The East Surrey Regiment

The East Surrey Regiment, Kolkata, 1890.

It's never particularly cool in Kolkata- about 25C in December and January, so that heavyweight kit and boots must have been hard work.
The British Military helped to spread football with their penchant for recreating English life wherever they went. 
Football was particularly popular in Bengal , with the locals founding clubs and aspiring to be able to challenge the English.
The first notable triumph for an Indian club  came in 1892 when Kolkata's Savabazar FC  defeated The East Surrey Regiment  in the Trades Cup final . 

The East Surrey Regiment feature in another curious episode. On July 1st, 1916 , The first day of the Battle of The Somme, Captain Billy Nevill gave his players 2 footballs with which to lead their assault on the enemy positions. On the balls was written: The Great European Cup-Tie Final. East Surreys v Bavarians. Kick off at zero and NO REFEREE.

Remarkably, given the carnage that followed, one of the balls was retrieved and returned to the regiment's HQ.

Gandhi

 When Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became involved in Civil Rights and anti racism in South Africa he recognized the populist force of football. In 1913 he organized football  in Natal for the Indian community. In this photograph Gandhi is circled. 

Football in The Raj

During the British occupation of India the soldiers and civil servants engaged in a variety of sporting activities, many of which were adopted by locals who came into contact with the British or served alongside them. Here are some photographs of football teams featuring Indian soldiers in the service of the British Empire.

Football team of the 20th Duke of Cambridge's Own Infantry (Brownlow's Punjabis), 1920.

Football team from the 52nd Sikhs (Frontier Force), 1921.

The Tochi Scouts HQ Wing football team, the winners of the Company League, North West Frontier, 1933.

Mohammed Salim, Celtic 1936.

 Salim- barefoot in Celtic

In the 1930's Mohammedan Sporting enjoyed a good run of success in Indian domestic football. After the Calcutta League title win of 1936, winger Mohammed Salim was invited to play two friendlies against the Chinese Olympic side. His cousin  Hasheem, who lived in England, was visiting Calcutta and saw the first match.  Hasheem persuaded Salim to try his luck in Europe.
Playing barefooted, Salim had trials at Celtic, and played a couple of matches:

Indian Juggler - New Style

Ten twinkling toes of Salim, Celtic FC's player from India, hypnotised the crowd at Parkhead last night. He balances the ball on his big toe, lets it run down the scale to his little toe, twirls it, hops on one foot around the defender.      Scottish Daily Express, 29.8.36.

Homesick, Salim rejected a professional contract with the club. Celtic tried to persuade him to stay by offering to organize a charity match in his honour, giving him five per cent of the gate receipts. Salim promised to donate his share to a group of  orphans who attended the match. The five per cent came to £1,800 (about £100,000 today) and Salim kept  his word.

India

It probably says something of the nature of imperialism that the countries of the British Empire have flourished in the sports of cricket and Rugby Union  rather than the Association game. 

India is not a nation that one readily associates with football. It is, however, the home of two of the oldest competitions in world football.

Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikary introduced the game to India in 1877, founding a club at Hare School in Calcutta (Kolkata).
In 1888 The Durand Cup was introduced- a tournament for British Army teams. The Royal Scots Fusiliers won the inaugural Durand cup  at Simla, beating  the Highland Light Infantry  2-1. The competition effectively  became the Indian domestic cup after World War 2. During the period we cover it was a very British affair.

The Indian Football Association was formed in 1893, and the first edition of the IFA Shield was played that year. 
Early Indian football was dominated by colonists, and the first IFA shield was won by The Royal Irish Rifles.

Barefoot- Mohun Bagan, 1911.

In the 1911 IFA Shield tournament final Mohun Bagan defeated the East Yorkshire Regiment. In front of a reputed 80000, Mohun Bagan  became the first Indian winners of the Shield, and probably the first Indian (or Asian) team to defeat European opponents.


Calcutta Football League, which kicked off in 1898, is the oldest league in Asia. The Gloucestershire regiment won the first title. Calcutta FC won in 1899 and in the seasons up to 1937 British military outfits won the league 29 times, punctuated by 8 Calcutta FC wins.  In 1934 Mohammedan Sporting Club began a 5 season sequence of wins.