India: The historical heavyweight of asia

As the Olympic football kicks-off in the 2012 London Olympics, the Indian football fans unsurprisingly seem indifferent to India’s absence from yet another International football competition. But if the youth of today think and feel that India have never had a great football team and have never put memorable performances against footballing powerhouses they should look back into the past, which has so much to say about this unique footballing nation called India.

It was the year 1948. The venue, Lynn Road Stadium, Ilford, East London. The Indian football team was making their Olympics debut and was up against a formidable France team in the preliminary round of the tournament. India lost 2-1 but the impression they left was an impressive one. Even though playing bare-feet they gave a good account of themselves, unfortunately managing to miss two penalties.

The game against the French in 1948 London Olympics is recorded as the first official International game played by the Indian National football side. None of the youth of today will believe that our team came so close to beating a top-level European side. In the following decade India went on to establish themselves as an Asian powerhouse. The period from 1950-1962 was a golden- era in Indian football.

Under the tutelage of the great Syed Abdul Rahim, who is considered the father of modern Indian football, India won the Asian games gold in 1951 and 1962 and gave some incredible performances in the 1956 and 1960 Olympics. The 1951 Asian Games was the first of its kind and was hosted by our very own country. India defeated the Indonesians and the Afghans on their way to the final. They beat the Iran by a solitary goal in the final.

Going a year back to 1950, India actually qualified for the World Cup. They were invited to play in the showpiece event hosted by Brazil, but the AIFF refused giving myriad reasons for boycotting the 1950 FIFA world cup. One of the alleged reasons was that FIFA had made it mandatory to play with boots and Indians still were bare-foot specialists those days.

The best was yet to come for the Indian football, in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics the side went into a record breaking mode. After the Hungarian side withdrew, Indians were set to meet the Socceroos in their own backyard for the Quarter-final game. A certain Neville D’Souza scored twice in the first-half, but the Aussies managed to equalise each time and it ended 2-2 at the break. In the second half the centre forward Neville D’Souza added another one to complete a record-breaking hat-trick. Kittu added gloss to the scoreline adding a fourth and condemning Australia to a 4-2 defeat.

The Socceroos were left flabbergasted as few decisions had gone against them and demanded a rematch, which they got after the Olympics. But a brace from Neville D’Souza proved that India had substance to prove their talent as they dumped the Australians 2-0. The Indians lost the semis to Yugoslavia, who were traditional football heavyweights by 4-1 after D’Souza’s goal had put India in the lead early in the second-half . India lost to Bulgaria 3-0 in the bronze medal play-off. But the record had been made as India became the first Asian side to finish as high as fourth in the Olympics. Neville D’Souza bagged the golden boot, and went down in the record books as the first Asian to score an Olympic hat-trick.

The 1960 Rome Olympics saw India give another stellar performance against the French. India’s all-time record goal-scorer P.K Banerjee gave India the lead only for the French to equalizs ten minutes from full-time. The 1-1 draw is considered the best result achieved by the India national team against a top-notch European side. That was the last Olympics till date India has played in.

India went on to win the 1962 Asian games gold beating South Korea 2-1 in the final with P.K Banerjee on the score-sheet. He also scored in a 1-0 victory over Japan during the group stage. 1964 saw India finish runners up in the Asian cup hosted by Israel. They beat South Korea 2-0 but lost to Israel conceding the top place to the hosts.

That was the end of the glory years as Indian football went into wilderness and in a state of decadence. India lies amongst the lower reaches of the pecking order even at the continental level and the team needs a serious makeover to reach the heights they have scaled previously.

The present looks bleak and dismal but the past gives us hope that Indian football has the ability to take on the best. A reformation is due in the entire footballing set-up of our nation and a visit to the past should provide more than just inspiration.