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Mohan Bagan Club founded in 1889, won the IFA Shield on 29th
July, 1911 beating East Yorkshire 2-1. Shibdas Bhaduri and
Abhilash Ghosh scored for Mohan Bagan. This mega incident
gained unprecedented applause from the Indians. On the eventful
day, two rupee tickets were sold for fifteen.
They played bare foot. Indian players used to play bare-footed and
were reluctant to play with boots on. In the 1930s, the
Mohammedans persuaded the Indian players to wear boots for the
first time.
Mohammedan Sporting Club came into being
in 1891 as a formidable team to reign the rest
of British era. To celebrate its promotion to the
first division in 1934, the club won the IFA
League with elan. The triumph-story of
Mohammedan Sporting continued unabated till
1941 save 1939.The Mohammedan Sporting
players were regarded by all for their integrity,
killer instinct, skill and plucky attitude.
East Bengal Club emerged in 1921. It finished
as runners-up in the League five times before
winning it in 1942. The club bagged both
League and Shield in 1945. After partition,
Calcutta was deluged by people coming from
East Bengal. These tortured victims of partition
who had lost all hopes and aspirations, found a
new ray of hope in life through this soccer
team. The East Bengal team as if, reflected
their dreams and, joys. Their forward line in
the late 1950s was simply irresistible. Appa
Rao, Dhanraj, Ahmed, Venkatesh and Saleh
the invincible five were a nightmare to any
opponent during that time.
In 1955 a worthy technical innovation was
introduced in Calcutta soccer by changing
from the two-back to three-back system.
This was, again, changed to four-back
system in the mid-1960s.
'Arjuna Awards' instituted since 1961 has
been won by several footballers. Chuni
Goswami, P.K. Banerjee, Jarnail Singh, S.
Nayimuddin. Sudhir Karmakar etc. are
some of the towering figures.
A multitude of players have come from all
over India to play in the Calcutta soccer
since the 1930s. Some such illustrious
names are Venkatesh, Appa Rao, Ahmed,
Saleh, Rahim, Abbas, Murgesh, Masum,
Taj Muhammad, Peter Thangaraj, Ram
Bahadur, Sattar, Jarnail Singh, Balaram,
Kittu, Shyam Thapa, Habib, Xavier Pias,
Babu Mani and many others. Several
foreign players have also played for
Calcutta teams and been household names
at different times. Pugsli, Majid Baskar,
Jamshid Nasiri, Omar, Musa, Masud Fakri,
Chima Okerie, Bernard etc. are some of the
better known foreign players
Kolkata Cricket
Calcutta has played the big brother in organizing and
standardizing Cricket a game invented in England.
'The Madras Courier' matches were played by the
'Calcutta Cricket Club' against Barrackpur and Dum
Dum as early as 1792 (23rd February).'The Calcutta
Cricket Club' was the oldest one of its kind. The first
organized cricket match in India was played in
Calcutta on 18th and 19th January, 1804. The
contenders were the old Etonians and a team with an
exotic designation 'Calcutta'. The participants were
the 'writers' of the Writers' Building. The pitch was
laid in the Maidan. Ballygunge Cricket Club was
founded in 1864, which merged with the Calcutta
Cricket Club (CCC) in 1950. The first official
international cricket in India Was against the MCC
held in 1926-27.
Triangular school compitition
Sarada Ranjan Roy (1858 - 1925), an erudite scholar,
fielded a 'Bengalee Schools' team against the 'British
Schools' in 1913. This became a regular fixture. The
Anglo-Indian Schools followed and thus emerged a
triangular competition.
Local Clubs
The notable cricket playing clubs are the Aryans, the
Town Club, the Sporting Union, the Kalighat Club etc.
Ironically, Kolkata the progenitor of Indian Cricket, has
not produced many talents to represent the national
team. Calcutta can however be proud of Sharadindu
('Shute') Banerjee (1911 - 1980) of the Aryan Club, was
an 'Express' bowler and arguably one of the fastest
bowlers India has ever produced. Pankaj Roy was
another illustrious cricketer from Bengal who played 43
Tests and opened India's innings for four years with
aplomb. Prabir Sen, Dilip Doshi and Arun Lal have also
made the city proud by being members of the national
squad at different times.
'Made-in-Calcutta' genius
The latest feather in the cap of Calcutta Cricket is the
inimitable Saurav Ganguly the has carved a niche for
himself in the history of the game. A spontaneous,
graceful and flamboyant left-hander batsman, a witty
bowler and a great thinker of the game he led the team
to victory against
The Maidan, about two miles in
length and a mile in width, is the
best-known open space; the major
soccer, cricket, and hockey fields
are located there. Adjacent to the
Maidan is one of the oldest cricket
fields in the world, Ranji Stadium,
in the Eden Gardens; Netaji
Stadium, for indoor events, is also
in the vicinity. The Salt Lake
Stadium, built to the east of the
city, can seat 100,000 spectators.
There are two racecourses and two
golf courses within the city, and
rowing at the Lake Club and the
Bengal Rowing Club is popular._
Hockey -The first Indian hockey clubs were
formed in Calcutta in 1885. The Beighton Cup
Tournament was initiated in 1895 in Calcutta.
The All India Hockey Federation held its first
National Championships at Calcutta in 1928.
Calcutta had established itself as a formidable
power in hockey both in the Senior League as
well as the Beighton Cup. Apart from the
Customs, Port Commissioners and Railways
as well as private clubs viz., the Xaverians,
Mohan Bagan and the Rangers had also made
remarkable progress.
Some outstanding players in Calcutta, in the
pre-independence era were Allen, the Tapsell
brothers, Dickie Carr, Shaukat Ali, Joe
Gallibardy etc. In the post-independence era,
Calcutta made outstanding contributions to
Indian Hockey through Pat Jansen, G.
Glacken, Leslie Claudius, Keshav Dutt, M.
Daluz, Gurbux Singh, G.S. Dubey, C.S.
Gurung. Incidentally, the first woman recipient
of the Arjuna Award for Hockey was Ms. Ann
Lumsden of Calcutta.
Lawn Tennis - Though not a hot favourite of the
masses, it has contributed immensely to the game at
the higher levels. 'The Bengal Lawn Tennis
Championships' started in 1887 in the outfield at
Eden Gardens. Japanese players like Zenzo
Shimidzu and Okamoto dominated the Tennis
circuits in Calcutta. The oldest tennis club in Calcutta
was the North Club at Beadon Square (now
Rabindra Kanan). However, the South Club, which
followed, soon (1920), grew more popular in a short
LAWN TENNIS CLUBS while. Akshay and Gyanesh Dey and Anandi
OF KOLKATA Mukherjee founded it. With six well-tended grass
courts, the club was justifiably referred to as the
Bengal Tennis Association Wimbledon of the East. Renowned players from all
over the globe have played in this court. Several
Calcutta South Club Davis Cup ties have been played at the South Club.
International Club
Outram Club This club started the Calcutta Lawn Tennis
Championships in the early 1930s. It inaugurated the
Royal Calcutta Golf Club National Championships in 1946. Some of the
Saturday Club illustrious players of South Club who have enriched
Indian Tennis are Dilip Basu, Sumant Mishra,
Shyambazar Tennis Club Naresh Kumar, Akhtar Ali, Joydeep Mukherjee,
Enrico Piperno etc. Leander Paes, the Junior
The Calcutta Gymkhana Wimbledon titleholder in 1990, is a proud possession
Tollygunge Club of Calcutta.
Badminton - Calcutta has made a
significant contribution in Badminton as
well. In 1934, the All-India Badminton
Association was founded in Calcutta.
The first National Tournament was held
here the same year. The winner was
Vijay Madgavkar, a Calcuttan.
The city can boast of producing some
outstanding Badminton players like
Manoj Guha, Gajanan Hemmadi,
Dipu Ghosh, Ramen Ghosh and even
the national women's champion
Madhumita Singh Bisht (Goswami).
Founder
Member IFBB in
India
Monohar Aich : Mr. Universe 1952
Physical instructor, circus strongman, circus proprietor, gym owner, Monohar Aich has had
a chequered career. All through the long years he has kept up his training. "Without regular
training I don't see how one can exist as a human being."
BOXING was introduced in Calcutta
by the British Army. The first recorded
bout took place in October, 1884 at the
Parsee Theatre. The Anglo Indian
schools cultivated the sport and made
pugilism a popular sport among the
Calcuttans. The Bengal Amateur Boxing
Federation was founded in 1930. The All
India Boxing Federation was founded at
Calcutta in 1948. Ace pugilists from
Calcutta like Bob Lal, Binay Basu, Robin
Bhatta, M. Joachim, R. Cranston etc
Two supplementary courses were founded at Tollygunge and Barrackpore. However, the latter
was very short lived. The Calcutta Turf Club was founded in 1847. It was rechristened the
'Royal Calcutta Turf Club' after the visit of George V in the city in 1911. Until the 2nd World
War, the jockeys were mostly Australians and Britons. The first Indian jockey who won the
prestigious Calcutta Gold Cup was Kheem Singh in 1950.