EM Sports Desk
In the late 1940s, when India became an independent nation, Indian football too got a boost as the national federation All-India Football Federation (AIFF) wasted no time in applying for recognition from FIFA. FIFA granted official status to the AIFF, which paved the way for newly-formed India to play international matches as an independent country. The first such occasion was the 1948 Olympics. A new nation with renewed hope India after independence was still in its first year and the seventy-nine member strong Indian contingent (all men) had the honour of being the ambassadors of the country. This was India's first representation at the Olympics without any baggage of colonisation, and with that came very few expectations.
In a few months, it was notified by the governing body that since only 23 countries had shown an interest in participating, all of them would be accommodated. A number of nations including Pakistan, Hungary and Poland pulled out at the eleventh hour, and India managed to sneak into the first round without having to play preliminary ties.The Indian football team landed in London during the first week of July. AIFF, at that point, had not paid the membership fees to FIFA and were concerned if this non-payment would attract disqualification from the event. Dutta Ray, the secretary of AIFF was with the Indian team in London, and he wasted no time in clarifying this matter with Stanley Rous, secretary of the Football Association (FA), responsible for organising the football matches at the Olympics. The FA Secretary wrote a letter to the Secretary-General of FIFA, Dr. Ivo Schricker in which he stated the concerns of Dutta Ray and requested the secretary-general to clarify the matter with the Indian football secretary. Within a matter of three days, Dr. Schricker assured Dutta Ray through a letter addressed to his temporary accommodation in London - that non-payment of FIFA fees had no bearing on India's participation at the Olympics.
Between July 13 and 28, 1948, the Indian team played five warm-up games. Teams like Department Store XI, Metropolitan Police FC, Pinner FC, Hayes FC, and Alexandra Park FC played hosts and Indians amassed 39 goals in these five matches and conceded only five goals. Of course, the aforementioned clubs were small - but they provided a good foundation for the Indian players leading up to their big game against France.
The face-off was scheduled to be held on July 31 at the Cricklefield Stadium at Ilford. For the first time ever, India was to play an international football match, and the coach had a full arsenal of players to choose from.
The back-line consisted of the two best defenders of the country, as the players lined up in a 2-3-5 formation. Sailendra Manna, the 24-year-old Mohun Bagan defender popularly known as Sailen Manna, was not only a clinical tackler, but was also lethal from dead ball situations. The skipper of the team was the elegant centre-half Talimeren Ao, who was born in Mokokchung district of Nagaland and had moved to Mohun Bagan in 1943. Quite interestingly, he was studying for his MBBS at Carmichael Medical College (now RG Kar Medical College) and remains India's only international footballer till date who was also a doctor by profession.
Taj Mohammed, the right-out, was the only Indian adept at playing with boots on. Born in Quetta, the footballer was a vital cog in the Mohammedan Sporting team which emerged as one of the major powers in contemporary Indian football. SA Basheer, another professional from Bangalore who would later go on to guide Mysore to a Santosh Trophy victory in 1968 at Cuttack, also started the game. Mahavir Prasad, who used to represent Bengal in the Santosh Trophy despite being born in Bihar, was part of the East Bengal squad.
However, it was the star-studded forward line that grabbed the eyeballs before the competition. The legendary Ahmed Khan, who was later named the “best striker of the millennium” by East Bengal, was the most popular. Eastern Railway’s Sahu Mewalal, who was to score the winning goal in India’s 1-0 win in the 1951 Asian Games final, was another well-known name. The Bombay forward Ramchandra Balaram Parab had a knack of pulling the trigger from a distance while Robi Das of Bhawanipore FC and Sarangapani Raman of Bangalore were also part of the starting eleven.
The Swedish referee Gunnar Dahlner called for the play to begin as the eagerly awaited contest of shoes vs. non-shoes gave spectators of the Cricketfield stadium something to look forward to. Clearly, the Indians on the field were the 'underdogs' - as no one knew what to expect from these 'almost bare-footers'. Both teams started with a 2-3-5 formation as it was quite popular back then. On the brink of thirty minutes, France scored the opening goal. Rene Courbin's goal remained the highlight of the first-half. An equaliser for India; the Indian team had nothing to lose.
However, as the game advanced, there was intent and Indian players displayed skills to upset the opposition.Any team is dangerous when they have nothing to lose, and this approach created few opportunities for India - Ahmad Khan, known for his skills and passing abilities created a opening, he combined his play with Vajravelu (who came in as substitute), beat the French defence and passed the ball to Sarangapani Raman, who successfully managed to put it beyond the reach of Guy Rouxel, the French goalkeeper. India scored, they had equalised and the game burst into life.
This goal kept India in the hunt - an upset now seemed a reality. As noted by the referee in his match report, the French team were temperamental at times as they were frustrated at letting the match slip away in the second half. Two penalties were awarded - both of which should have been converted by the Indians, and these missed opportunities would come to hurt them at the end of the game. The legendary Indian player Sailendra Manna, who took part in the game missed the first penalty and refused to take the second penalty (which was missed) because he feared he would miss that as well. This incident, he later recalled and termed it as 'regretful'.
It was 1-1 and just few minutes to go for the final whistle. Indians were stretched at this point, as they had played close to twenty minutes more than what they were used to playing in the domestic matches (it took many years into the 1970's to create uniform playing conditions from 70 minutes to 90 minutes). However, this was never given as an official reason for losing the match.
The Indian players had to endure two minutes of French counter-attacking in order to play the repeat match. The clock was ticking towards the 90 minute-mark and with less than 120 seconds to go, Rene Persillon guided France to take the lead in the dying moments of the match. The Indians were heart-broken. There was neither the time nor do they have the energy necessary to make a comeback. Seconds later, Gunnar Dahlner blows the final whistle and India came agonisingly close to creating an upset.
A few days after the first round exit, the Indian football team continued their European tour and played a further eight matches in Netherlands and in the United Kingdom. The highlight of these eight matches was beating Ajax Amsterdam 5-1 on their home turf. After the Holland tour, the Indian team played five more matches in England - winning three and drawing the other two. The Blues will forever remain part of India’s football history.
