Football-Hope of salvation By Poonam
Talwar Sayal
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the sub-continent. Kolkata (previously Calcutta) became the hub of Indian football and initial matches were played between army teams. The first football game was organized in 1854 between the ‘Calcutta Club of Civilians’ and the ‘Gentlemen of Barrackpore’!
‘Bend it like Beckham’ an inspiring movie on women’s football has been an all season favourite, so much so that it inspired my daughters to take on football as a sport. Now Durand Cup and football clubs are regular meal time discussion topics. And so the end of the JCT Football Club, a great football legend had us delving into the depths of ‘football-ing’ in India, its glorious birth and tragic decline!
The sport soon found its way into civilian society and ‘Calcutta FC’, the first football club of India was founded in 1872. Soon many football clubs mushroomed in Kolkata and nearby areas including the famous Mohun Bagan Athletic Club (later named as the National Club of India), which came into existence in 1889. Even today, Kolkata is considered to be the home of Indian football and its existence as an organised sport is almost entirely shouldered by the north eastern states of West Bengal, Sikkim, Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
The history of football in India can be traced back to the preindependent period, when the British introduced the game to
The Indian Football Association (IFA) was created in 1893 and five years later, in 1898 the Durand Cup, which is the oldest
ootball has long been one of the most popular street sports of India. Most kids dabble with football in one form or the other during their growing up years, be it with an actual football, a tennis ball, a stone, an empty tin or simply a scrunched up piece of foil! However despite this apparent innate leaning towards the sport, football has not been able to make a significant mark on our national sports scene.
34 July 2011 purple beret
