Hiralal Mukherjee (14 October 1886 – 14 December 1962) was

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He was a member of the "Immortal XI", of

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

, that won the

IFA Shield The IFA Shield is an annual football competition organized by the Indian Football Association. The IFA is the governing body of football in the state of West Bengal, came into existence in 1893. Named after the association, the IFA Shield tourn ...

in 1911.

Early life

On 14 October 1886, Mukherjee was born to a middle-class family in the erstwhile

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. He grew up and had his early education in the

Bagbazar Bagbazar (also spelt Baghbazar) is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The area, under Shyampukur police station of Kolkata Police, has been, along with neighbouring Shyambazar, the citadel of ...

locality of

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

(now Kolkata). At a young age, he lost his father and following which he moved to

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is th ...

with his elder sister. Passing the entrance exam at the Howarh Zilla School in 1904, he got himself enrolled at the Bengal Engineering College (now Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology) in

Shibpur Shibpur or Sibpur is a neighbourhood in Howrah city of Howrah district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). It is well known for being the location of the ...

. This was when he quit his studies and took to football as a profession. He was encouraged to take up goalkeeping by Sailen Basu, an official at

, the club which Mukherjee first played for.

Career

Mukherjee began his club career with Mohun Bagan in 1906. As a goalkeeper, he was known for his ability to storm into the tackles of the opposition strikers. He was part of the team that won the

in 1911, when they beat

East Yorkshire Regiment The East Yorkshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1685 as Sir William Clifton's Regiment of Foot and later renamed the 15th Regiment of Foot. It saw service for three centuries, before eventually being ...

2–1 in the final. The winning team was titled "Immortal XI" following the victory. This is viewed as a turning point in Indian football, as a team of Indian natives on bare foot had beaten a well coached British team. Mukherjee's best moment at the tournament came when he saved three penalties against Rangers Football Club in the second game of the tournament, a match that Bagan won 2–1.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukherjee, Hiralal 1886 births 1962 deaths Indian footballers Footballers from Kolkata Association football goalkeepers Mohun Bagan AC players