As incredulous as it may seem today, India did actually qualify for the Football World Cup 1950 which to be held in Brazil. They were even drawn to play Sweden, Italy and Paraguay in Group 3 but AIFF ultimately decided to not send the team to Brazil citing ‘lack of practice time and disagreement over team selection’. Since FIFA had agreed to bear a substantial part of the travel cost, that cannot be the reason, and the above cited reasons sound so lame that they cannot be accepted at face value. During this period, India was captained by Sailen Manna, and Syed Abdul Rahim had become the coach. In the absence of any plausible reason, the ‘barefoot theory’ has gained wide currency. It is a fact that FIFA had made shoes mandatory after 1948 Olympics but had not expressly banned barefoot play. Nevertheless, players competing in the World Cup were expected to wear shoes. But Indian players were accustomed to playing with bare feet. After skipping the World Cup, Indian players later played barefoot in Helsinki in 1952. Even in 1956, there was some talk of Indians taking on Australians in bare feet, but were somehow persuaded to wear shoes. (India won that match 4-2) So this ‘barefoot’ theory might not hold much water, after all. Of course, we preferred to play with bare feet not because we could not afford, as the allegation goes, but because our players were comfortable playing without shoes as they were not yet made mandatory in local tournaments.

World Cup was not an immensely popular event in those days. FIFA had a difficult time in organizing the 1950 World Cup. India prioritized the amateur Olympic movement in those days over World Cup which was expected to be a professional event. India was an eager participant in the next three Olympic Games, and gave a fairly decent account of themselves. But come to think of it, we played in the pre-World Cup qualifiers for the first time only in 1986! So the argument that India ‘let go’ of the chance to compete in a far-away World Cup to prioritize Olympics does not seem quite far-fetched. The consequences of going professional by competing in the Cup, and thereby jeopardizing participation in the amateur Olympic football tournament were not quite known in 1950. Then again, sloppiness, stinginess and lack of initiative on part of the AIFF officials did play its part in the decision to withdraw.

The 1950 edition of the Cup was replete with withdrawals. In Asia, Indonesia, Philippines and Burma withdrew, with India qualifying by default. It can be said that we had become lucky so-to-speak, for we hadn’t exactly qualified after some spirited qualifying campaign. Burma was considered a good side, as was Indonesia, and their withdrawals did us a good turn, which we failed to capitalize upon. Soviet Union, 1934 runner-up Czechoslovakia and 1938 runner-up Hungary refused to participate because of political reasons. Yugoslavia was the only East European country to field their side. Germany was not readmitted into FIFA and Japan was suspended, hence could not take part. Argentina withdrew because of some dispute with Brazilian Football Association. Ecuador and Peru withdrew after the qualifying draw, resulting in default qualifications of Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia. Austria and Belgium withdrew from European quota. Italy, which had lost its main side in an air crash, sent a weak side by sea route.  This was the era of post-War deprivation and weariness, alongside deepening of Cold War fault-lines. After a lot of lobbying, wheeling-dealing, wrangling and persuasion, FIFA, under Jules Rimet, somehow managed to finalise a draw comprising of 16 nations.

India withdrew after finalisation of the main draw. Turkey withdrew citing financial constraints. Scotland refused to send their side as well. FIFA tried to enlist Ireland, France and Portugal, but only France showed some interest. But even they withdrew at the very last minute because of the scheduling at distant venues. Thus, only 13 teams ended up participating in the main draw, and played their league matches in groups of four, four, three and two. Four teams qualified for the Final Round which decided the World Cup Champion by round-robin format. Brazil were required to play out a draw in the last match to become the Champions, but Uruguay scored a late goal to cause a huge upset at Macarana.

India might not have done anything spectacular even if they had played in the World Cup. While Sweden was a strong side, even young Italians would have been tough to handle. Perhaps we would have defeated or drawn with Paraguay. But the argument that mere participation might have served as inspiration for future generations sounds hollow to me. After all, Indian football did enjoy its golden phase between 1951 and 1964, but the fountain of inspiration dried up pretty soon once Syed Abdul Rahim left the stage.   

---

#FIFA #worldcup1950 #worldcup #football #julesrimettrophy #aiff #syedabdulrahim #sailenmanna #macarana #brazil #uruguay #indianwithdrawal #barefoot #barefoottoboots #india