FOOTBALL BOOTS THROUGH THE AGES

From Barefoot Heroes to the Science of Modern Football

In the summer of 1911, on the Calcutta Maidan, a group of Indian footballers achieved something that would live far beyond the final whistle. Mohun Bagan defeated the East Yorkshire Regiment 2-1 to win the IFA Shield. Ten of the eleven Indian players reportedly played barefoot. Their opponents wore boots, yet it was the barefoot side that emerged victorious. The result became one of the most cherished episodes in Indian football, remembered not only for the victory itself but also for what it meant to Indians living under British rule.

We play football, you play bootball

Nearly four decades after Mohun Bagan’s historic triumph, Indian footballers carried their barefoot tradition onto the Olympic stage. At the 1948 London Olympics, independent India made its first Olympic football appearance. On 31 July, India lost 2-1 to France, with Sarangapani Raman scoring the Indian goal.

The match attracted attention because eight of India’s eleven players reportedly played without boots. An August 1948 report in The Indian Express, examined by India Today in a 2022 fact check, helped establish this detail and correct a widely circulated photograph that had been cropped to suggest that the entire Indian team was barefoot. Among those wearing boots was Kerala’s own defender T. M. Varghese, popularly known as Thiruvalla Pappan.

Playing barefoot was not necessarily a sign of poverty or an inability to obtain footwear. Sports historian Goutam Roy explained to India “Today that the players were accustomed to playing barefoot and felt comfortable doing so. For a generation trained in those conditions, bare feet were familiar equipment."

A famous remark attributed to Indian captain Talimeren Ao captures the contrast between the two football cultures: “Well, you see, we play football in India, whereas you play bootball!” The line has been repeated in many accounts of Indian football, although its precise wording and original setting remain difficult to establish conclusively from contemporary records. It is best treated as a memorable, widely attributed anecdote rather than a verified verbatim quotation.
The remark endures because it evokes a time when Indian players trusted the skills they had developed without footwear. Yet international football was becoming increasingly competitive, and the demands of modern preparation and equipment could no longer be ignored.

The Lesson from Helsinki

At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, India suffered a 10-1 defeat against Yugoslavia on 15 July. The result was a painful setback, but it would be simplistic to attribute it to barefoot play alone. Tactical organisation, preparation, the strength of the opposition and teamwork all influence the outcome of a football match.

The need to modernise Indian football, including its equipment, was becoming more pressing. The All India Football Federation’s official history records that boots became mandatory in domestic competitions in 1954. This marked an important change in organised Indian football, although it should not be taken to mean that barefoot play disappeared everywhere overnight.

Four years later, at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, India reached the semi-finals and finished fourth, becoming the first Asian team to achieve that distinction in Olympic football. In the quarter-final, Neville D’Souza scored a hat-trick as India defeated Australia 4-2.

India’s remarkable performance was a tribute to the players’ ability and determination, not to any single item of footwear. From London to Helsinki and Melbourne, Indian football was passing through a period of change. The barefoot tradition remained part of its heritage, while the game moved towards more systematic preparation and modern equipment.

When Boots Became Compulsory: The Travancore - Cochin Experience

The AIFF's decision to make football boots compulsory in the Santosh Trophy from 1954 marked a historic turning point, but the transition on the ground was far from seamless. For players accustomed to barefoot football, the change demanded much more than simply putting on a new piece of equipment. During preparations for the 1953 - 54 Santosh Trophy, initial enthusiasm soon gave way to physical discomfort and difficulty. Unfamiliar with playing in leather boots, many players struggled to run, maintain their balance or even walk naturally on the pitch.

This challenge was particularly evident in the Travancore - Cochin team, which represented the Malayalam speaking region before the formation of Kerala. Observing his players' difficulties during training at the University Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, Colonel G.V. Raja, the driving force behind the Travancore - Cochin Football Association, made a decisive call. The team would withdraw from the 1953 - 54 Nationals and return only after its players had become accustomed to playing in boots. Accordingly, Travancore - Cochin made its booted appearance at the subsequent Madras Nationals in 1954 - 55.

This episode highlights an often-overlooked dimension of Indian football's modernization. The transition from barefoot play was not merely an administrative decision or a matter of acquiring new equipment; it required players to adapt their movement, balance and technique. What had come naturally to one generation had to be painstakingly learnt through practice by the next.

The revolution of the boot

The transformation of football footwear gathered pace after the Second World War. Manufacturers began looking for ways to make boots lighter and more flexible while providing adequate protection and better grip on the playing surface.

One of the best-known milestones came at the 1954 FIFA World Cup final in Switzerland. West Germany defeated the heavily favoured Hungary 3-2 in a match remembered as the "Miracle of Bern." The West German players wore boots with interchangeable screw in studs, which could be changed to suit the wet and muddy conditions.

The story is often told as though Adi Dassler, the founder of Adidas, invented the screw in stud and single handedly helped Germany win the final. The history is more complicated. The German Patent and Trade Mark Office records that Alexander Salot applied for a patent for replaceable anti skid studs in 1949, before the World Cup final. Earlier designs and patents also existed. Dassler helped develop and popularise the technology, but he was not the sole inventor of the idea.

The innovation highlighted an important principle of football: a player's grip on the ground can influence movement. On a slippery pitch, suitable studs help players accelerate, turn and maintain balance. Different playing conditions require different types of grip. The famous 1954 final brought the potential of adaptable footwear to the attention of football followers around the world.

Over the following decades, boots gradually became lighter and lower cut. Traditional leather uppers continued to be used, but new materials and designs increasingly offered greater flexibility and freedom of movement. The aim was no longer simply to protect the foot; it was also to help players move and control the ball more effectively.

That transformation was also experienced on our own playing fields. In our college days, Venkatesh boots from Bangalore enjoyed considerable popularity. Getting a pair often meant placing an order and waiting for its arrival. Later, Calcutta boots became equally popular, and I had the experience of wearing both brands and selling Calcutta boots to many footballers. Compared with today's lightweight footwear, these boots were heavy, with studs fixed to the soles by nails. As the studs wore down, they could be repaired and reused by fixing them again with nails, while an inner sole helped protect the feet. They belonged to an era when a good pair of football boots was valued, maintained and made to last.

By the 1990s, manufacturers were paying greater attention to how a boot's surface could influence contact with the ball. The Adidas Predator, introduced in 1994, became a notable example. Its ridged rubber elements on the upper were designed to influence contact between boot and ball, helping players generate spin and improve control. UEFA's history of the football boot identifies former Liverpool midfielder Craig Johnston as the designer behind the original concept.

Football footwear had travelled a remarkable distance from the heavy leather boots of the nineteenth century. The boot was no longer merely protective equipment; its design was increasingly intended to help players control the ball and perform specific movements more effectively.

What does science have to do with a football boot?

The science behind a football boot is quite simple. A boot must help a player run, turn, kick and stop without slipping. Its fit, material and studs all play a part in these movements. A boot that fits well keeps the foot secure. Its upper part should allow the player to move comfortably and feel the ball when passing or shooting. The studs underneath help the player grip the ground while running or changing direction. In short, the boot must work well with both the player’s foot and the playing surface.

However, more grip does not always mean greater safety. If the studs hold the ground firmly while a player turns suddenly, the foot may stay in place while the knee and body twist. This can put extra strain on the leg. That is why boot design seeks a balance between good grip and freedom of movement.

A systematic review published in Sports Medicine - Open in June 2026 examined research on football boot design and lower limb injury risk, including stud patterns, sole stiffness and the interaction between footwear and playing surfaces. It highlighted the importance of choosing boots that suit the player and the surface. However, the findings do not mean that one particular boot can prevent every injury or that all players face the same risks.

Modern boots may use synthetic or knitted uppers, different soleplate designs and stud patterns suited to firm natural grass, soft ground or artificial surfaces. Some are developed with speed in mind, while others emphasis ball control or a close fit. Their colourful appearance is the most visible difference, but their deeper story is one of design and engineering.

No boot can supply vision, courage or judgment. It cannot teach a player when to pass, where to run or how to read an opponent. Those remain the work of the footballer. The boot can support the skill; it cannot replace it.

The foot, the boot and the future

The history of football boots is sometimes presented as a march from primitive equipment to perfect technology. It is not quite so simple. Early players had fewer choices, but they developed extraordinary skills with the equipment they knew. Modern players have access to a remarkable range of footwear, but they must still learn how to use it well.

India’s barefoot tradition deserves to be remembered without turning it into a claim that boots are unnecessary. Mohun Bagan’s victory in 1911 was not a triumph of bare feet over science. It was a triumph of footballers who defeated a powerful opponent despite the difference in their circumstances. The Indian team at the 1948 Olympics likewise demonstrated that skill could flourish without the equipment considered normal elsewhere, even though its match against France ended in defeat.

As football grew more competitive, boots became an important part of preparation. Their evolution has helped players adapt to different surfaces, refine their touch and seek small advantages in a game often decided by fractions of a second. Their development also reminds us that innovation must be judged by how well it serves the athlete, not merely by how futuristic it looks.

Perhaps the most fitting image is not a modern superstar displaying a costly pair of boots, nor a sepia photograph of a barefoot team. It is the football itself, travelling from one generation to another. The ground changes. The materials change. The equipment changes. The player’s desire to control the ball and send it towards a goal remains.

On the Calcutta Maidan in 1911, bare feet helped write a chapter of Indian sporting history. At London in 1948, barefoot players carried an older football culture onto the Olympic stage. By Melbourne in 1956, India had reached the Olympic semi-finals. Across the world, meanwhile, makers and inventors continued to rethink the boot, seeking a better union between the player and the pitch.

From heavy leather footwear to lightweight, engineered boots, the journey has been extraordinary. But football’s deepest lesson remains unchanged: equipment can help the game evolve, while courage, skill and imagination give it life.
The boot may have changed dramatically. The spirit that meets the ball has not.

References

1. UEFA. “Tools of the Trade: The History of the Football Boot.” 17 April 2020.             https://www.uefa.com/news-media/news/025c-0f8e77a93d00-7ec63067d431-1000--tools-of-the-trade-the-history-of-the-football-boot/
2. German Patent and Trade Mark Office. “Salot’s Replaceable Anti Skid Studs: Salot, Dassler and the ‘Miracle of Bern’.” https://www.deutsches-patent-und-markenamt.de/english/our_office/publications/milestones/inventionsthatmadehistory/screstudshoe/index.html 
3. All India Football Federation. “History.” https://www.the-aiff.com/history
4. Olympedia. “India in Football.”   https://www.olympedia.org/countries/IND/sports/FBL.1
5. Arpit  Basu “Fact Check: Yes, Indian Footballers Played Barefoot in the ’48 Olympics, but It Wasn’t Because of Poverty.” India Today, 23 August 2022. https://www.indiatoday.in/fact-check/story/fact-check-indian-footballers-played-barefoot-olympics-not-because-of-poverty-1991690-2022-08-23
6. Chandrima S. Bhattacharya: “Yesterdate: This Day from Kolkata’s Past, July 29, 1911.” The Telegraph, 29 July 2024.https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/kolkata/yesterdate-this-day-from-kolkatas-past-july-29-1911/cid/2036958
7. Ankur Konar: “Mohun Bagan Played Back: From Local Inference to National Transference: 1911 IFA Shield Final in Perspective.” Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities. https://www.rupkatha.com/V3/n4/21_Mohun_Bagan_IFA_Shield_1911.pdf
8. Ronojoy Sen: Nation at Play: A History of Sport in India. Columbia University Press, 2015.
9. Novy Kapadia: Barefoot to Boots: The Many Lives of Indian Football. Penguin Random House India, 2017.
10. Fan Yang, Huang Jingxuan, Qiang Wei, Liang Jiang: “The Impact of Football Boot Design on Lower Limb Injury Risk: A Systematic Review.” Sports Medicine - Open, 12, article 65, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-026-01037-6

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THE TOURNAMENT THAT WOKE KERALA FOOTBALL

Kerala Team of the Tournament

Calicut and the Santosh Trophy of 1960 - 61

Every edition of the Santosh Trophy has produced its share of memorable moments, remarkable matches, controversies and underdog teams challenging established football powers. Some tournaments, however, leave a mark far beyond their immediate results.
 With the passage of time, they become defining chapters in the history of Indian football, remembered for the players they revealed, the excitement they generated and the changes they set in motion.

The 1960-61 Santosh Trophy, held in Calicut, occupies a special place in the history of Kerala football. Originally scheduled for 1960, the tournament was postponed in the wake of the Rome Olympics, which took place from 25 August to 11 September 1960. The availability of players who had represented India at the Games was an important consideration. Kerala already possessed a deep rooted football tradition, and the championship brought the region renewed national attention. The Santosh Trophy had first been hosted in what is now Kerala at Ernakulam in 1955, when the state of Kerala had yet to be formed. Kerala came into existence on 1 November 1956. The tournament's return to the region reflected the enduring popularity of football among its people and Kerala's importance in the Indian football landscape. It was here that the AIFF realised it had discovered a gold mine in this football crazy state of India.

The seventeenth edition found its home in Calicut, a city where football has long outranked cricket in the hearts of the people, a place that breathes, eats and sleeps the beautiful game. The people of Calicut are known for their quiet politeness and warm hospitality, yet they are also among the most knowledgeable football audiences in the land. For generations, the game had been woven into the city's everyday life. The arrival of the Santosh Trophy therefore promised something more than a series of matches. It offered a rare chance to watch some of India's finest footballers on home soil. The tournament gathered established stars and emerging talents alike, among them some of the finest players in Asia, many of whom came fresh from the 1960 Rome Olympics. Among the prominent names associated with the championship were Peter Thangaraj, S. S. Narayan, Prodyut Burman, Salim, Jarnail Singh, T. Abdul Rahman, O. Chandrasekhar, Arun Ghosh, Ram Bahadur, P. K. Banerjee, Chuni Goswami, Simon Sundararaj, T. Balaram, Kannan and Arumainayagam. These were footballers whose names carried considerable weight in Indian football. Their presence offered Calicut's spectators an opportunity to witness the skills of players who had helped shape the national game.

The venue itself reflected the growing importance of the occasion. The matches were held at the newly built Kozhikode Municipal Ground, where temporary bamboo galleries were erected to accommodate the spectators. This was an era before floodlights became a feature of the stadium experience, and football depended on daylight and the practical arrangements available to the organisers. Yet the limitations of the facilities did little to diminish the significance of the championship. The occasion was made memorable by the quality of the players, the enthusiasm of the spectators and the sense that Calicut was hosting an event of national importance.

The arrangements for the visiting teams also formed part of the tournament's story. According to the information collected for this account, Kozhikode Railway Station served as the principal arrival point for teams and officials travelling from outside the region, while the team from neighbouring Mysore State travelled by bus. 

Bengal, one of the strongest sides in the competition, stayed at Shangri-La, a spacious, sea-facing bungalow in Vellayil associated with the English and Scottish Joint Cooperative Wholesale Society. Services were housed at the Travellers' Bungalow. Kerala's arrangements were more modest. The host team initially stayed in a tent within the stadium, where facilities were rudimentary, before moving to Hotel Shantha Bhavan on M. P. Road. These contrasting arrangements offer a glimpse of the different circumstances in which the visiting teams and the hosts experienced the championship.

The tournament was inaugurated on 20 January 1961 by the Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr. Pattom Thanu Pillai. Mr. P. P. Ummer Koya, Minister for Education and Public Works, welcomed the players on behalf of the state, while Dr. C. V. Narayana Iyer, Chairman of the Calicut Municipality and the organising committee, received the chief guest.

The inaugural match brought the host Kerala side up against the newcomers, Railways. Railways were appearing in the Santosh Trophy competition for the first time. Their ranks included Olympic captain P. K. Banerjee on the right wing and the prolific Olympian Simon Sundar Raj on the left, together with Indian goalkeeper Prodyut Burman and other notable players such as Janakiram, Nikhil Nandy and Varahaloo.

Kerala entered the field without a single international player and without even a qualified coach. The team hired veteran footballer V. I. Thomas from Bombay as its coach, but he had to leave Calicut midway through the tournament. In the semifinal against Assam, the team was coached by a former Services coach. The Kerala team manager was T. K. Krishnan, a former all rounder from Calicut whose life was rooted in engineering. Yet the squad included several prominent Malayalee footballers who would later carve out distinguished careers: R. Balakrishnan, Madhavan Nair, Indrabalan, Agustin Rex, Pappachan and Thampi from Trivandrum; Selvam George, O. K. Sathyan and Shyam Sundar from Kannur; and Saithu Mohammad from Kozhikode. Their presence spoke of the rich local talent rising from Calicut and the wider region. Beside them stood three young students who drew special notice: Musthafa and Chidanandan from Kannur, and Rajagopalan from Palghat.

Kerala, the host, began its campaign sensationally, defeating Railways by two goals to one. The galleries trembled when Chidanandan found the net to give the hosts the lead against Railways and their goalkeeper, Prodyut Burman, scoring the first goal of the tournament and setting the tone for the days to come.

Captain P. K. Banerjee answered with a fine equaliser, yet Kerala, playing with nothing to lose, struck again through the same Chidanandan. Railways came forward like gathering waves, but the Kerala defence and their young goalkeeper stood firm as the Rock of Gibraltar. The following day, the English language national dailies carried reports that included these words: “The good work done by college student Kerala’s bearded right back Rajagopal and Mustafa, a schoolboy not yet twenty, in front of the goal line should not be forgotten. Another college student of Calicut Guruvayoorappan College, Chidanandan, who got both goals, no doubt cornered the chief honours of the day. If the crossbar had not come to the rescue of Railways once, Chidanandan would have returned to the hotel on the opening day with a hat-trick.”

Kerala fell to the formidable Services side in its next league match. Services were captained by the great Thangaraj. Ethiraj, the same player who had so often led Bangalore MEG to triumph in the Kozhikode Saith Nagjee All India Tournament, struck twice to overcome the hosts.

Kerala secured a place among the last four by overcoming the mighty Bombay side. That Bombay team was built around formidable Malayalee international forwards such as Devadas and P. R. Antony, men known for their pace, sharp finishing and natural goal scoring instincts. Chandrasekharan strengthened the defence, while the goal was guarded by Olympian goalkeeper Narayanan from Ottapalam. A single penalty converted by Chidanandan proved enough to carry the hosts into the semifinals.

In the semifinals, Kerala faced Bengal, led by Indian captain Chuni Goswami and strengthened by a star studded side that included Calicut’s own Olympian, Rahman. Bengal advanced with the force of a gathering storm. The two teams played out a goalless draw in their first encounter. In the replay the following day, Bengal secured a 2-1 victory. Amal Chakraborty and Chuni Goswami scored for Bengal, while P. A. George found the net for Kerala. Although the defeat ended Kerala’s hopes of reaching the final, the hosts had already achieved a significant milestone by advancing to the semifinals.

Kerala subsequently faced Assam in the contest for third place. Assam, led by goalkeeper Praful Hazarika, prevented the hosts from finding the net. In keeping with the practice followed in those days, third place was decided by the toss of a coin. Kerala prevailed and was declared the third-place team, with captain R. Balakrishnan receiving the Sampangi Trophy from Minister P. P. Ummer Koya. Contemporary newspaper reports recorded Kerala's achievement, and photographs of the trophy presentation appeared in some editions. For the host city, this recognition provided a fitting conclusion to a memorable campaign.

In the final, which had to be played twice, Services claimed the Santosh Trophy for the first time in their history. Chuni Goswami’s Bengal finished second, while Thangaraj’s side lifted the trophy without conceding a single goal.

The Legacy of Calicut Santosh Trophy

The Santosh Trophy of 1960-61 was more than a national football tournament hosted by Calicut. It became a landmark in the history of Kerala football, bringing the state’s scattered talent into the national spotlight and giving its footballing identity a new sense of purpose. Kerala had long produced gifted players who went on to represent clubs, the Services, the Railways and other institutional teams across India, and some rose higher still, becoming Olympic and international footballers. Yet, in Calicut, the state began to attract wider recognition not merely as a source of individual talent, but as a footballing force in its own right.

Kerala’s third place finish, achieved without an international player in its ranks, gave this achievement particular significance. The young team had demonstrated that determination, collective effort and natural ability could carry a relatively inexperienced side into the national reckoning. The Sampangi Trophy brought home by captain R. Balakrishnan was therefore more than a prize. It became a symbol of what Kerala football could aspire to achieve.

The tournament also helped strengthen the foundations on which the state’s future football would grow. During the years that followed, institutional teams supported by government departments, public sector undertakings and other organisations provided players with opportunities to train, compete and develop their careers. Teams associated with the Kerala State Electricity Board, ALIND Kundara, the Accountant General’s Office and FACT, alongside established institutions such as the KSRTC and numerous local clubs, contributed to the growth of organised football. 

Their participation in national competitions helped create a more sustained pathway from local grounds to the wider Indian football scene. Calicut did not create Kerala’s footballing talent; it helped bring its potential into sharper national focus. The tournament's legacy also lived on through the men who carried its lessons into the years ahead. R. Balakrishnan, the first Kerala captain to receive the Sampangi Trophy, trained as a coach in 1962 at the National Institute of Sports. In 1963 he joined the Kerala Sports Council as the state's first qualified football coach. His journey marked an important step in the professional development of football coaching in the state. In time, other former players followed similar paths, adding technical knowledge and organised training to the experience they had gained on the field.

Calicut itself became part of the tournament’s legend. The Municipal Ground, with its temporary bamboo galleries, drew crowds whose enthusiasm reflected the deep place football already occupied in the region’s public life. Important matches drew crowds reported to exceed 25,000, while gate collections were said to have crossed two lakh rupees, an extraordinary sum for Indian football at the time. The press box, too, witnessed an unprecedented gathering of journalists from different parts of the country, so many that there was hardly room for the reporters to sit and write about the game. Reporters such as Vimsey of Mathrubhumi, Aboo of Malayala Manorama and Mushtaq of Chandrika, along with other sports writers and nationally renowned sports historians and authors, filed their copy regardless and helped carry the drama of Calicut beyond the stadium. Their reports gave the tournament a reach that its boundaries could never contain.

Behind the spectacle stood a group of organisers and workers whose contributions were seldom celebrated. Kumaran, a staff member of the Kozhikode District Football Association, was responsible for inflating the match balls. Bichali marked the playing field, while Koyatti Haji undertook the construction of the bamboo galleries that accommodated the spectators. Father J. M. Vergothini, the Italian priest remembered for his organisational ability, was constantly moving on and off the field, attending to the many demands of the event. At the centre of the organisation was secretary T. Aboobakar (elder brother of Olympian T. Abdul Rahman), affectionately known as “Mr. Soccer”. Their contributions may not have attracted the same attention as the celebrated footballers, but the tournament could not have succeeded without their labour, commitment and practical ingenuity.

The tournament belonged equally to the players who made it memorable. Kerala’s youthful challenge, Bengal’s celebrated footballers and the disciplined Services side produced a succession of matches filled with tension, skill and uncertainty. The drama was not confined to the scoreline. It lay in the surging crowds, the anticipation before each contest, the roar that greeted a goal and the collective silence when a decisive moment hung in the balance. For those who witnessed it, Calicut offered football not simply as a competition, but as a shared public emotion.

When the tournament ended, the bamboo galleries were dismantled, and the ground fell quiet, waiting for the next match. But something more enduring had taken root. The Calicut nationals had shown that the city's football deserved to be watched, respected and taken seriously on the national stage. The players returned to their clubs and institutions; the organisers resumed their daily work; and the spectators carried home memories that would be retold for years.

The Sampangi Trophy was Kerala’s reward for finishing third. The greater prize was the recognition that followed. In January 1961, Calicut did more than host the Santosh Trophy. It helped announce Kerala’s arrival in the larger story of Indian football.

References

1. Personal Interviews. Interviews with Dr. Rajagopalan and C. Mustafa, former Kerala players in the 1960-61 Santosh Trophy.
2. Contemporary Newspaper Reports. The Indian Express, Mathrubhumi, Malayala Manorama and The Hindu, January-February 1961
3. Aboo. "Sampangi Trophy Jayathinu 50 Vayassu" (50 Years Since Winning the Sampangi Trophy). Metro Manorama, 25 February 2011.

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FROM ROYAL RECREATION TO ORGANISED SPORT IN COCHIN

Rama Varma XV and the emergence of a sporting culture in Cochin

At the turn of the twentieth century, Cochin stood at an important point in its long history. The kingdom's traditions continued to shape its social and cultural life, while new influences were changing the way people lived, worked and spent their leisure. Education was expanding, new professions were emerging, communications were improving, and the towns of the kingdom were becoming more closely connected with the outside world.

It was in this changing Cochin that Maharaja Rama Varma XV ruled from 1895 to 1914.

His reign formed part of a wider transition from a largely traditional society towards a more modern institutional life. Sport was only one aspect of that transformation, but it offers a revealing way of understanding how change took place.

Modern sport did not emerge in Cochin through a single dramatic event. It developed gradually through the palace, the school, the club and the open ground. Games that had begun as recreation acquired regular participants, playing spaces, teams and competitions. Improved communications brought people and places closer, educational institutions brought young men from different regions together, and clubs provided settings for organised recreation. In time, associations began to offer a framework for competition.

The story is therefore not simply about a Maharaja and the games played during his reign. It is about a changing society and the sporting culture that grew within it.
Rama Varma XV's place in this story must be understood in its proper historical setting. He did not personally introduce every modern game that later flourished in Cochin. Some developments belonged to the younger generation of the royal family, while others arose through the efforts of schools, clubs, administrators, teachers and sporting enthusiasts. Yet his reign coincided with important early developments. 

The establishment of the Rama Varma Club in 1897 was a landmark in organised recreation, while improved communications brought Cochin into closer contact with neighbouring regions. In the years that followed, cricket, football and other games attracted increasingly wider circles of participation.

By the 1920s, sport was becoming more than a private pastime. Schools and colleges were producing teams, clubs were developing institutional identities, public grounds were hosting competitions, and associations were beginning to organise tournaments. The foundations had been laid over time, but the generations that followed would carry the transformation much further.

The Rama Varma Club and a New Culture of Recreation

The Rama Varma Club was founded in 1897, during the reign of Rama Varma XV. Its establishment marked an early stage in the organisation of recreation in Cochin.
A 1997 judgment of the Kerala High Court, delivered in a case unrelated to sporting history, provides valuable independent evidence about the club. It records that the Rama Varma Club was founded in 1897 in the former State of Cochin during the reign of Rama Varma, who ruled from 1895 to 1914. The Court described it as the first recreation club in Cochin and noted that it stood in the heart of present day Kochi, facing the Durbar Hall Ground. The activities and facilities it recorded included tennis, badminton, billiards, cards, chess and ping-pong.

This list offers a glimpse of a changing culture of leisure. These were activities that required space, equipment and opportunities for regular participation. The club provided a setting in which recreation could become a continuing part of social life rather than an occasional diversion.

Its location was equally significant. Facing the Durbar Hall Ground, the club stood close to the centre of Ernakulam's emerging urban life. The palace, administrative institutions, open ground and club occupied the same developing social landscape. Traditional forms of life were beginning to encounter new forms of organised recreation.

The change was not merely in the games themselves, but also in the way people came together to play them. A club offered opportunities for regular participation, practice, competition and social interaction. It could foster a sense of belonging among those who shared an interest in sport.

The Rama Varma Club was therefore more than a place for leisure. Its foundation marked an early step towards the institutionalisation of recreation in Cochin and helped establish a club culture that would become increasingly important in the development of organised sport.

The Palace, the Ground and the Sporting Life of Cochin

The emerging sporting culture was not confined to the clubs of Ernakulam. The Cochin royal family also became an important setting in which modern games found an audience, although the chronology of their arrival deserves careful attention.

Cricket provides a revealing example. The history preserved by the Cochin Royal Family records that the game was already familiar in British Cochin because of the British presence, but that it entered the Residential Palace before the 1920s. Rama Varma Kuttappan Thampuran is remembered as one of its pioneers. After visiting cousins who were studying in Madras, he returned with a cricket kit, and enthusiasm for the game spread through the palace. By the 1930s, cricket had reached Ernakulam and Tripunithura.

This distinction matters. Cricket's arrival in the palace should not be attributed to Rama Varma XV simply because the game formed part of the wider sporting transformation associated with Cochin during the period. The royal family's own account points instead to a younger generation taking up the game and carrying it into new surroundings.

That movement would eventually make Tripunithura an important centre of cricket in Cochin. The remarkable story of Pooja Cricket belongs to this later phase and deserves separate treatment in its own right.

The palace was not merely a place where games were watched. It became a setting in which they were learned, played and passed from one generation to another. Royal recreation was thus one of the channels through which modern sporting habits entered the wider social life of Cochin.

Beyond the palace, the open ground played another important role. Before permanent stadiums became common, the maidan was a natural stage for public sporting life. It offered space for games, competitions and gatherings, bringing players and spectators together in a way that a private club could not.

In Thrissur, the Palace Ground would acquire particular importance in the history of football. By the 1920s, clubs and schools were producing teams, spectators were following competitions, and the need for organised tournaments was becoming increasingly evident. The ground would provide one of the settings in which this next phase of Cochin's sporting history unfolded.

The Railway and the Movement of People and Ideas

Another development during the reign of Rama Varma XV had consequences far beyond transport. The Shoranur-Ernakulam railway line, opened to passenger traffic in 1902, connected Ernakulam more closely with the interior and the wider region. The metre gauge line extended for approximately 65 miles and became an important link between the growing centre of Ernakulam and places beyond it.

A railway carries more than goods. It carries people, ideas and ambitions. For sport, improved communication mattered because it made travel between towns and institutions easier. Schools and colleges could draw students from wider areas, young men could travel to matches, and teams could meet opponents from places that had previously been more difficult to reach. Players also carried news of games, styles of play and forms of organisation from one sporting centre to another.

The football history of Malabar Christian College (MCC), Kozhikode, offers a valuable perspective on this wider movement. The college became an important educational centre where students from different parts of the region came together. Its annual magazines preserve the names and achievements of its football teams, while photographs provide a visual record of the players and the sporting life of the institution.

In 1976, during my final year as a degree student at MCC, I edited and brought out a Sports Souvenir of the College. By consulting earlier annual magazines held in the college library and interviewing alumni and local sports historians, I traced the institution's sporting history from 1909. Among the material documented was a photograph of the 1912 college football team, with the players identified by name.

This archival material is valuable because it takes the history beyond later recollections. The photograph provides direct evidence of a college football team at that time, while the annual records help establish the wider context of organised sporting activity. Together, such sources offer a glimpse of the people and institutions through which football developed in the region.

The names preserved in MCC annual souvenirs include students Mathan Chandi and Jacob John (drawn from the historic Mavelikkara Cherukovil / Aattupurathu lineage), alongside K. O. Umman and Joseph Eapen from Eraviperoor and Kurian from Ernakulam, who helped anchor the squad. From British Malabar, local standalone talents such as Andy and Laben from Calicut completed the line-up.

The ultimate validation of this residential recruitment model came on the pitch in the Rao Sahib Vaidyanatha Iyer Cup, Malabar’s premier football tournament of the 1910s. MCC achieved an unprecedented treble, capturing the coveted trophy in 1911, 1912 and 1918. A photograph of the MCC football team with its principal, W. E. Hoare, offers a particularly evocative record of the players and the educational leadership of the period.

The railway was not the sole cause of this movement. Education, employment, family networks and existing roads all played their part. Improved rail communication, however, made journeys between sporting centres less formidable. Cochin, Thrissur and Kozhikode were not isolated sporting worlds; they were increasingly connected through the movement of students, players and ideas.

The Cochin Athletic Association and the 1925 Tournament

By 1925, football in Cochin had reached a stage at which the enthusiasm of schools, clubs and individual players could be brought together in organised competition. The Cochin Athletic Association was an important part of this development and is associated with a major football tournament held at the Palace Ground in Thrissur that year.

The tournament formed part of a wider sporting awakening across the region. In Malabar, the West Coast Tournaments were giving Calicut an important place in interinstitutional competition. Cochin was developing its own sporting organisations and competitions. These were separate developments, but both reflected a broader transition from informal recreation towards organised sport involving schools, clubs, grounds and regular contests.

Church Mission Society (CMS) High School Union of Thrissur is identified in later accounts as the first winner of the 1925  tournament. This achievement marks an important moment in the development of football in central Kerala, where the game was moving beyond occasional matches towards a more organised competitive structure.

A tournament provided teams with an occasion to meet, a public ground on which to compete and an organised setting for the contest. The associated trophy gave the competition a lasting identity and connected it with the sporting history of Cochin. Accounts indicate that the competition continued annually for several years, ending around 1930. Its early period coincided with the consolidation of football in the sporting life of central Kerala.

Thrissur provided a natural setting for this development. Its schools and clubs had created an active sporting environment, while the Palace Ground offered an open public space where players could compete and spectators could gather. Football was becoming more than the recreation of a few enthusiasts. It was developing into a public sporting culture, with teams, tournaments, trophies and memories that could be passed from one generation to the next.

The Silver Cup of the Abdicated Highness

The football tournament had another remarkable connection with the old royal order. Its trophy is reported to have been a 100-tola silver cup presented by Maharaja Rama Varma XV. By then, Rama Varma XV was no longer the reigning Maharaja. He had abdicated in 1914. After spending some months in Ernakulam, he moved to Thrissur in 1915, where he lived at Merry Lodge Palace until his death in 1932. The site of the former palace later became the home of Sree Kerala Varma College, established in 1947, enabling present day readers to identify the location with a familiar landmark. According to a historical account drawing on the recollections of I. K. K. Menon, Rama Varma also called the residence Sukha Vasathi, a name conveying the idea of a comfortable or happy dwelling.

This gives the silver cup an added historical dimension. The former ruler of Cochin, known as the Abdicated Highness, was living in the very town where football was acquiring an organised competitive character. Though he had withdrawn from the throne, he remained a figure associated with Cochin's changing history. The man whose reign had coincided with the early growth of clubs and improved communications was now living away from the centre of political power, while a new sporting culture was taking shape around him.

The silver cup brings two phases of Cochin's history into view. On one side stood the older world of the Maharaja, the palace and royal patronage. On the other was an emerging sporting world of schools, clubs, associations, public grounds and competitive teams. The trophy belonged to the new world of organised competition, while its donor belonged to the old royal order.

The transition had not occurred overnight. The Rama Varma Club had helped give organised recreation a place in urban life. The palace had become receptive to new games through later generations of the royal family. Improved communications had brought people and places closer, while schools, colleges, clubs and public grounds offered young players opportunities to meet and compete.

By the time the silver cup was being contested, recreation was acquiring the permanence and structure of organised sport. The cup was therefore more than a prize for a winning team. It represented a link between two phases of Cochin's history, carrying something of the old royal world into the emerging sporting age.

From Royal Recreation to Organised Sport

Looking back from the present, it is tempting to search for a single starting point in the history of sport. There was no single beginning. Cochin’s sporting culture emerged in layers, each generation adding to what had come before. The reign of Rama Varma XV formed one such layer. The establishment of the Rama Varma Club in 1897 was more than a milestone in the history of an organisation; it marked an early stage in the emergence of organised recreation in Cochin.

In the years that followed, cricket spread among the younger generation of the royal family, football developed through schools and clubs, and the railway made travel between sporting centres easier. Thrissur became an important football centre, while educational institutions in Kozhikode brought students and players from across the region together. 

By the 1920s, these strands were beginning to converge. Sport has entered schools, colleges, clubs and public grounds. It had teams, trophies, spectators and associations, and was beginning to cross geographical boundaries. Students from southern and central Kerala could meet on the playing fields of Kozhikode; clubs in Ollur could become part of Thrissur’s football story; and tournaments could draw teams and attention from beyond their immediate localities. The railway helped make such encounters possible.

This transformation did not begin with a grand announcement. It grew through the steady movement of people, ideas and games. Individually, a club, a school team, a playing ground, a railway journey or a tournament might have seemed modest. Together, they changed Cochin’s sporting landscape.

Rama Varma XV’s significance lies not in having personally created modern sport, but in having ruled during a period of social change, when organised recreation was finding new spaces and audiences. The generations that followed carried the process further. The club became more than a meeting place, the ground more than open space, and the game more than recreation.

As sport moved beyond the kingdom through students, players, teachers, clubs and competitions, the sporting currents of Cochin, Malabar and Travancore began to feed into a wider regional culture. From those early clubs, schools and grounds grew a tradition that would eventually become part of Kerala’s sporting identity.

References

1. Kerala High Court. Commissioner of Wealth-Tax v. Rama Varma Club. Judgment dated 24 January 1997. (1997) 226 ITR 898 (Kerala). Available at: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/80280/
2. Cochin Royal Family. “History of Cochin Royal Family: Cricket.” Official Cochin Royal Family history website. https://cochinroyalhistory.org/pages.php?menu_id=6
3. Raghunandanan K G. Sports Souvenir, 1976. Malabar Christian College, Kozhikode. Edited by Raghunandanan. A historical account of the college’s sporting activities compiled using earlier college magazines, archival photographs and interviews.
4. Menon I K K. Recollections concerning Maharaja Rama Varma XV and Merry Lodge, quoted in “The Merry Lodge – Trichur.” Historical Alleys, March 2025. https://historicalleys.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-merry-lodge-trichur.html
5. Government of Kerala, Department of Economics and Statistics. Infrastructure Statistics 2012–13. Section on railways in Kerala. https://ecostat.kerala.gov.in/storage/publications/156.pdf
6. Raghunandanan K G. “Calicut and the Religion Called Football.” Sahapedia

Coming up next: SUNDAY FIELD & FLAME – 01st November 2026 - THE TOURNAMENT THAT WOKE KERALA FOOTBALL: 1960 SANTOSH TROPHY

MOSCOW OLYMPICS 1980: SEVEN GAMES, ONE OLYMPIC MEMORY, Part 2

Beyond the Scoreboard

The first match had ended in defeat, but the journey was only beginning.
India had stood before the Soviet Union, one of the great powers of world basketball. For a brief and memorable period, the newcomers had not looked out of place. The scoreboard had recorded a loss, but the players had crossed a historic threshold. Now came the rest of the Olympic journey.

Ajmer Singh rises

India’s next opponent was Czechoslovakia, another powerful European team. The result was difficult. Czechoslovakia defeated India 133-65. Yet the match produced one of the finest individual performances of the tournament.

Ajmer Singh scored 35 points.

For the Indian team, it was a moment of pride in a demanding contest. Ajmer had not merely contributed to India’s score. He had shown that an Indian player could stand out against some of the strongest opposition in the Olympic tournament. His performance was not forgotten.

Across seven matches, Ajmer scored 149 points and averaged 21.3 points per game. He scored 22 points against the Soviet Union, 35 against Czechoslovakia, 14 against Brazil, 25 against Poland, 15 against Senegal, 13 against Sweden and 25 against Australia.

FIBA’s statistical record credits him with 66 successful scores from 114 attempts, 17 successful free throws from 22 attempts and 38 rebounds. Statistics can preserve achievement, but they cannot fully express the responsibility carried by the Indian scorer. Every basket came against opponents accustomed to international basketball at a level India had rarely encountered.

Ajmer was not merely collecting points. He was announcing the presence of Indian basketball on the Olympic stage.

The challenge of Brazil

Brazil was India’s next opponent.

Brazil defeated India 137-64, bringing the preliminary round to a close. India then moved into the classification phase.

The results were difficult, but every game offered a new lesson. The Indian players were learning the speed, strength and discipline of international basketball. They were facing opponents whose experience had been built through years of competition at the highest level. For India, each match was also a classroom. There were lessons in ball movement, defence, positioning and decision making. There were lessons in physical endurance and in the need to remain composed when a stronger opponent began to pull away. The players were absorbing an education that no domestic competition could provide.

Learning through defeat

Poland defeated India 113-67.

Senegal followed, and India lost 81-59. Sweden then defeated India 119-63. The results were not what Indian basketball had wished for. But defeat did not mean that the journey had become meaningless.

The players were discovering what the international game demanded. They were learning how quickly an opponent could change the rhythm of a contest, how much discipline was required without the ball and how important it was to remain united when the pressure increased.

Ajmer later reflected that the team learned a great deal in Moscow, including aspects of ball movement and defense. But perhaps the most important lesson was not technical. It was confidence. The Olympic experience taught the Indian team to believe more strongly in itself. Moscow showed the players the distance they still had to travel, but it also showed them that they belonged on that road.

A test of character

There is a difference between losing and being defeated in spirit. The Indian players lost their matches, but they continued to compete. They continued to run, defend, pass and shoot. They continued to represent their country in an unfamiliar and demanding environment. Their opponents had greater experience and greater international exposure. Yet the Indian players did not surrender the dignity of the contest. Harbachan Singh remembered the sportsmanship shown by the stronger teams. Once an opponent had established a comfortable lead, the players did not seek to humiliate India. They allowed the Indian team opportunities to score and showed what Harbachan described as the true Olympic spirit.

That memory gives the story another dimension. The Olympic Games were not only about victory. They were also about dignity, fellowship and respect between athletes from different countries.

The unexpected dope test

After the opening match against the Soviet Union, Harbachan Singh was randomly selected for a dope test.

The procedure came as a surprise to the Indian camp. P. N. Sankaran accompanied him. For the players, it was another introduction to the formal world of the Olympic Games. They had come to play basketball, but they were also entering a system of rules, procedures and protocols unlike anything they had previously experienced. Such moments may not appear in an official score sheet. Yet they remain part of the memory of an Olympic journey.

The matches formed the public record. The cold, the village, the dope test, the friendships and the unexpected encounters formed the private record. Together, they made the experience complete.

The final challenge

The last match was against Australia.

Australia was a strong and experienced team, but this time India produced one of its most competitive performances. Australia eventually won 93-75, but the game remained close enough to give the Indian players genuine satisfaction.

Paramjit Singh later recalled that India had led at half time. He believed the team lost because it lacked experience of playing major international matches. That reflection contained both disappointment and pride. India had shown that it could compete. The players had discovered that the difference between the teams was not always a lack of ability. It was often a lack of exposure, experience and opportunities at the highest level.

Ajmer Singh scored 25 points. Australia’s Ian Davies scored 36, creating an individual contest that gave the match an added edge. For once, the Indian team was not simply watching a margin grow and trying to survive. It was playing basketball. It was competing.

When the final whistle came, India had lost the match. But the team had gained something important. It had shown coaches and officials from other countries that Indian basketball could stand on the same Olympic court and play its own game.

Beyond the Sidelines

The story of Moscow is incomplete without the men who stood beyond the players. Manager P. N. Sankaran brought more than administrative experience to Moscow. His long association with international basketball and tennis had given him friendships across FIBA, including with its Secretary General Borislav Stanković, who fondly called him the “Professional Tennis Player of FIBA.” In Moscow, those relationships mattered. When a representative from Adidas enquired for him - Bill Sweek, whom Sankaran knew through international circuits, it led to a complete Adidas kit for the Indian team. For a young side new to the Olympic stage, it was more than a kit. It was a moment of recognition. They had entered the Village as newcomers, and they were now being welcomed by the world basketball fraternity.

Beside him stood Coach Captain Rajan, the team’s basketball mind and its steady human presence. A yoga exponent, he understood that an Olympic debut is as much about the mind as it is about tactics. He used simple breathing exercises to release tension among the players, to calm them before they faced opponents of far greater experience and resources. An Olympic debut demands more than strategy; it demands belief and calm, and Rajan gave the team both.

Moscow Beyond the Court

Moscow was more than matches; it became a meeting place, even with Indians from outside the team, and it left behind memories that no score sheet could capture.

The first time, after all, can happen only once. It remembers the crackle of the radio in Patiala when the players first heard that India was going to Moscow. It remembers the cold of the arrival and the inadequacy of single blazers against it. It remembers the unexpected generosity of the Adidas gesture, the awe of the Olympic Village, and the surprise of a dope test. It remembers the first Indian basket on an Olympic court and ten remarkable opening minutes against the Soviet Union when the newcomers did not look out of place.

There was no victory to celebrate when India finally left Moscow. There was no medal waiting at the end of the journey, no cheering crowd at the airport. The results had been difficult, and the scoreboards had been unforgiving.

But there was something larger than victory. For seven games, Indian basketball had stood on the same court as the best in the world and had played its own game. The players had learned, endured and represented. They had returned with an education that no domestic tournament could have given them and with a dignity that no margin of defeat could take away.

History does not always remember winners alone. Sometimes it remembers those who arrived first. Indian men’s basketball reached the Olympics. It happened once. And the first time can happen only once.

Sources and Primary Testimonies

1. Personal Interview with P. N. Sankaran, Manager of the Indian basketball team at the Moscow Olympics.
2. Interview with Lt. Col. Rajan Makkolath, conducted by the author in Calicut before his death. Col. Rajan was a family friend of the author and had served as Captain Rajan, coach of the Indian basketball team at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
3. Personal notes and recollections of Harbachan Singh, member of the Indian Olympic basketball team.
4. Personal notes and recollections of Ajmer Singh, member of the Indian Olympic basketball team.
5. Official and statistical sources - FIBA historical records of the 1980 Olympic men’s basketball tournament.
6. Olympic and historical records consulted for the team roster, match results, tournament standings and player statistics.

Coming up next: SUNDAY FIELD & FLAME – 25th October 2026 - FROM ROYAL RECREATION TO ORGANISED SPORT IN COCHIN - Rama Varma XV and the emergence of a sporting culture in Cochin

MOSCOW OLYMPICS 1980: WHEN INDIA'S BASKETBALL DREAM CAME TRUE, Part 1

The Olympic journey that happened only once

Some sporting journeys are remembered for the medals they bring home. Others are remembered because they open a door that had never been opened before. When the Olympic door opened for Indian basketball in Moscow 1980, it was exactly that kind of journey.

It was the first time an Indian men’s basketball team entered the Olympic arena. It was also the only time. More than four decades later, that appearance still stands alone in the history of Indian basketball.

The final record may appear stark. Seven matches. Seven defeats. Twelfth place in a twelve team tournament. But the meaning of Moscow cannot be found in the final standings alone.

It lives in the memory of a radio announcement in Patiala, in the excitement of a journey towards an unfamiliar city, in the cold of a Moscow arrival and in the sight of Indian players standing beneath the Olympic lights for the first time.

It lives in the voices of the men who were there. It lives in the story of a team that did not return with a medal, but returned having carried Indian basketball to a stage it had never reached before.

This article has been prepared from interviews with Manager P. N. Sankaran and coach Lt. Col. Rajan Makkolath, who was Captain Rajan during the Moscow Olympics, together with personal notes and recollections shared by Harbachan Singh and Ajmer Singh. Official Olympic and FIBA records have also been consulted for dates, results and other historical details.

When the Olympic door opened

India’s road to Moscow was anything but straightforward. At the 1979 Asian Basketball Championship, India finished fifth. Under normal circumstances, that position would not have been enough to take the country to the Olympics. Japan, China, the Philippines and South Korea stood above India among Asia’s leading basketball nations. Then the world around sport changed.

Following the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in December 1979, the United States called for a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The boycott spread to several other countries, and the basketball tournament was among the competitions affected. Several teams that would normally have occupied places in the Olympic field withdrew.

India, which had finished fifth in Asia, suddenly found the Olympic door open.

It was not a route anyone in the Indian camp could have confidently predicted. Yet when the invitation came, the country had to decide whether it was ready to accept the moment. India did. And with that decision, a distant dream acquired a destination.

The news in Patiala

The players were at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports in Patiala when the news reached them. Ajmer Singh remembered the players gathering around a radio and hearing that the Government of India had cleared the team’s participation in the Moscow Olympics. For athletes, there are moments when a dream that has lived in the imagination suddenly acquires a place, a date and a name. For these basketball players, that name was Moscow.

Ajmer had always regarded the Olympics as the highest stage an athlete could reach. He had once believed that his own Olympic dream might never come true. Now, without warning, the impossible had moved within reach.

The excitement passed through the group like a sudden current. These players, who had followed international sport through newspapers, magazines and radio reports, were now preparing to enter that distant world themselves. The radio in Patiala carried more than news that day. It carried the sound of a door opening.

The men behind the dream

The Indian team that travelled to Moscow comprised Baldev Singh, Ajmer Singh, Parvez Diniar, Dilip Gurumurthy, Harbachan Singh, Jorawar Singh, Amarnath Nagarajan, Pramdiph Singh, Paramjit Singh, Radhey Shyam, Hanuman Singh and Tarlok Singh Sandhu. Paramjit Singh was the captain. Behind them stood two men whose contributions deserve to be remembered alongside those of the players, Coach Captain Rajan Makkolath and Manager P. N. Sankaran, both from Kerala.

Every Olympic team has its visible heroes and its quieter architects. The players take the court, but their journey is shaped by people whose work begins long before the opening whistle. Captain Rajan Makkolath was the coach of the Indian team. He was a highly respected coach of the Services side and later guided India at the 1982 Asian Games and other international competitions.

For the players, however, Rajan was more than a tactician. He was the coach who stood beside them as they entered an unfamiliar Olympic world. He had to prepare them for opponents of immense strength, but also for the emotional weight of an occasion none of them had previously experienced.

P. N. Sankaran was the team manager. His international associations had already taken him into the wider world of basketball administration. His friendship with Borislav Stanković, the Secretary General of FIBA, was one of the relationships he remembered with particular warmth.

Sankaran’s recollections reveal a manager who carried not only the formal responsibilities of the team, but also a deep concern for the players and the atmosphere surrounding them. Most importantly, he remembered the affection they held for their coach. “The team was very fond of him,” Sankaran recalled of Captain Rajan. That simple observation perhaps tells us more about the coach than any list of appointments.

A national farewell

A week before departure, the Indian team met then  Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at her residence. The following day, the players met President Dr. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy at Rashtrapati Bhavan. These meetings gave the journey a national significance even before the team left India.

The Indian contingent was led by Chief of Mission Air Vice Marshal H. L. Kapoor, while shooter Raja Randhir Singh carried the national flag.

The players were no longer travelling only as individuals or as a basketball team. They were carrying the hopes of a country that was about to see one of its teams enter the Olympic arena for the first time.

Towards Moscow

From Delhi, with a stopover in Tehran, the team travelled towards Moscow. The excitement of the journey was matched by uncertainty about what awaited them at the other end. The players had trained for competition and prepared themselves for strong opponents. Yet nothing in training could fully prepare them for the scale of the Olympic experience.

As the aircraft moved towards Moscow, the dream that had begun as a radio announcement in Patiala was becoming a reality. The players were no longer waiting for the Olympics to come to them. They were on their way to the Olympics.
Cold arrival, warm welcome

Moscow greeted the Indian players with intense cold. Each player had only one Indian blazer, wholly inadequate for the freezing weather. They had arrived prepared for the Games, but not fully prepared for the climate.

According to the recollections shared for this article, the players were received at the airport by Soviet basketball legend Aleksander Belov.

Later, at the Olympic Village, the inadequacy of their winter clothing became even more apparent. One night, P. N. Sankaran led the cold and tired players to the dining hall. There they encountered an Adidas representative, Bill Sweek, whom Sankaran knew through his international basketball connections.

When the Adidas representative saw that the Indian players did not have sufficient warm clothing, he invited them to a warehouse the following morning. The team was provided with tracksuits, shoes, windcheaters and socks.

For the players, it was more than a supply of clothing. It was an unexpected gesture of welcome from the international sporting community.

They had arrived as newcomers from India. Yet someone from the wider basketball world had noticed their difficulty and reached out to them.

Life in the Olympic Village

The team stayed in double occupancy rooms. Harbachan Singh shared a room with D. P. Irani.

Around them were athletes from nations across the world, all brought together in the Olympic Village. The dining hall offered food from many countries. Shared tables created conversation, friendship and curiosity, even when language stood between people.

For players who had previously followed international sport through newspapers and radio, the Olympic Village itself was a revelation. It was a living map of the sporting world.

Ajmer Singh remembered being impressed by the cleanliness and discipline of Moscow. He recalled roads being washed at night with powerful jets of water. These may seem like small memories beside an Olympic basketball match. Yet such details often remain with athletes long after the scores have faded. For the Indian players, Moscow was not simply a basketball tournament. It was an encounter with another sporting world.

The court was waiting

Soon, the sightseeing and wonder gave way to the real purpose of the journey. The basketball court was waiting. India played the opening match of the Olympic basketball competition against the host nation, the Soviet Union. It was an imposing beginning for a team making its Olympic debut.

The Soviet Union was one of the great powers of international basketball. Its coach, Alexander Gomelsky, was a celebrated figure in the game. Around him was a team accustomed to playing on the largest international stages.

For India, the contrast could hardly have been greater. One team was a world basketball power. The other was entering the Olympic basketball tournament for the first time. Yet something in the Indian camp could not be measured by rankings or previous titles.

They were there.
They had made it.
And for a brief period, they were not overawed.

Ten minutes of possibility

P. N. Sankaran’s recollection of the opening match remains one of the most fascinating memories of India’s Olympic campaign. Before the game, he spoke with the Soviet coach. Sankaran explained that India was playing its first Olympic match and that the Soviet Union was one of the great powers of world basketball.

According to Sankaran, for the first 10 minutes India had stood on par Orin level. He remembered the score as 18-18. For the Indian officials watching from the stands, it was a moment of extraordinary excitement. For ten minutes, India had stood level with the Soviet Union.

The official record preserves the final result, 121-65 to the Soviet Union, and records the hosts’ 60-38 half time lead. But Sankaran’s memory preserves something the final score cannot show, a brief glimpse of possibility. For ten minutes, the newcomers had not looked like strangers. They looked like participants. A newspaper published in Moscow during the Games captured the movement of the Indian team in a memorable line:

“One Singh to another Singh and the third Singh takes the shot.”

It was a light hearted description of an Indian side whose players’ names seemed to echo across the court. But it also captured something larger.

Indian basketball had entered the Olympic arena and had given the Moscow crowd a glimpse of its own character.

India’s first Olympic basket

Hanuman Singh carried another special memory from that historic game. He scored India’s first basket in its first Olympic basketball match.

Somewhere in Moscow, the scoreboard changed by two points. For the match, it was only the beginning of India’s total. For Indian basketball, it was an event that could never be repeated. There would never be another first. As the game progressed, the Soviet Union imposed its strength on the contest. The final score was 121-65, with the hosts leading 60-38 at half time. India had lost its opening match.

But it had crossed the most important threshold. Indian basketball had entered the Olympic arena.

The journey continues

The first match had ended in defeat, but the journey was only beginning.
India would next face. Czechoslovakia, another powerful European team. Ajmer Singh would produce one of the finest individual performances of the tournament.  More matches, more challenges and more memories awaited the Indian players. The scoreboard had recorded a defeat. History had recorded an arrival. The dream had not ended with the final whistle. It had only begun to reveal what it meant.

Sources and Primary Testimonies

1. Interview with P. N. Sankaran, Manager of the Indian basketball team at the Moscow Olympics.
2. Interview with Lt. Col. Rajan Makkolath, conducted by the author in Calicut before his death. Col. Rajan was a family friend of the author and had served as Captain Rajan, coach of the Indian basketball team at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
3. Personal notes and recollections of Harbachan Singh, member of the Indian Olympic basketball team.
4. Personal notes and recollections of Ajmer Singh, member of the Indian Olympic basketball team.
5. Official and statistical sources - FIBA historical records of the 1980 Olympic men’s basketball tournament.
6. Olympic and historical records consulted for the team roster, match results, tournament standings and player statistics.

Coming up next: SUNDAY FIELD & FLAME – 18th October 2026 - MOSCOW OLYMPICS 1980: SEVEN GAMES, ONE OLYMPIC MEMORY - Part 2