PART IV
THE QUEST FOR DESIRED MASCULINITY: BENGALI MIDDLE CLASS AND THE FOOTBALL GROUND
BY
SUBHRANSU ROY
Football
is indisputably one of the important cultural components in modern
socio-cultural life of Bengal. In fact, it was an interesting incorporation of
western cultural entity into Bengali society during her experience of colonial
rule. The game of football kicked off in the city of Calcutta by few British
soldiers and traders as a part of spending their leisure time in mid- nineteenth
century. But gradually it got transformed into a matter of serious
competitions. As the game progressed with time, the natives got involved in
this game and it became one of the locus points of the contemporaneous socio-cultural and political conflict between the
colonial rulers and Bengali middle class.
The game of football served as a potent weapon in the armory of the Bengali Hindu bhadralok to counter the challenge of typical colonial stereotyping of the Bengali babu being effeminate, feminised and indolent.[1] And in 1911, Mohun Bagan made history by lifting IFA shield by consecutively defeating four army teams along with a college team. This was not a simple feat. Rather it was recorded in the annals of colonial India as a watershed by becoming a pivotal factor in spreading the anti-colonial message and newly found confidence amongst the masses hitherto stricken with a defeatist mentality born out of the prolong domination by the aliens.
THE CHANGING POLITICAL EQUATION
From the second half of the nineteenth century the cordial relationship between the Bengali babu and his British superior that had matured in the early decades of British rule, very rapidly started declining. The political equation of colonial rulers about India and its people took a new turn with the great revolt of 1857. As Mrinalini Sinha writes,
In the early nineteenth century the colonial administration, drawing upon British Evangelical and Utilitarian thought,had embarked on a conscious Programme of restructuring the existing colonial administration. This development was marked by the victory of the Anglicist over the Orientalist school of colonial administration, the latter favored the rule through supposedly indigenous or traditional means. But the Great Revolt of 1857 eroded much of the early nineteenth century confidence in the Anglicist programme. The expression of Indian discontent in 1857 was seen as a warning against the radical restructuring of ‘traditional’ Indian society. [2]
Henceforth
just after the transfer of India from British East India Company to the
British Crown in 1858, the colonial administration sought allies in the
traditional landholding classes and orthodox religious leaders. The change in
the institutional as well as cultural basis in British administration resulted
in a drastic shift as far as the official policy is concerned. The cautious
government officials decided not to interfere in traditional Indian values and
to stop encouraging social reform movements any more. But the new situation
was not that much simple and easy as earlier times of colonial days for the
rulers as the colonial administration was faced with the daunting task of
accommodating a growing number of Western educated Indians within the existing
political settings without hampering the exclusive rights and privileged
interest of British government officials and non officials residing in Indian
soil.
The
Bengali elite or to be more specific Bengali Hindu bhadralok class were very closely associated with colonial rulers
in earlier time under company rule and the company officials also favored them
as part of governmental policy to rule over Indians with the help of a native
class who were western educated, well mannered and would work as the most
trusted allies. But this policy began to falter as these groups began demanding
a share in the exclusive privileges of the British colonial elites. In fact in
its early phase of close relationship not only the company officials enjoyed
support from this new class in Bengal but at the same time the native
counterpart also gained a lot due to the colonial economic policies. With the
help of collaborative local trades and business activity with the British concerns; many Bengali merchants, mutsuddi and
middle men made a considerable fortune. Even the Permanent settlement of 1793
under which many old Zamindars lost
their zamindaries and a new city
based rentier class that emerged was also able to make a substantial amount of money from the rural
and urban ground rent. But within a half century there were sudden changes in the
situation of this newly born effluent class as they lost out their business monopoly to Marwaris on one hand and on the other hand; the zamindaries also failed to produce that much of revenues from land due to different reasons. And
as a result in Mrinalini Sinha’s words:
……….The Bengali elites were being defined more and more through administrative and professional employment. Indeed majority of the Bengali middle class found their horizons severely contracted by Chakri or petty clerical work. [3]
Quite naturally the changed aspiration of the Bengali
middle class bhadralok under these
new circumstances also reshaped its demands and which were intended towards more
prestigious jobs in governmental hierarchy as well as other benefits from the
ruling class. But on the contrary, the new attitude of ruling class about the Bengali middle class was reflected
in the colonial discourse that characterized them as an ‘artificial’ and
‘unnatural’ class of persons, in short as ‘effeminate babus’. The controversy over Ilbert Bill (1883) and in other issues
like the Native Volunteer Movement (1884-87), Public Service Commission
(1886-87) and Age of Consent Controversy (1891) worked as an eye opener to
native people that the Europeans
were not ready to leave their privilege rights to Indians.
THE RESPONSE: BEYOND POLITICAL CANVAS
The white arrogance and aggression were producing a new type of response amongst the younger generation of politically conscious Bengalee. On the one hand, they opted for glorification of past and on the other
hand, they also tried to efface the tag of effeminacy by involving themselves in vagarious
physical activity. Kausik Bandyapadhyay commented very appropriately that:
They reacted to the colonial stereotype by way of the pursuit of a ‘neo-traditional physical culture’ to efface the ‘self image of effeteness. In fact many noted Bengali intellectuals of the age too seemed to have internalized this ‘self-image of effeteness’ and voiced an urgency to overcome this supposed physical culture and indigenous games.[4]
The enthusiasm of the Bengali middle class
intelligentsia to valorise the heroic and the masculine found literary and
intellectual expression in the writings and speeches of Michel Madhusudan Dutt, Bankimchandra
Chattopadhyay, Swami Vivekananda, and Aurobindo Ghosh in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.
By late 1860s the Hindu Mela (initiated by Nabagopal Mitra in 1867) attempted to fabricate a "new" and powerful opposition to the colonial power within the traditional framework.[5] The vehemence with which the colonial categorization of the Bengali as weak and
'effeminate' was denied is evident in newspaper articles which attempted to
counter this so called categorization.
Body building was popularized in the
National paper through numerous historical sketches of gymnasiums in ancient
Greece and Rome and in Germany and France.[6] Apart from this, by 1869
the National Paper was advertising as many as six gymnastic schools in Calcutta
itself. There were other sporting centers too that were dedicated primarily to
body building, deemed to be the first step for character building as well as
nation making process.
Initially
there was little bit of confusion amongst Bengali leaders about the
acceptability of western games like cricket and soccer. Even any involvement in
Anglo–Saxon sports like soccer, cricket and hockey was discouraged and
rejected in favor of active participation in physical culture clubs or akharas.
But
despite the resurrection of physical culture in late nineteenth century, the
charges of effeminacy continued to be labeled against them. The failure of the
physical culture movements was in evidence during the ‘age of consent
controversy’ and this might have prompted them to adopt western games
especially the game of soccer to compete with the ruling class in their
own game.[7]
Post Hindu Mela, the 19th century youth of the city was agog with newly found passion to wipe out the pejorative label ‘pusillanimous and effeminate’ imposed upon the whole of the Benagali community by the colonial masters to create a psychological pressure out of the supremacist attitude. To realise that goal, already a few vanguards opted for football instead of attending traditional wrestling ring (Akhara) with the aim to compete with the whites and to defeat them in their own game. They made their presence felt regularly in Kolkata Maidan by practicing and honing their skills and control on the leather.
Already in the capital city of British India the western games like hockey, cricket and football were introduced. The game of football which is the main area of our discussion was first time played in the city by British soldiers and traders. As Calcutta was the then capital of British India and also one of the main military centers, in the Fort William surrounding Maidan area; the British army personnal often used to practice the game of soccer which generated huge curiosity among the local people. But in the early days, the participation in this game was only limited for the British personnal. It has been recorded in history that the first soccer match in Calcutta was held in the second week of April, 1858 between the Calcutta Club of Civilians and gentlemen of Barakpore.[8]
Though the first official competitive match was played between Etonians and the Rest in 1868 and the score line was 3-0 in favor of the former team.[9] In the next few years, very often the arrangement of soccer matches in the city led to the situation in favor of the establishment of soccer clubs. Initially it was few British teams like Calcutta Football Club, Dalhousie Club and so on which enhanced the soccer culture in the city. According to Mati Nandy, these developments indicated the increase of popularity of the game of soccer in the city of Calcutta. When these British teams or gora dal were engaged in playing among themselves; an Indian suddenly made entry in the fray of this foreign game.[10]
That first Indian was Nagendra Prasad Sarvadhikari who played a great role in popularizing this western game among Bengali middle class. It is said that young Nagendra Prasad kicked the football for the first time as an Indian on his way to Ganges accompanying his mother for her Gangasnan (bath in Ganga). It was in the year of 1877 and soon Nagendra Prasad popularised the game among his school mates in Hare School. [11]
It was the time when the interest in the game of soccer was gradually increasing amongst the western educated Bengali middle class. Although in the initial stages, the local people started to play soccer not in a much disciplined manner. But the scenario changed very rapidly. In the last two decades of nineteenth century, many wealthy families came forward for either patronage or establishing their own soccer clubs. The first soccer club in the city was Wellington Club (1884) founded by Nagendra Prasad Sarvadhikari. It was rent by factions within just a year and some members left it to form the Town Club (1885). [12] In the same year, Nagendra Prasad got married into Shobhabazar Raj family and at once his enthusiasm for football found new inspiration to set up the Shobhabazar Club. [13]
Within a short span of time many more local clubs were established. Among them, special mention can be made of The National Club, Kumartuli, and Chandannagar Sporting Club and so on. But it was the Shobhabazar club which being a local team tested the success against British side when the local outfit defeated East Sare Regiment in 1892. With the introduction of new tournaments like the Reverse Cup (1891), Durand Cup (1892), IFA Shield (1893) and the Calcutta Football League (1898); the entire complexion of the game of soccer witnessed a sweeping change as it became a field of serious competition. [14]
Except the Trades Cup, in other tournaments the entry of local clubs was either restricted or was very limited. Even then, local clubs had started challenging the monopoly of British teams. During the matches between local teams and British sides, people started coming to see those matches. Finally, it was the Mohun Bagan club in 1911 which achieved the most fascinating victory by winning the prestigious IFA Shield tournament by defeating five British teams. [15]
The
victory of Mohun Bagan in IFA Shield final had enormous historical impacts. But
the point which has relevance in our discussion is that this Shield victory had
two important consequences: firstly, it lifted the intelligentsia from the
demoralizing inferiority complex and secondly, football was established in the
hinterland of Bengal and at the same time; it endeared the hearts of the
Bengalis as one of the important possessions of masculinity. Just to end with Soumen Mitra’s comment “Mohun Bagan represented Bengal with
its obsession for physical strength and the yearning to cast aside the stigma
of feebleness by beating the colonial power at its own game.” [16]
Notes and references
1. Soumen Mitra, ‘Introduction’ in In Search of an Identity: History of Football
in Colonial Calcutta, Kolkata: Dasgupta &Coo. Pvt. Ltd.2006, p.11
2. Mrinalini Sinha,
‘Introduction’, in Colonial Masculinity:
The ‘Manly Englishmen’ and the ‘Effeminate Bengali’ in the Late Nineteenth Century, Manchester: Manchester University Press,
1995, p.14
3. Ibid, p. 15-16
4. Kausik Bandyopadhyay,
‘Culture of a Masculine English Game’ in Scoring
off the Field: Football Culture in Bengal1911-1980, New Delhi: Routledge,
2011, p.27
5. For detailed discussions on Hindu Mela see Jogesh Chandra
Bagal, Subhendusekhar Mukhopadhaya, Hindu
Melar Itibirto, Kolkata: Talpata, 2009
6. Goutam Basu, ‘Bengal’s
Body Building Movement and the Historic Shield Victory: 1870-1911, in Chittabrata Palit, Purnima Mookherjee
edited ‘Social History of Sports – The Indian Context’, New Delhi: Kunal Books, 2014, p. 107
7. Kausik Bandyopadhyay,
‘Culture of Masculine English Game’ in Scoring off the Field: Football Culture in Bengal, 1911-1980, New
Delhi: Routledge, 2011 P. 29
8. Mati Nandy, ‘The
Calcutta Soccer’, in Calcutta the Living
City: The Present and Future, Vol.2, New Delhi: Oxford University Press,
1990, P. 316
9. Ibid
10. For more discussion on
British teams or Gora dal see Shibram
Kumar edited RB rochito kolkatar football,
Calcutta: Probhabati Prokashani, 2003
11. For detailed discussion
on life and football career of Nagendra Prasad please see Sourindra Kumar
Ghosh, Krida Samrat Nagendra Prasad Sarvadhikari, Calcutta: Nagendra Prasad
Sarvadhikari Memorial Committee, 1963
12. Mati Nandy, Op. Cit P. 316
13. Kausik Bandyopadhyay, Khela Jokhon Itihas, Kolkata: Setu
Prokashani, 2006
14. Debashis Majumdar,
‘Football: A Mirror of Changing Socio-cultural and Political Life of Colonial
Calcutta’ in 90 MINUTES, Vol.1, No.4,
Kolkata: Valerian Soccer Foundation, 2009, p.53
15. There are numerous
popular literatures in vernacular which gives a vivid description on this epic
IFA Shield triumph of Mohun Bagan Athletics Club. Most notable among these are
Paresh Nandy’s Mohun Bagan 1911(Karuna Prokashani,1976), Shibram Kumar’s Sonar Frame e
Mohun Bagan 1911 (Probhabati Prokashani 2003). Exclusively on same subject for academic
writings see Kausik Bandyopadhyay’s Playing
for Freedom: a Historic Sports Victory (Standard Publishers,2008) and Bangalir oitihasik football judhyo,
(Setu Prokashani, 2011). Rupak Saha’s Ekadoshe Suryodoy (Deep Prakashan, 2011) a Bengali novel based the historic
triumph of 1911 has also published in recent times.
16. Soumen Mitra, ‘Babu at
Play: Sporting Nationalism in Bengal, 1880-1911’ in Nisith Ray and Ranjit Roy
(ed.), Bengal: Yesterday and Today, Calcutta: Papyrus, 1991, p.56
Author’s
Bio- Note:
Subhransu
Roy has a Ph.D in History of Sports and is a regular contributor to different
newspapers, periodicals and journals.
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