- author, Pradeep Kumar
- position, BBC reporter
image source, Getty Images
The FIFA World Cup kicks off on November 20 in Qatar.
After exciting races between 32 best football playing teams from around the world it is decided who is the king of football world.
Around 5 billion people will watch the World Cup, which runs from November 20 to December 18, according to FIFA, the world governing body for soccer.
Compared to the 400 crore viewers of the 2018 World Cup, 100 crore more people will enjoy watching the matches this time.
The tournament to be held in Qatar is the 22nd FIFA World Cup. But there is no excitement for Indian sports fans. Because so far India has not been able to participate in this tournament even once.
But only a few sports enthusiasts of today’s generation know that India once had a chance to participate in this tournament.
This may be hard to believe. But 72 years ago in 1950, the Indian football team was going to participate in the World Cup in Brazil. But the truth is that it didn’t happen.
How did India get a chance?
World Cup football matches were not held in 1942 and 1946 due to World War II.
After 12 years of waiting, the World Cup was to be held in 1950. Only 33 countries had agreed to play in the qualifiers for the World Cup to be held in Brazil.
India was placed in the 10th qualifier along with Burma (Myanmar) and the Philippines. But Burma and the Philippines withdrew their names from the qualifiers.
That means India qualified for the World Cup without playing. For the first time, the Indian team got a chance to showcase their talent in the World Cup football tournament.
India in the 1950 World Cup
India were placed in Group 3 along with Sweden, Italy and Paraguay when the draw was made for the final round of the 1950 FIFA World Cup.
If India had participated in this tournament, how would it have played?
The late football journalist Novi Kapadia has written about this in the World Cup Football Guide.
image source, Getty Images
“The Paraguayan team was not very strong then. Due to disorganization, Italy did not field eight of its key players. The team was in such a bad shape that coach Vittorio Bozo resigned after reaching Brazil. The Swedish team was in very good shape compared to India. From this point of view, India finished second in the group. “Maybe, but the team would have got a better experience,” he said.
What was the state of Indian football in 1950?
In the 1950s, the Indian football team never played so much at the international level. But it had a reputation as a team that played a good game.
The Indian team’s performance in the 1948 London Olympics proved this. India lost only 1-2 against a strong team like France.
During that period, the Indian football team tried to make its mark through forward and dribbler play.
Players like Ahmed Khan, S. Raman, MA Sattar, S. Mewalal had many fans.
All the Indian players took to the football field barefoot in the London Olympics.
However, Taj Mohammed, who played at Right Back, played in boots.
Why the Indian team did not participate in the World Cup in Brazil
There is no clear answer as to why the Indian football team did not participate in the 1950 World Cup.
The official reason given by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) was that the team withdrew its name due to disagreements regarding team selection and insufficient time for training.
But for many years there were debates about it. There was a lot of talk about Indian players wanting to play football barefoot and FIFA disapproving of it.
image source, Getty Images
S Mewalal and S Nandy, two players of the Indian football team who participated in the London Olympics, practice barefoot.
A recent book by veteran sports journalist Jaideep Basu also doesn’t find this reasoning very credible.
In the book ‘Box to Box: 75 Years of the Indian Football Team’ edited by Jaideep Basu, it is stated that “there is no question that FIFA objected to Indian players playing barefoot”.
“Seven-eight players in that team had spiked boots in their travel bags. It was the players’ own choice to play barefoot,” writes Jaideep Basu, citing seven-eight players who participated in the London Olympics.
It was a time when footballers wanted to play with thick strips of cloth on their feet. This trend continued till 1954 in many countries of the world.
Is it because of lack of money?
Economy is also considered as a reason for the Indian team not participating in the World Cup football tournament. But there does not seem to be any truth in this claim either.
Jaideep Basu says in his book that there was an issue with the cost of going to Brazil, but that was resolved.
He wrote that India’s three state-level football associations have pledged to contribute towards the cost.
Apart from this, Novy Kapadia has stated in his book that Brazil approached the Indian Football Association in March and April and promised to bear most of the team’s expenses.
” Brazil had two reasons for this belief. For one, Scotland, France, Turkey and Czechoslovakia also withdrew their names from the Football World Cup. “Secondly, Brazil wanted a team from the country of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru to play football in their country,” points out Novy Kapadia’s book.
According to Jaideep Basu’s book, it was on May 16, 1950 that India announced the squad for the World Cup. As per India’s proposed schedule, the Indian team should have left for Brazil on June 15. And India was scheduled to play its first match on June 25 against Paraguay.
But what happened after that is the biggest mystery in the world of Indian football, says Jaideep Basu. There is no clear answer to this yet.
However, it is clear from the books of Novy Kapadia and Jaideep Basu that neither the Indian footballers nor the football authorities of that time understood the significance of this opportunity.
At that time the Indian hockey team became the champion team of the Olympic Games. And the ultimate measure of fame for every athlete was the Olympics.
In such a situation, both the players of the Indian football team and the organizing bodies of the game were more focused on performing well in the Olympics.
Apart from this, the 1951 Asian Games were also going to be held in Delhi. As the host nation, India’s aim was to do well in this.
It was not until the 1950s that World Cup football became popular. It should be noted here that its popularity at the global level started to increase only later. Until then it was considered a glamorous sport.
Lack of knowledge of rules
It also seems that the Indian football authorities should have taken such a decision due to lack of knowledge of the rules.
Players participating in World Cup soccer were then considered professional players.
Professional athletes are not allowed to participate in Olympic and Asian Games. Because in those days the players participating in these matches had to be amateurs.
image source, Getty Images
But this rule also had loopholes. Hungary, Russia and other socialist countries claimed that the players participating in World Cup soccer were members of the military and that military members could not be professionals.
But it seems that the Indian football officials did not have this level of wisdom at that time.
The Indian Football Association may have decided not to participate in the 1950 World Cup due to fears of being denied entry to the Asian Games and the Olympics.
But this decision proved to be a colossal mistake. It has been troubling sports enthusiasts in India for the past 72 years. This frustration is exacerbated during the World Cup soccer tournament, which is held every four years.
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