According to replicated history, Indian football players climbed to the 1950 World Championship in Brazil, but they were forced to skip it because of the FIFA requirements for shoes. We checked if it was so.

This is how this case is described in the article "RIA Novosti": “In 1950, at the World Cup, a funny incident occurred with a whole team. Then the Indian team "received a ticket" to the final part of the championship. However, the team refused to participate in the championship due to the fact that the Indians were not allowed to play barefoot. It seems that then Indian football players missed their chance: subsequently they never could break into the championship. ”

History fell into countless printed football reference books, online collectors interesting facts O football And just articles (for example, on sites BBC, Sports.ru or RT). Moreover, it is this reason that is given in review The 1950 World Cup on the official FIFA page.

Although the All -Indian Football Federation (AIFF) was Created In 1937, she received official recognition only 11 years later, after the country gained independence. Having become a member of FIFA, the Indians immediately got the opportunity to send their team to the first official tournament - the 1948 Olympics in London. The status of the former colony of the founders of the game did not give them any advantages - the team was composed exclusively from local nativesThere are little representing what English football is. Nevertheless, the team did not hit the mud in the mud - in their first and only matches, the Indians lost to the French with a 1: 2 military score, without realizing two penalties and missing the decisive goal in the penultimate minute. By the way, about mud: Asians decided that only she or rain can make them put on boots, which in those years were considered an optional element of equipment. As a result, 8 out of 11 players who played against France preferred peculiar footmen - the back of the foot was wrapped in fabric, and the front remained naked. Yes, the football ball weighed a lot in those years, generating the risk of injury, but the boots were quite heavy, so the Indians received some advantage in the speed of movement around the field.

Indian team in a match against the French

Despite the defeat, barefoot players produced a splash - the British king George VI even invited them to dinner at the Buckingham Palace, where According to rumors, rolled the trouser’s trouser defender Silen Manna in order to check if his legs are made of iron.

The European Olympiad tour showed: the Indians are ready to gain a foothold on the world arena as a strong middle peasant. Moreover, luck smiled at the team: on the eve of the 1950 World Cup, all three of her opponents in the dispute for the only Asian ticket (the Philippines, Indonesia and Burma) refused the struggle, and the Indian team automatically received the right to play in Brazil.

And here it happened unexpected: after the drawing of the final tournament, the team starred from the championship. It is knownthat FIFA really notified the All -Indian Football Federation that the team would not be allowed to play barefoot. But was this the main problem? The aforementioned Silen Manna, who later became the captain of the team, assertedthat is not at all. As mentioned above, at the Olympics in London, three Indian football players played in BUTSAH. The rest periodically acted similarly - for example, during the rain, when running without shoes was too slippery and viscous.

By data The Indian magazine Sports Illustrated, the All -Indian Football Federation announced that the team would not take part in the World Cup, citing "disagreements about the choice of composition and insufficient training time." Similar information You can find in the archives of the largest news agency India - PTI. The media is often Mentioned Another version of the refusal is financial. Only the flight to Brazil cost a lot of money and caused the withdrawal from the tournament Turkish national team. However, the deputy editor of the magazine Soccer and Society Koshik Bandopadhyai Notes: “A thorough investigation shows that behind the obvious financial difficulties given as a reason for the refusal lies the strange inability of AIFF to assess the importance of participating in the World Cup, despite the assurances of the organizing committee that they will take on the main part of the costs.”

Indeed, the financial version looks implausible, since the organizers of the World Cup Gathered To compensate the national team from India to Brazil, and the remaining expenses were to cover four charitable matches and assistance from the Bombay football association. But the guess that the federation simply did not perceive the World Cup seriously, considering the following Olympic Games the ultimate goal of the team, confirms Silen Manna: “Then we had no idea about the World Cup. If we were better informed, we ourselves would take the initiative. For us, the Olympics was everyone. There was nothing else. "

In addition, Manna in its memoirs reports that the team has already been assembled and conducted three training under the leadership of an expert from England. This suggests that the ban on the game without shoes neither players nor coaches confused. “We missed the golden opportunity. And definitely not because they played barefoot. We had a team that deserved a chance ” - I remembered 86-year-old Silen Manna.

Many years have passed, and India can’t forget his “golden generation” - the only thing in history that had a real chance to play at the World Cup. Captain Manna until the end of his life regretted About two things: about the non-attacked penalty in London and about a trip to Rio, who had broken down due to recent officials. And during his career, he secretly wore a small portrait of the goddess Kali, the Bosopoye winner of the demons in his pocket.

Photo on the cover: outsideOFTheBOOT.com.