The title of this post will surprise many people around the world but more so in India. It is true that India did qualify for the FIFA World cup finals in 1950. That was not due to any major accomplishments by the Indian football team but due to many teams dropping out from the qualifying rounds and from participation in the aftermath of the Second World War.

India take the field against France, London Olympics, 1948 Source

Having gained Independence only in 1947, India had given a good account of themselves in the 1948 Olympic Games held in London and in the ensuing tour of Europe. In their first game in the Olympics, they were pitted against France. India took a lead but squandered two penalties to allow France to come back and score the winning goal in the dying moments of the match. Most Indian players were playing barefooted as did many other players at the Games. That would have been quite uncomfortable on the pitch in an English Summer which is much cooler than most parts of India. Eleven players of the contingent of 18 were debutants.

In the FIFA qualifiers India qualified by virtue of some of the national teams in the group not wanting to participate (Indonesia, Burma and the Philippines did not compete). The 1950 World Cup was held in Brazil. And post the 1948 Olympics had passed a rule stipulating that players must compulsorily wear shoes. As the tournament day came nearer, the organisers noted that several teams from Europe had either opted out or stayed away due to the post-war international sanctions. There was also no team participating in Asia. They then contacted the AIFF (All India Football Federation) offering to the bear the travelling and staying costs of the Indian team.

Most of these players would have gone FIFA World Cup, Brazil in 1950 Source

The AIFF declined the invitation and preferred not to send the national football team. There were several reasons cited by the AIFF for not sending a team. They said that the Indian players were not comfortable playing football wearing shoes. The lack of international match practice was another excuse of the AIFF. Another was that the travel to Brazil, by sea then, was too long and the players will not be able to put up with the arduous voyage. All the excuses including the one that India did not have the funds to support the teams travel were not true.

In fact, the AIFF did not simply understand that the opportunity to participate in the FIFA World Cup would have taken football in India to another level and might have even challenged the sole monopoly that cricket enjoys at the moment. For AIFF and the Indians at large, the Olympics was the greatest tournament on earth, they had hardly heard about the FIFA World Cup and did not the importance of participating in it. It is only after all-round criticism that statements were made giving excuses.

Indians practising at Richmond Park, 1948 Source

Sailen Manna, who would have been the captain of the Indian team had they gone to Brazil later admitted that they did not know about the importance of the FIFA World Cup. He says that it was not about shoes or the long voyage but about the ignorance of the players and the FIFA officials. The players, he says, would themselves have taken the initiatives had the facts been known.

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