BODY, MEN AND SPORTS: CONSTRUCTION OF MASCULINITY IN BENGAL

The following essay tries to touch upon the varied aspects of sporting ethos of Colonial Bengal. South Asian sports history will be enriched to a great extent if these microcosmic aspects get some attention within the broader fields of social and intellectual history.

PART III



THE ADVENT OF THE 'OUTSIDER' IN CALCUTTA FOOTBALL

BY 


SUDIPTO MITRA

(WITH DUE ASSISTANCE FROM FELLOW FOOTBALL FAN, KINSHUK DAS)      

               

Recent developments in the world of Indian football have pointed out certain unpleasant realities and posed question marks over the future of the Indian football clubs. The speculated withdrawal of Mohammedan sporting, one of India’s earliest and most successful clubs, if materialized, would place it the third in a row of teams who have decided to take up such measures in the current decade. 

Since 2010, football fans have already mourned the withdrawal of two Indian heavyweights, Mahindra United and JCT, and the withdrawal of Mohammedan sporting, would undoubtedly exacerbate the already grim scenario further.[1] However, unlike Mahindra United and JCT, Mohammedan Sporting had one of the largest fan-bases in the country. In fact their fan-base was not restricted to India as they were able to establish connections beyond India (especially with its neighboring countries) on religious grounds.[2] They have also successfully traded players from their Dhaka based namesake, on previous occasions. It is therefore inevitable that the supposed bankruptcy of a club of such stature would send shock-waves throughout the entire Indian football fraternity.

Mohammedan Sporting; like various other Indians clubs which came up in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, was not born in a day. The club traces its roots to the Jubilee club, formed in 1887 by a group of Muslim football enthusiasts which included the likes of Khan Bahadur Nawabzada Aminul Islam, the ex-Inspector General of Registration of Bengal, Moulavi Abdul Ghani of Malda and Moulvi Mohammed Yasin of Burdwan. [3] 

Although the foundation’s existence was short lived its emergence was extremely significant as for the first time the growing sporting interests of the Indian Muslim community had found an epitome. This was to be further justified by the revival of the club, a year and a half after its closure, under the name of the Crescent club. [4] The name however, was changed again, to Hamidia Club, a few years later.[5] Eventually, the name of ‘Mohammedan Sporting Club’ was taken up in 1891, after a meeting at the Calcutta Madrasah, presided over by Justice Amir Ali.[3] 

The Club did well in its initial years to sway a substantial amount of financial assistance from the Muslim elites of the country and also managed to earn personal donations from the likes of Nawad K. Ashanullah Bahadur of Dhaka,  Prince Mohammad Bhaktiyar Shah and Nawab Mirza Sajjad Ali Baig, however it was not until the 1930s that they tasted much success in the sporting arena.[6] Interestingly, their success was almost entirely down to the Muslim talent available in the country. From Soumen Mitra’s point of view, much of the club’s relative lack of popularity in the period between 1909 and 1924 was down to the rise of two other Muslim clubs, ‘The Oriental Club’ and ‘The Muslim Club.’ Their rise, according to Soumen Mitra, resulted in the division of loyalty of the country’s Muslim community. The argument finds further momentum when we encounter an interesting coincidence between the rise of Mohammedan Sporting Club and the decline of the Oriental Club, in the early 1920s.[7] 

The Club however is only able to perform to the best of their ability in the 1930s. S.A. Aziz took over the reins of management at the club in 1932 and immediately recruited two Mohun Bagan rejects –Goalkeeper Kale Khan and the Ajmer-born centre-forward Hafiz Rashid.[8] He thereafter went on a spree of recruiting Muslim players from all over India.[9] Non-Bengali Muslims, full backs Juma Khan from Peshawar and Bachi Khan from Quetta, Khurshid Anwar, the 1934 captain, was also from Quetta, left winger Saboo from Faizabad, goalkeeper Usman Jan from Delhi, Rahim from Hyderabad and attacking midfielders Rahmat and Moinuddin from Bangalore were recruited and once the club gained enough prominence, other Muslim players already based in the State, also joined in.[10,11] Aquel Ahmed from Kalighat, Abbas Mirza(Captain from 1935-38) from Murshidabad and Sirajuddin from Comilla, all came down to join Mohammedan Sporting Club.[12] The club was also able to secure the services of Mohammed Salim(who would thereafter go on to mesmerize Celtic FC with his skills, barefoot, and in the process become the first Indian to play for an European Club)[13], from Aryan Club, in 1934.[14] 

The recruitments with time, were proved efficient and were backed up by technical and tactical innovations. All this yielded great dividends as the club earned a slot in the First Division in 1934 and went onto become champions that season and in the next four seasons to come. Mohammedan also dominated the National front as three of the four players, in the ‘IFA team’ frontline that played against the Chinese Olympic side in 1936, played for them (Mohammed Salim, Rahim and Abbas).[15] In 1940, they also became the first Indian club to win the Durand Cup. Calcutta football gradually widened their catchment area of players and the teams began to have a more cosmopolitan outlook.

Mohammedan Sporting Club’s relationship with distant parts of the sub-continent, in terms of scouting footballing talent, continued and inspired other Calcutta clubs to follow. East Bengal soon secured the services of inside-right Laxmi Narayan in 1935 and centre-forward Murugesh, the following year, from Bangalore.[16] The same year Mohun Bagan secured the services of centre-half Abdul Hamid from Quetta, who inspired them to play with boots on.[17] East Bengal signed another South Indian centre-forward, Somana, in 1938. Mohun Bagan too were not far behind, as they secured the services of Nagaland born, defender Talimeren Ao in 1943. Then in 1945, came the talismanic Anglo-Burmese striker Fred Pugsley and took Indian football by storm. 

Pugsley’s arrival in Calcutta was not in pursuit of football as he had walked all the way from Rangoon to Calcutta in 1943 to escape the Japanese annexation. The East Bengal Club soon took notice of him and nurtured him back to good health. Pugsley in return played for the club for a while and was thus in many ways the first foreign recruit in an Indian football Club. Pugsley also represented Bengal in the 1945 edition of the Santosh Trophy and created the record of scoring seven goals in a single match against Rajputana.[18]  The trail continued henceforth, with Mohammedan bringing in the likes of Abdul Sattar from Bangalore, East Bengal moving forward with Apparao, Nayar and Ahmed Khan and Mohun Bagan later on being home to T.Rehman, Jarnail Singh, Mariappa Kempaiah and Arumainayagam.  Some Calcutta Clubs had however, with due help from personalities like the legendary football enthusiast Dukhiram Majumdar had already landed players from other states before Mohammedan SC, as the example of Purnia-born (Bihar) Syed Abdus Samad, playing for Town Club in as early as 1912 would justify.[19, 20] 

Pugsley, Abdul Hamid and the likes had an everlasting impact on the Calcutta football clubs and this meant that the practice of venturing out of one’s region to scout good players remained. The maps changed with the partition of 1947 and several areas with which the Calcutta clubs had extremely good relations and which supplied good players would no more be a part of India. India too would lose a few of its footballing heroes as Syed Abdus Samad would be a part of the erstwhile East Pakistan and Usman Jan would move to West Pakistan. Usman Jan (also denoted as Osman) would go on to captain the first ever Pakistan National football team in  Tehran, on 27th October 1950.[21] Surprisingly however, even in the tumultuous aftermath of the partition, a few players travelled beyond the boundaries of their newly formed country for football. Foreigner limitations, unlike the modern day scenario, were yet to be in place and the clubs too readily accommodated these players. The first, in all probability, was the tall lanky defender Taj Mohammed who played for East Bengal in 1949.[22]  

Taj Mohammed was later on a member of the Pakistan squad that toured Iraq in the early 1950s. [23] Three years past Taj Mohammed’s departure, East Bengal signed the next and perhaps the most accomplished Pakistani player in 1952; Masud Fakhri. [24] While verbal claims of having seen Fakhri don the colors of Mohammedan Sporting Club exists, insufficient written or pictorial evidence have often kept them from becoming facts. 

Fakhri was a star in his own right. Soon after joining the club in 1952, Fakhri toured the USSR and Romania with East Bengal in 1953 before leaving for International duty in the Colombo Cup. Fakhri was one of the finest players from the sub-continent back then and would operate primarily as a left winger for East Bengal. He tasted further success with his country in the 1954 Asian Games, where Pakistan, in their very first appearance in the competition, buoyed by Fakhri’s hat-trick went on to beat Singapore 6-2.[25] Fakhri would also later on become the first player from the sub-continent to ply his trade in the English league with a second division side.[26] This relationship between the Calcutta based clubs and Pakistani footballers continued further with return of Musa Ghazi to the city. Musa had played for Mohammedan SC in the 1940s and was forced to migrate to the other side of the border during the partition of 1947.[27] Musa joined East Bengal in 1956. He occupied the same position as Fakhri, on the left, and went on to set the league alight with his prolific goal-scoring ability. During his stint at the club he scored 50 goals, being their highest scorer in 1956 and 1957. He won one Durand Cup (1957) and one I.F.A. Shield (1958) with East Bengal.[28] Musa, according to his brother Abid Ghazi, was also offered an Indian citizenship, which he declined and went onto lead his national side to their then best third-place Asian ranking in the 1950s.[29] In 1956, along with Musa Ghazi, another Pakistani, Hassan (right-back) joined the ranks of East Bengal and even though Musa left the club in 1959, Hassan stayed on for a few more years till the political relations between the two countries worsened.[30] 

Post the exit of the Pakistanis, Calcutta football experienced a major slump in foreign talent; in fact the 60s audience was hardly graced with the presence of any. The resurgence started again in 1979, when East Bengal managed to contract the erstwhile Tamil Nadu based Nigerian striker David Williams.[31] 

At the very same time, Mohammedan Sporting Club too acquired the services of two Iranian students from the Aligarh Muslim University– Ahmed Sanjari and Mehmood Khabbazi.[32,33] Khabbazi, after a year switched sides and moved on to East Bengal and furthermore was instrumental in the introduction of fellow Iranians Majid Bishkar and Jamshed Naseeri (also denoted as Jamshid Nassiri), to football in Calcutta.[34] Majid Bishkar was a part of the Iranian side which had played the 1978 World Cup and Jamshed Naseeri was a part of the Iranian U-17 which played the 1977 youth World cup in Tunisia. However he had already earned a slot in the Iranian national team before he was on his way to India in 1979. He along with Majid Bishkar dazzled the Calcutta faithful and won everything they took in, with East Bengal in the 1980 season.[35] Majid became a part of Calcutta football folklore and many still believe that he was the best ever among all the foreigners who have graced the country’s footballing circuit. Ahmed Sanjari too had put in good displays for Mohammedan SC and was as a result called up for the Iranian National side for the 1984 Asian Cup. Majid and Naseeri played at East Bengal till 1982, and then joined Mohammedan Sporting Club, winning consecutive Federation Cup trophies with them in 1983 and 1984.[36,37]  

From the mid-1980s onwards the foreigner recruitment policy of the Calcutta-based clubs spanned various countries as East Bengal brought players like Emeka Ezeugo (Nigeria), John Devine (Ireland) and Julian Caminio (Argentina) in consecutive years, to play for them.[38] The face of Indian football had changed and gradually the foreign contingent became an indispensible part of Indian football. Mohun Bagan, which had all the way maintained their decision to field squads comprising of exclusively Indian players, too, broke the ice and got their first foreigner in Chima Okorie in 1991.[39] 

With the gradual passage of the last generation of Indian greats, the foreigners became the only go-to option for most clubs especially when it came to having that presence in the field. Indian football was on a steep decline and the initial liking for foreign recruits gradually turned into an overt dependence as the variation in quality and capability between the Indian players and their foreign counterparts grew stark. With the massive decline in quality and easy exposure to the European giants via television, Indian football lost its viewers as the relatively newer generations, post the 90s turned away.

Footnotes: 

1. “Mohammedan Sporting Decides to Shut Shop after Going Bankrupt,” Zee News, accessed October 25, 2014, http://zeenews.india.com/sports/football/mohammedan-sporting-decides-to-shut-shop-after-going-bankrupt_1487490.html.

2. “Md. Sporting Close Shop for the Season,” The Telegraph, accessed October 25, 2014, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1141021/jsp/sports/story_18948051.jsp.

3.  Soumen Mitra, In Search of an Identity: The History of Football in Colonial Calcutta (Dasgupta & Company, 2007), 70.

4. Mohammedan Sporting Club – Calcutta League Champions, 1934-1935: A Souvenir (Calcutta, Mohammedan Sporting Club, 1935), 27.

5. Ibid, 35-39.

6.  Soumen Mitra, In Search of an Identity: The History of Football in Colonial Calcutta (Dasgupta &     Company, 2007), 71.

7.  Ibid.

8.  Nirmal Nath, History of Indian Football (Kolkata: Readers Service, 2014).

9.  Subhas Ranjan Chakraborty, Shantanu Chakrabarti, and Kingshuk Chatterjee, Politics Of Sport In South Asia (Routledge, 2013), 95.

10.  “Prayag United: The New Force in Indian Football,”Sportskeeda, accessed October 25, 2014, http://www.sportskeeda.com/football/prayag-united-the-new-force-in-indian-football.

11.  Novy Kapadia, “The Story of Indian Football, 1889-2000,” in Soccer in South Asia: Empire, Nation, Diaspora, ed. Paul Dimeo and James Mills (London, Frank Cass), 22. 

12. Mitra, In Search of an Identity, 73.

13.  Mihir Bose, “A Unique Import Thrilled Celtic Fans Back in the 1930s,” The Telegraph,May 20, 2003, sec. Sport, . http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/2404435/A-unique-import-thrilled-Celtic-fans-back-in-the-1930s.html.

14. Khelar Ashar, June 8, 1929.

15. Amrita Bazar Patrika, July 7, 1936.

16.  “Hall of Fame: Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club.,” accessed October 25, 2014, http://eastbengalfootballclub.com/hall-of-fame.php.

17. “History of Mohun Bagan : Era of Legends - 1930 to 1939,” accessed October 25, 2014, http://www.mohunbaganclub.com/History-1930-1939.html

18. Novy Kapadia, “Memorable Moments in the Santosh Trophy,” accessed October 26, 2014, http://www.sportskeeda.com/football/memorable-moments-in-the-santosh-trophy-2.

19. Nirmal Nath, History of Indian Football (Kolkata: Readers Service, 2014).

20. Samad was also a part of the Mohammedan SC team which won the five league titles from 1934-38.

21. Ali Ahsan, “A History of Football in Pakistan — Part I,” December 23, 2010, http://www.dawn.com/2010/12/23/a-history-of-football-in-pakistan-part-i/.

22. “Hall of Fame: Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club.,” accessed October 25, 2014. 

23. Ali Ahsan, “A History of Football in Pakistan — Part I,” December 23, 2010, http://www.dawn.com/2010/12/23/a-history-of-football-in-pakistan-part-i/.

24. “Hall of Fame: Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club.,” accessed October 25, 2014, http://eastbengalfootballclub.com/hall-of-fame.php.

25. Ali Ahsan, “A History of Football in Pakistan — Part I,” December 23, 2010, http://www.dawn.com/2010/12/23/a-history-of-football-in-pakistan-part-i/.

26. Novy Kapadia, “Puran Bahadur Thapa: India’s First Hat-Trick Man,” Sportskeeda.com, accessed October 26, 2014, http://www.sportskeeda.com/football/puran-bahadur-thapa-indias-first-hat-trick-man.

27. “Soccer’s peacemaker passes away in Karachi,” The Indian Express, May 13, 2003. http://archive.indianexpress.com/oldStory/23802.

28. “Hall of Fame: Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club.,” accessed October 25, 2014.

29. “Soccer’s peacemaker passes away in Karachi,” The Indian Express, May 13, 2003.

30. “Hall of Fame: Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club.,” accessed October 25, 2014.

31. “East Bengal Club Team Archives,” accessed October 25, 2014. http://eastbengalfootballclub.com/team_archieves.php. 

32.Amoy Ghosal, “World Cuppers Who Have Played for Indian Clubs,” accessed October 26, 2014, http://www.sportskeeda.com/football/world-cuppers-who-have-played-for-indian-clubs.

33. “List of Prominent Alumni,” Aligarh Muslim University, accessed October 26, 2014. http://www.amu.ac.in/pro.jsp?did=10065&lid=Prominent%20Alumni

34. “List of Prominent Alumni,” Aligarh Muslim University, accessed October 26, 2014.

35. “Jamshid on the Ball,” The Telegraph, accessed October 26, 2014, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120529/jsp/entertainment/story_15542141.jsp.

36. Amoy Ghosal, “World Cuppers Who Have Played for Indian Clubs,”

37. “Jamshid on the Ball,” The Telegraph. 

38. “Hall of Fame: Kingfisher East Bengal Football Club.,” accessed October 25, 2014, http://eastbengalfootballclub.com/hall-of-fame.php.

39. “Chima Okorie Talks about His Mohun Bagan Days,” McDowell’s Mohun Bagan Official Website, accessed October 26, 2014, http://www.mohunbaganac.com/community-detail/chima-okorie-talks-about-his-mohun-bagan-days.

Author’s Bio- Note:

Sudipto Mitra is a postgraduate student of history, at Presidency University, specializing in Modern History. His research interests include Precolonial and colonial Bengal, The Dutch settlements in India (with a special emphasis on the VOC in Bengal), The history of indentured labour in India, Sports and culture in the modern world, The History of Calcutta and Postmodern studies.