Part 1: Read Part 1 of the series on Indian Football here. A Study of how the sleeping David lost the race to rising Goliath

Part 2 begins after 15^th August 1947. After years of struggle, the British finally handed over the power to rule to the Indians and India became an “Independent” country. The new found status reflected in every nook and corner and football was also not left behind. As mentioned in the previous chapter till now India hasn’t tested the waters of serious international football. Whatever limited exposure they had of international football showed that India was lagging far behind.

To test the international waters, the All India Football Federation decided to send a team to take part in the London Olympics of 1948. After lot of trouble the federation was able to get a team together. The honour of leading the team as captain fell on the shoulders of Dr. Talimeran Aao. He was a practising physician and a regular ball player for Mohun Bagan. Again most of the players in the team preferred to play bare foot. The team consisted of some very talented players like Sailendra Nath Manna in defence, Sabu Mewalal, K P Dhanraj, a great forward in Ahmed Khan. India was pitted against France in the opening game. India lost the game 1-2. India missed two penalties in the game. Had those penalties been converted, who knows what could have been the outcome. As per the available reports of the match, what led Indians down was their weakness in finishing. But since it was India’s first test of serious international football, inexperience took its toll. The Olympic outing proved that India still had a lot of catch up to do.

In 1949 to get more international exposure some tours were organised by the All India Football Association.

The very next year i.e. 1950 a tremendous opportunity knocked at the door of India. It qualified for the World Cup to be held in Brazil. But it was not without drama. In the qualifiers India were clubbed along with Burma (Myanmar) and Philippines, but both of them withdrew from the race and India gained an automatic qualification. But participation cost was too high. As per report published in Times of India:

Plans for India’s participation in the world cup football tournament for Jules Rimet Trophy are now being finalised following the acceptance by the organising body at Rio De Janerio of India’s proposal that the Indian side should be picked up at Calcutta and not at Cairo as previously notified. The tour would have cost India nearly a lakh of rupees, but the acceptance of India’s terms now means saving of Rs. 40,000 with the return to Calcutta guaranteed and although there were doubts whether India would be able to raise the necessary funds it is now definite that India will leave for Brazil for their first match there on June 28^th.

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India’s task considerably lightened by this fine gesture now remains to collect a sum of Rs. 60, 000 for the tour. Of this sum Bombay has already guaranteed them of Rs. 7,500 with another possible Rs. 2,500 and it is understood Mysore has promised to contribute Rs.5, 000.

It is understood from the above report that arranging the funds to make it to the world cup was an enormous task for the All India Football Federation. This was the single biggest reason that India was unable to participate in the tournament. Further the report says:

“At present plans are for twenty six players to be coached but as George Ainsley, the famous British Player who was coach to the Bengal province has already finished his contract it is not yet certain who will act in that capacity.”

So another reason for the pull out was unavailability of a coach and apprehensions in some quarters about India’s chances in world cup.

A momentous occasion came India’s way when the first Asian games were held in Delhi. The organisers wanted a good show at the show piece event and decided to give football a shake-up. Syed Abdul Rahim of Hyderabad was appointed as coach of the team. He was fondly called Rahim Sahib. He guided India to the pinnacle of success during his twelve year tenure.

Only six Nations participated when the draw was held. India faced Indonesia in their first match. India won the match 3-0 against the booted opponents. Next they faced Afghanistan. India tasted victory with identical margin. With the win over Afghanistan, India marched into the finals of the first Asian Games. India’s opponent in final was Iran who had beaten Burma and Japan enroute to the final. The final was played in front of a full house stadium and India defeated a booted Iran side 1-0 to be crowned the champion of Asia.

With the new found status of champion, the All India Football Association decided to contest the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. AIFF put it best foot forward to send the best team available. Rahim Sahib was retained as the coach of the team. But the perennial problem plaguing the Indian football, factionalism, bared its teeth. The selection process was rigged. Though the Indian team was a talented one. Players like Sailen Manna, Shanmugham, Ahmed Khan, Mewalal, Saleh, Sattar were part of the team. India’s first match was against Yugoslavia. The match proved to be a watershed moment for Indian football. They were trounced by Yugoslavia by a margin of 10-1. India had no answer to the onslaught. The consolation goal was scored by Ahmed Khan.

The mauling received by the Indian’s suddenly woke AIFF from its slumber. A slew of sweeping changes were made. Boots were made mandatory. Play duration was increased to 90 minutes and ground sizes were enlarged to international standards. Also Rahim Sahib introduced three back system as a tactical change. Though the tactical changes were very hard to implement but finally Rahim Sahib was able to implement it. It was a time of sea changes sweeping Indian football. After the debacle of Helsinki Olympics a quadrangular tournament was started. It included Pakistan, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Burma along with India. India emerged champion each time.

A bigger stage came in 1954 when the second edition of Asian games were held in Manila. India won the first match against Japan 3-2. But lost to Indonesia 0-4. Thus conceding the crown of Asian champions.

For 1956 Melbourne Olympics Rahim Sahib chose quite a few new faces. Players like P.K. Banerjee, Neville D’Souza, and Tulsidas Balram were inducted. India got lucky in the first round as their opponent Hungary opted out, so did four other countries. So India found themselves straight into the quarter finals pitted against host Australia. That match became another key milestone for Indian football they defeated Australia 4-2. Neville D’ Souza scoring a hat- trick. Thus India became the first Asian country to reach the semi-final of Olympic football tournament. They faced the mighty Yugoslavia who had trounced them 10-1 in the last Olympics. India didn’t create a major upset and lost to Yugoslavia 1-4. In comparison to the mauling received four years ago, this time India showed they were no push overs and restricted the opponents to a respectable margin. As published in the Times of India the report read:

“Yugoslavia silver medallist in 1948 and 1952 again entered the Olympic soccer final when they defeated India in the first semi-final match here today. But India little known as a soccer nation put up a brave fight and actually held their more experienced opponents goalless at half time and led one love at one time. Nevertheless the Indian display was a great improvement on their performance in 1952 when Yugoslavia defeated them ten-one in the preliminary round.”

Bulgaria stood between India and the Olympic bronze medal. But India couldn’t do better and lost 0-3. This team laid the foundation for the great run.  In 1958 Tokyo Asian games India reached the semi-final. It lost to South Korea 1-3. For third place play off it again lost to Indonesia 1-4.  The very next year India participated in Mardeka tournament and finished runner up behind host Malay (Malaysia). By the time Rome Olympics came round the corner, India had a crack outfit at disposal. But this time India was not lucky. For the first time qualification rounds were introduced for Olympics. India breezed past Afghanistan and Indonesia to reach the mains. India’s first opponent was Hungary. India lost the match 1-2. Next up was France. This match again proved to be a historic one.  India drew with France 1-1. Last opponent for India was Peru. They lost the match 1-3. India returned from Rome Olympics with a new found confidence and also found some of the greatest players like Chuni Goswami, P K Banerjee, Balram, Yousuf Khan, Peter Thangraj, Jarnail Singh etc.

1962 Jakarta Asian Games. This was perhaps the best Indian team. Due to some unfortunate incident India suddenly found itself on the wrong side with the Indonesian crowd. This made the task of entire Indian contingent twice as difficult. The first opponent India faced was South Korea. The Koreans won 2-0. But India bounced back and did it in style mauling Thailand 4-1. The last encounter was against Japan.  Though the timing between the last game and the upcoming game was not scheduled right but the Indian’s didn’t let that factor come out to the fore and defeated the Japanese 2-0. With this victory India reached the semi-final and were pitted against Vietnam. It was a see saw battle and India emerging victorious with a 3-2 margin. It was a déjà vu moment. India vs South Korea final. South Koreans have already beaten India and were favourites to win the gold. But there was an underdog story waiting to unfold. Playing against entirely hostile crowd India clinched the gold. They won the match 2-1. Times of India noted in its report:

“India won much more comfortably than the score suggest. It was only in the last five minutes that Korea made a desperate rally which brought them a goal and to the verge of an equaliser to bring about a thrilling finish to a struggle in which India held the whip hand almost throughout.”

But it also marked end of an era. Rahim Sahib breathed his last the very next year.

1964 was a hectic year for Indian football. It lost to Burma in the final of Mardeka tournament. The same year it participated in Asia cup held at Tel Aviv. Luck again smiled on India as it qualified directly for final round as all other team in India’s group withdrew. India finished runner up to Israel.

This was what we can call as the last bright spot of Indian football. 1964 onwards there was a steady decline in the performance of the national team. But alas the All India Football Federation chose, as always, to look the other way which further plummeted the fortune of the beautiful game in India.