India & Football World Cup

13 July is a very important date in the world football calendar. On this day in 1930 began the football world cup at Montevideo between France and Mexico. The first nation to host was Uruguay.

 Indian football was still unheard of in the western world. No one thought of inviting India to take part. However 1947 altered the whole scenario. With independence came an invitation from the Olympic authorities to take part in the 1948 London Olympics.

India sent a team to London. The Olympic authorities were dazed to learn that the Indians would play in barefeet! This was against all norms. The world had moved from the cradle days to adulthood. In India, who cared?

 In India we thought that we were doing something heroic by playing without boots against ‘booted’ opponents. We had no exposure to the outside world of football: its technicalities, its strategies, its methods. We actually thought – and some still feel – that we were doing something very courageous!

We were adamant that we would play in the Olympic in barefeet. Although vehemently against the whole concept of one team in barefeet and all the other teams in boots, the hosts Britain convinced the Olympic committee to relent.

The real reason was of course international relations. India had just got their political independence. The former colonial masters Britain to be politically correct allowed India to play in barefeet!

In fact, India did quite well. Lost the only match they played by 2 goals to 1 against France. India missed two penalties as well. The Indians actually returned with head held high! They actually thought they had shown the world that the game was ‘FOOTBALL’ and not ‘BOOTBALL’!

In 1950 India received an invitation from FIFA to take part in the football world cup at Brazil in 1950. But FIFA made it clear that it would stand ‘no nonsense’ about ‘barefeet’ football. India protested but to no avail. FIFA was very firm and did not have to prove any political correctness to anybody. Thus the first invitation went down the drain.

The 2^nd invitation to the world cup in 1954 at Switzerland came from FIFA. This time our over-smart football administrators could not send the acceptance letter on time!. FIFA rightfully was firm and had no time for India’s lethargy and false sense of importance.

In between the two world cups, India again went to the Olympics at Helsinki in 1952. Again the lenient Olympic authorities allowed India to play without boots. This time, however, the ‘barefeet heroes’ were thrashed 10 goals to 1 by Yugoslavia. You may well ask the reason for this disastrous defeat considering that they had played quite well in barefeet in 1948.

The issue is very simple. In 1948 at London, fortunately the ground was bone dry and in barefeet one could play normally. But in 1952 the playing surface was slushy and it was impossible to control the ball without studded boots.

 After the embarrassing defeat in 1954 we learnt our lesson. Now India were willing to play in boots. We would send our application to be considered to play in the football world cup. But by then the popularity of football was so high that every nation had to qualify to participate in the final round of the world cup. The ‘welcome invitation’ days were over.

India would participate in the preliminary, qualification matches but could never cross the Asian hurdle. Invariably big defeats stared at India on almost every outing. India never participated in the actual world cup. Whenever they played they got eliminated in the Asian round qualifiers.

India is ranked well behind hundreds of nations in the world at football. For us to reach the World Cup final rounds and the Olympic Games, we first need to do well enough in the Asian Games. This appears to be a distant dream...