In my last blog (https://wwwsportsenthusiast.blogspot.com/2019/10/interesting-facts-of-indian-football.html), I wrote about the introduction of football in India. In this
blog, I shall write about some interesting facts of football in colonial
Calcutta in that introductory phase. The blog will focus on the activities of
Shri Nagendraprasad Sarbadhikari, who is regarded as the ‘Father of Indian
Football’.
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 added a new dimension to
football in colonial Calcutta. In 1884, Sir Martin Durand revived The Calcutta
Football Club and football emerged as the most prominent discipline of sports
by replacing rugby. Gradually, a number of football clubs, including the
Rangers Club, Howrah United Club, American Club were set up which formalized
the system of football among the Europeans residing in colonial Calcutta.
The confinement of football among the European
community, resided in colonial Calcutta, did not survive long and the wealthy
Bengalis gradually attracted towards the game initially due to the lure of
demonstration effect and later used it as an instrument of nationalism. Shri
Nagendraprasad Sharbadhikar, who discovered football as a mere spectator, and
Shri Nagendranath Mallik of Mallik family of Chorebagan, played an instrumental
role in setting up football teams at the school and college levels. A number of
amateur clubs, whose memberships were given to the students of the Presidency
College, Calcutta Medical College, Shibpur Engineering College, St. Xavier’s
College and Hare School, were gradually set up. However, the Bengali participation
was limited to the teams of the Hare School and the Presidency College only,
which shows the racial policy adopted by the British rulers in the game of
football in colonial Calcutta.
The Bengali participation in football was not
limited to the teams at the school and college levels, but various sporting
clubs were established in different localities to provide playing opportunities to the youth of Bengal.
Shovabazar, Kumartuli, Town, Sporting, Chandannagar, Chinsura, Aryans and Mohun
Bagan were some of the prominent names. All of these teams used to play against
each other as no competition structure was available at the initial stage.
Even, the European teams could not take part in any competition till the Trades
Cup was introduced in 1889.
Shri Nagendraprasad Sarbadhikari played an important
role in broad-basing football in colonial Calcutta. Shri Sarbadhiakri, often
considered as the ‘Father of Indian Football’, inspired his fellow mates of the
Hare School to play football in 1877. Since then, the journey of the Bengali community
with football started. Shri Sarbadhiakri, who kicked a ball first time at the
age of ten, tried to make a social reform by using the medium of football. He,
along with Shri Nagendra Mallik, set up the Friends Club in the premises of
Rajendra Mallik’s house. He made an attempt to consolidate the Wellington Club
(1884) with a vision of making the Bengali community strong enough to compete
against the British teams in the game of football. The club authorities decided
to offer membership irrespective of caste and creed.
However, Shri Sarbadhiakri faced a strong opposition
from the high class and high caste members of the club while trying to provide
membership to a potter’s son, Moni Das. The visionary leader of football was
shaken by this opposition and decided to dissolve the club. After that, he
established the Shovabazar club in 1887 in the premises of the Shovabazar
Rajbati. The club was unique in offering membership to everyone, without considering
the caste and creed. They implemented this vision by making Moni Das a member
of this club. Even the Europeans and the Anglo-Indians could also become the
members of the club.
Shri Sarbadhiakri, therefore, did not restrict
himself in promoting football in colonial Calcutta, but also played an instrumental
role in promoting it to all sections of the society by making an attempt of
breaking the social barriers. He tried to make Bengalis physically strong and
technically sound to compete against the British teams in their own game,
football. It can be said that, the inspiration of the epochal success of Mohun
Bagan in 1911 in the IFA Shield started with these initiatives of Shri
Sarbadhikari. However, he could not influence the British rulers to adopt a
liberal approach which would allow the Indian teams to participate in the
tournaments introduced by the British administrators.
The
first competitive football tournament, introduced in colonial Calcutta, was the
Trades Cup which was started in 1889 by the European traders. Shovabazar was
the only club which was invited to participate in the inaugural year of this
tournament.
The
Indian Football Association (IFA), the first administrative body of football in
India, was set up in 1893 with the objective of organizing the IFA Shield football
tournament. Shri Nagendraprasad Sarbadhikari joined hands with C.A. Brown, C.
B. Lindsey and L. Watson to form the IFA.
The financial support to form this administrative body was provided by
the Maharaja of Coach Behar. However, neither Shri Sarbadhikari nor the
Maharaja of Coach Behar was successful in removing or reducing the influence of
the British from running the activities of the IFA. The prestigious IFA Shield
was started in 1893 and the Calcutta Football League was launched in 1898.
However, till 1914, the Calcutta Football League was limited to the European
teams only. Even in 1914, only two teams from Calcutta, Mohun Bagan and Aryans,
were allowed to participate in the second division of the League. This racial
approach was adopted by the colonial rulers in the game of football in Calcutta
to discriminate the Indians from them. Similar approach was applied to other
tournaments, such as the Cadet Cup which was limited to the European and the
Anglo-Indian students. The Indian teams were not allowed to participate in the
football competitions introduced in other parts of the country, such as the
Durand Cup (1888) and the Rovers Cup (1891).
This discussion clearly represents the discriminatory policy introduced by
the British rulers in football in colonial Calcutta as well as in the other
parts of the country.
In
my next blog, I shall write about the formation of All India Football Federation
(AIFF), the national body of football in India.
