedan Sporting Club and East Bengal Club. The Indian independence movement against the British rule was spreading rapidly after the uprising of 1857. It was a period of growing political awareness and manifestation of Indian public opinion at national and provincial levels. The spontaneous rebellion fired the imagination of the Indian nationalists throughout the country. Under these circumstances, the foundation of Mohun Bagan in 1889 and Mohammedan Sporting in 1891 was seen not only the birth of football club but a step forward towards promoting a patriotic feeling, developing competitive ethos and fighting spirit among the youth of Bengal.
   Football tournament was initially a military affair, open to the British Army in India with clubs like East Yorkshire Regiment, Highland Light Infantry, Shimla Rifles Worcester Regiment, King's Own Scottish Borderers, Black Watch, Royal Irish Rifles etc. In typical Lagaan style, the barefooted locals (Indians) played against the fully equipped and booted British troops. The disparity was huge, but it is said that they did exhibit their skills, which even the Englishmen acknowledged. In India, the first football game was organized between Calcutta Club of Civilians and the Gentlemen of Barrackpore, in 1854. Durand Cup is a football competition in India which was first held in 1888, making it the third oldest football tournament in the world (FA Cup-1871 & English Football League-1888; both in England). Then there were IFA Shield (Calcutta; 1893) and Calcutta Football League (1898- the oldest league in Asia), Rovers Cup (Bombay; 1891), Koochbehar Cup, Trades Cup, Gladstone Cup, Minto Fort Competition etc. Indian clubs had to endure the dominance of British Clubs till 1933. Although Mohun Bagan won the IFA shield in 1911 defeating East Warwickshire Regiment, it was Mohammedan Sporting Club who broke this tradition in its first appearance in the Calcutta Football league in 1934 and went on to create history by winning it successively for five times upto 1938. It was also the first Indian team to smash the monopoly of the British football teams in the Durand Cup, when they became champions in the year 1940 defeating Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Bangalore Muslims Club was the first Indian team to win the Rovers cup in 1937. Mohammed Salim became the first player from the Indian subcontinent to play overseas, in the year 1936 for the Scottish Club Celtic F.C. With the success of several Indian football clubs, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) was formed in 1937 and affiliated to FIFA, the international governing body for football. In 1954, AIFF became one of the founder members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

FIFA World Cup:
India have never played in the World Cup, although they qualified by default for one in 1950-Brazil as a result of the withdrawal of all of their scheduled opponents. AIFF being not prudent enough and unaware of the significance of this tournament over Olympics took up disastrous decision - not to send Indian team mentioning reasons such as cost of travel (despite the fact that FIFA agreed to bear a major part of the travel expenses), lack of practice time, team selection issues. Ironically, India has never since come close to qualifying for the World Cup.

Olympics:
The 1948 London Olympics was India's first major international tournament, where a predominately barefooted Indian team lost 2-1 to France, failing to convert two penalties. Sarangapani Raman from Bangalore State police was the lone goal scorer. The Indian team was greeted and appreciated by the crowd for their sporting manner. Centre-back, Sailen Manna (Mohun Bagan) was named one of the best 10 Football Captains in the world by the England Football Association in its Yearbook of 1953. Later that event they went on to participate in the 1952 Olympics, but lost to Yugoslavia by 10-1 with Ahmed Mohammed Khan from Bangalore Muslims, the only scorer. After the result AIFF immediately made it mandatory to wear boots. At the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games they finished fourth, which is regarded as one of finest achievements in Indian football. India defeated host Australia by 4-2 with Neville D'Souza becoming the first Asian to score a hat-trick in the Olympics and also making India the first Asian team to reach the Olympic semi-finals (Kittu, being the 4th goal scorer)). They lost 4-1 to Yugoslavia (D'Souza being the only scorer), and lost the third place play-off match 3-0 to Bulgaria. Syed Abdul Rahim, fondly known as Rahim Saab, the coach, deserves accolades for India's success foe implementing team's new embryonic 4-2-4 formation with Samar Banerjee, the captain, sacrificing his preferred position to play in the most critical role of an withdrawn centre-forward. In 1960 Rome Olympics, India could not reach the knockout stage. In the league stage she lost to Hungary by 2-1 (Balaram) and Peru by 3-1 (Balaram) but drawn (1-1; PK Banerjee) against mighty France after holding 1-0 lead deep into second half.

Asian Games:
India became the best team in Asia during 1951 to 1962 (considered as the golden era in Indian football) winning gold medals in the 1951 and 1962 Asian Games. In 1951, India beat both Indonesia and Afghanistan 3-0 to reach the final where they beat then Asian giant Iran by 1-0. They finished second in the 1954 Asian Games held in Manila and fourth in the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, They won 1962 Asian Games where they beat South Korea 2-1 in the final. In 1966 in Bangkok, India were eliminated in first round but took third place in the 1970 Asian Games, beating Japan 1-0 in the third place, play-off. Asian Championship: India have never won the final but managed their best ever finish by making it to the final in the 1964 AFC Asian Cup and had only made three appearances since (1984, 2008, and 2011). India finished second in the Asian Cup in 1964 which was held in round-robin format.

Current FIFA Ranking- 152; Very shocking!! The challenge is to tackle the AIFF's misgovernance, apathy towards the legend footballer and lack of vision. If we do not let the majority of our population know about our glorious past, how can we expect that the common people of India will ever be interested in Indian football?

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