In the beginning
of the nineteenth century, the modern competitive football was first introduced
in Bombay and Karachi and was gradually picked up by Calcutta, which became the
capital of the British Empire in 1858. The first recorded football match was
played in India in 1802 in Bombay between two teams, ‘Military’ and ‘Island’.
The duration of the match was 30 minutes, but no record was found about the two
participating teams.
The club system
in football in colonial Calcutta was started with the setting up of the
Calcutta Football Club in 1872. This Club, despite its name, was primarily a
rugby playing club which did not survive long. The formation of the Trades Club
in 1876 introduced a new phenomenon in football in colonial Calcutta. In 1884,
Sir Martin Durand revived The Calcutta Football Club and football emerged as
the most prominent discipline of sports of that club by replacing rugby.
Gradually, a number of football clubs, including the Rangers Club, Howrah
United Club, American Club were set up which formalised the system of football
among the Europeans residing in the colonial Calcutta.
Before the birth
of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), there was no properly constituted
national body of football in India. The Indian Football Association (IFA),
which was set up in 1893 in Bengal, was considered as the controlling body of
football in the country. The IFA was established to organise the IFA Shield and
the organisation was affiliated to the Football Association (FA) of England.
Thus, all the foreign teams, which were interested to visit India to play
matches in Calcutta or any other city, had to take permission from the IFA in
order to arrange their itinerary.
However, the
football associations in other provinces of the country were reluctant to
operate under the IFA and therefore they took the initiative to set up a
national body for football in India. IFA too felt the displeasure and invited
the representatives of the other football associations in a conference in
Darbhanga in 1935. Shri Manmatha Nath Roychowdhury, Maharaja of Santosh, the
then President of the IFA, presided over the conference. Representatives of the
IFA, Bihar, Assam, UP, Mysore, Delhi and Bombay attended the conference.
However, due to sharp difference in opinion, the delegates of the IFA, along
with Shri Manmatha Nath Roychowdhury, left the meeting. The remaining delegates
set up a body, named ‘All India Football Association’, and Raja Bahadur of
Darbhanga became the first President of the organisation and Shri Rai Bahadur
JP Sinha became the first Honorary Secretary.
The IFA took
another initiative to resolve the matter and sent Shri Pankaj Gupta from IFA to
confer with Brigadier VHB Majendine, the then President of the Army Sports
Control Board. The meeting was held in 1937 and it was agreed that Army Sports
Control Board should convene a conference in which three representatives of the
IFA and three representatives of the ‘All India Football Association’ would be
present.
The said
conference took place in Delhi on 27th March 1937. At the
conference, it was agreed to dissolve the ‘All India Football Association’ and
to set up a new national body of football, named as the ‘All India Football
Federation’ (AIFF), with one representative from each affiliated association
and from the IFA and the Army Sports Control Board.
The following
office bearers were elected at the inaugural meeting:
President:
Brigadier VHB Majendine (Army Sports Control Board)
Honorary
Secretary: Major A.C. Wilson (Army Sports Control Board)
Honorary
Treasurer: Pankaj Gupta (IFA)
The formation
of the AIFF introduced a new beginning in Indian football.
