ViruRulez Posted February 9, 2010 Posted February 9, 2010 I was just going through espn and there a user mentioned that India had qualified for FIFA world cup but refused to participate. So, I checked wikipedia and I was hell lot of surprised to know that we qualified as early as 1950. I think nobody on this board was born anywhere near that time but that was just after independence. Did anybody know about it. It is said that India qualified for the FIFA world cup and was about to play the finals. But they withdrew as they were not allowed to play barefoot (sounds a bit funny though) as they had qualified by playing barefoot in the qualifiers. I never knew about it. Did any of you know about it? If we had played in that WC then maybe we would have become one of the biggest contenders in world football too. I am still surprised as to how did we qualify back after independence itself and now we find it difficult to qualify. Here is the wikipedia links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_FIFA_World_Cup#Qualification http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_national_football_team#World_Cup_record http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification
Guest Hiten. Posted February 9, 2010 Posted February 9, 2010 Very old news (at least to me). One of the reasons why football never made it big in India.
Lurker Posted February 9, 2010 Posted February 9, 2010 I was just going through espn and there a user mentioned that India had qualified for FIFA world cup but refused to participate. So' date=' I checked wikipedia and I was hell lot of surprised to know that we qualified as early as 1950. [b']I think nobody on this board was born anywhere near that time but that was just after independence. Did anybody know about it. It is said that India qualified for the FIFA world cup and was about to play the finals. But they withdrew as they were not allowed to play barefoot (sounds a bit funny though) as they had qualified by playing barefoot in the qualifiers. I never knew about it. Did any of you know about it? If we had played in that WC then maybe we would have become one of the biggest contenders in world football too. I am still surprised as to how did we qualify back after independence itself and now we find it difficult to qualify. As BB said this is old news. India was pretty formidable on Asian circuit during 1950s and 60s. We won Asian gold and were 4th in 56 Olympics if I am not mistaken. In the other thread about Mile Sur Mera Tumhara somebody had commented about Arun Lal coming out of the train all smiling. If you catch the gentleman behind him that would be PK Banerjee doyen of Indian soccer. And yes we did not play in WC cos we played barefoot/
Sachinism Posted February 9, 2010 Posted February 9, 2010 Known this since I was a kid. I used to think it was joke and someone taking the piss, but a few years down the line I checked it up and :hysterical:
punjabi_khota Posted February 9, 2010 Posted February 9, 2010 apparently we qualified because the 3 other teams in our qualifying pool of 4 withdrew. :hahaha: Group 10.
Malcolm Merlyn Posted February 9, 2010 Posted February 9, 2010 Fifa wouldnt let us play barefooted and it seems we couldnt afford shoes.....old news though this
ViruRulez Posted February 9, 2010 Author Posted February 9, 2010 Very old news (at least to me). One of the reasons why football never made it big in India. As BB said this is old news. India was pretty formidable on Asian circuit during 1950s and 60s. We won Asian gold and were 4th in 56 Olympics if I am not mistaken. In the other thread about Mile Sur Mera Tumhara somebody had commented about Arun Lal coming out of the train all smiling. If you catch the gentleman behind him that would be PK Banerjee doyen of Indian soccer. And yes we did not play in WC cos we played barefoot/ Never knew it personally and only knew it today. I am really surprised. Maybe we would have been world champions till now if we had played then. Through all these years since childhood I have been thinking as to why we do not qualify in FIFA WC and why we are always ranked in 100+ normally in FIFA and this was a huge surprise for me. Known this since I was a kid. I used to think it was joke and someone taking the piss' date=' but a few years down the line I checked it up and :hysterical:[/quote'] I also thought it was a joke right now when I at first read the comment in ESPN :giggle: So, can we also start "Phir Dil Do Football ko" like is the case in hockey recently.
ViruRulez Posted February 9, 2010 Author Posted February 9, 2010 Fifa wouldnt let us play barefooted and it seems we couldnt afford shoes.....old news though this who told you we could not afford shoes .. that sounds crazy and I am quite sure that is not correct
Lurker Posted February 9, 2010 Posted February 9, 2010 who told you we could not afford shoes .. that sounds crazy and I am quite sure that is not correct Thats true. We did not have foreign exchange to buy them shoes.
Malcolm Merlyn Posted February 9, 2010 Posted February 9, 2010 who told you we could not afford shoes .. that sounds crazy and I am quite sure that is not correct thats what i read,in magazines....internet was not what it is today.....it was all down to indian players not having shoes....
ViruRulez Posted February 9, 2010 Author Posted February 9, 2010 Thats true. We did not have foreign exchange to buy them shoes. what do you mean we did not have foreign exchange to buy shoes.. they must have got some money at least as they must have played the qualifiers in foreign countries... so why could we not buy them shoes .. that really sounds crazy and I cannot understand this foreign exchange thing.. any Indian living in that nation where the football world cup was taking place could have bought the shoes
Guest Hiten. Posted February 9, 2010 Posted February 9, 2010 what do you mean we did not have foreign exchange to buy shoes.. they must have got some money at least as they must have played the qualifiers in foreign countries... so why could we not buy them shoes .. that really sounds crazy and I cannot understand this foreign exchange thing.. any Indian living in that nation where the football world cup was taking place could have bought the shoes Obviously, football World Cup wasn't that big as it is today. So maybe they did not find it viable in spending money to buy shoes for a 'stupid tournament'. We were recovering from partition and had other things to worry about.
ViruRulez Posted February 9, 2010 Author Posted February 9, 2010 Obviously' date=' football World Cup wasn't that big as it is today. So maybe they did not find it viable in spending money to buy shoes for a 'stupid tournament'. We were recovering from partition and had other things to worry about.[/quote'] dont know and sounds incredibly crazy at the present moment but yes that was India after independence and the situation was very bad as we all know.. but still I dont think that we did not wear shoes because we did not have money.. we had tatas, birlas and other rich people at that time too... and most probably the qualifiers must have taken place in foreign nations and if we did not have money at all to afford shoes even then we should not have been able to send our team for the qualifiers too
jusarrived Posted February 9, 2010 Posted February 9, 2010 we also finished 4th in one of the Olympics , our football was pretty decent till the realy 70s from what i have read
Don Sharma Posted February 10, 2010 Posted February 10, 2010 Old news. Btw, here is a tidbit for you...Durand Cup is the third oldest football tournament in the world after the FA cup(England) and the Scottish cup.
Recommended Posts