Kolkata Mohammedan

Mohammedan Sporting Club is an Indian multi-sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Its football team competes in I-League, the second-tier of Indian football, as well as in Calcutta Football League (CFL), the oldest football league in Asia. Formed in February 1891, it is one of the oldest active football clubs in the country.

It was over three decades later since the foundation, the club became affiliated with the Indian Football Association (IFA) to play in the second division of CFL before earning promotion to the premier division of CFL in 1933 and a year later, Mohammedan became the first Indian team to win the league and in 1938 became the first team to win it for five consecutive times. After the independence of India, Mohammedan became the first Indian club to win a football tournament on foreign soil by lifting the Aga Khan Gold Cup in 1960. In 1996, the club was one of the founding members of India's first nationwide league – National Football League (NFL). Mohammedan has never won a top-tier league, only managing to win the 2004–05 NFL Second Division to qualify for NFL and the 2020 I-League Qualifiers to qualify for I-League, which was then the first-tier league of India. They have won the Federation Cup twice in 1983–84 and 1984–85.

Founded during the early years of India's independence movement, Mohammedan had been a symbol of progressive Muslim identity through the tumultuous period of rebellion and the subsequent struggle for status in an altered post-partition landscape. Therefore the club is primarily supported by the Muslim population of Bengal and it had provided a major backing to the community residing in Kolkata by spreading the sport to a sizeable population during its foundation days. This led to communal rivalry with its cross-town competitors – East Bengal and Mohun Bagan (now ATK Mohun Bagan), which were primarily supported by the Hindu population of Bengal during the early decades. The rivalries with both the teams have become non-communal and mostly insignificant over the course of time due to the rarity of meeting them at major tournaments.

History

The beginning and early decades (1887–1930)

In 1887, under the leadership of Khan Bahadur Aminul Islam, a sporting club named ''Jubilee Club'' was founded, which was later renamed into ''Crescent Club'' and then into ''Hamidia Club.'' Finally in 1891, Islam reformed the club and named it ''Mohammedan Sporting Club'' to represent the Bengali Mohammedans living in Calcutta. The club participated in a number of local tournaments after its foundation but came into prominence only after they won the Cooch Behar Cup in 1902, 1906 and in 1909. Initially, the club's objective wasn't strictly communal, and the club members often showed sincere appreciation towards achievements of its counterpart – Mohun Bagan AC, which was then supported by both Bengali Hindus as well as Muslims. During Mohun Bagan's historic 1911 IFA Shield victory, the members of the club "were almost mad and rolling on the ground with joyous excitement on the victory of their Hindu brethren."

Khan Sahib Syed Ahmed Rashid took a very keen interest in the social and sporting life in Bengal and was the elected Joint Secretary of Mohammedan, from 1925 to 1932. Although it was not before 1927 that the financial condition of the club improved when the team was able to play in the second division of the Calcutta Football League (CFL). In order to overcome the precarious financial state of the club, the Joint Secretaries of the club made an appeal to the public "to support a scheme of the club, extending its activities in the social sphere of Muslims", and also requested for donations of ₹3,500 to ₹4,500. With the improved performances of the club in every sport it participated, the management was able to acquire a considerable amount of investment which helped the club to build better teams. Due to Rashid's widespread influence in sports in Bengal, Sir Francis Stanley Jackson, the Governor of Bengal, accepted the patronage of the club.

During Satyagraha, Rashid helped to organise and make the club participate in the Monsoon League in 1930, the CFL in 1930 and 1931, and number of other sports tournaments, when every native club was boycotting sporting events, which was greatly appreciated by IFA, Bengal Hockey Association and Cricket Board of Control in Bengal and Assam. In 1930, Mohammedan finished last in the league table and was on the verge of being relegated out of the CFL 2nd Division, but was allowed to continue when one of the second division teams – East Indian Railway discontinued.

The golden period (1931–1947)

One of the club officials, CA Aziz concentrated on creating a strong team through modern strategies and was one of the only Indians to first realise the importance of playing in boots. Aziz recruited Mohun Bagan rejects like Kaleh Khan and Hafiz Rahid in 1931, and also players from different parts of India were gradually brought in, often in the name of religion. Players like Masum, Mahiuddin and Rahmat came from Bangalore, while Jumma Khan arrived from North-West Frontier Province, thus forming a truly cosmopolitan team. The whole team had a Muslim core, with no players outside the community. This helped Aziz to create unmatched unity in his squad which showed on and off the field. In 1933, Mohammedan qualified for the premier division of CFL for the first time in its history by topping the second division. Under the captaincy of Khurshid Anwar, Mohammedan became the first native club to capture the CFL title in 1934, in their very first year in top division. In March 1935, he was unanimously elected as the General Secretary of the club for the second time and in October that year he organised a successful tour to Rangoon, Mandalay, Maymyo, Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Madras, Bangalore and Mysore for the football team. That year, the captain's armband was handed over to the young and charismatic Abbas Mirza and later in the summer, Mohammedan recruited goalkeeper Osman Jan from Crescent Club in Delhi. With Osman Jan under the bar, Taj Mohammad and Jumma Khan'','' were part of a strong and formidable back-line. The trio of Rahim, Hafiz Rashid and Rahmat led the goalscoring duties and, Rashid and Rahim would go on to become the league's top scorer in 1935 with 16 goals and 1938 with 18 goals respectively. Along with new and young recruits every year, two defining names remained constant in the team – Syed Abdus Samad, who joined in 1933, and Mohammed Salim, who returned for a second spell in 1934. In 1936, Mohammedan became the first all-Indian team since 1911 to win IFA Shield by defeating Calcutta CFC in the final by 2–1 with goals from Rashid Jr. and Rahim. With their third league win that year, they also became the first Indian club to win the League-Shield "double". During this time, Salim took trials at Celtic FC, and was selected for the team but after playing two friendlies in Scottish Football Alliance, he returned to Mohammedan being homesick, even though being offered contracts from Celtic as well as from clubs in Germany. Thus, he became the first Indian to play for a foreign club. From 1934 to 1938, Mohammedan won the league for record five consecutive times and missed out the title only once in 1939 from 1934 to 1941, when they declined to play in protest against IFA. By this time Mohammedan became the undisputed ''Invincibles'' of CFL and football in India was no more only about the British against the Indians but also the Hindus (via Mohun Bagan and East Bengal Club) versus the Muslims.



Mohammedan's another great achievement came in the form of Durand Cup, which was then reserved only for British and British-Indian regimental teams until 1940, when civilian teams were also allowed to participate due to most regiments called in for World War II. The final was scheduled on 12 December 1940 at Irwin Amphitheatre in New Delhi and numerous eminent Muslim politicians flew in from far-off cities like Calcutta, Dhaka, Hyderabad and Bhopal, while common supporters arrived in trains and tongas to watch the match. It was also the first time a football game of such importance was being officiated by an Indian referee, Captain Harnam Singh. Along with around 1,00,000 spectators, as per traditions, Lord Linlithgow, the Viceroy of India, stood witness as Mohammedan defeated Royal Warwickshire Regiment 2–1, under the captaincy of Masum and goals coming from Rashid and Saboo. This victory by a team of only Muslim players at the capital city provided a massive boost to the Muslim national movement in the country. They also captured the Rover's Cup without conceding a goal in the tournament and beating Bangalore Muslims FC 1–0 in the final, thus creating another unique record of holding CFL, Durand Cup and Rover's Cup titles all in the same year. Their successes led to frenzied support from Muslims in every city of India, followed by increased number of donations to improve the club. They had an abundance of finances and were the first Indian team to play with boots, with a focus on proper diet and physical fitness for their players. In 1941, they won their second Shield, when they beat King's Own Scottish Borderers in the final. They also became the first Indian team to score 100 goals in a year, when they scored 110 goals in all competitions that year. They also became the first Indian club to retain the Shield, when they saw off East Bengal's challenge in 1942 final with a goal from Noor Mohammad. Due to the huge popularity, in 1943, Kaiser Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, the Prime Minister of Nepal, came all the way to Calcutta to play for Mohammedan, thus he became the first non-Muslim and Hindu player to don Mohammedan colours. The following years until the Independence of India, Mohammedan lost its dominance and failed to bring back any major silverware into their club tent.

Considerable period of success (1947–1980)

After the partition in 1947, the club lost many of its elite patrons, members as well as players, who chose to move to newly formed Islamic state of Pakistan, and soon there was a struggle to run which became evident with the club's performance in major tournaments. Yet, few players returned to continue playing for Mohammedan as foreign nationals. Regardless, the club managed to win the first CFL title in the post-independent India in 1948. Mohammedan continued to bring in numerous football talents from Pakistan and Masood Fakhri became the first Pakistani international to sign with the club in 1955. After 8 years of title drought, Mohammedan went on to win the Rover's Cup for the second time in 1956 by beating the defending champions Mohun Bagan 3–1 in the final. The Rover's Cup win paved the way to regain Mohammedan's lost dominance over football in India and bagged the League-Shield double of CFL and IFA Shield next year. In the league, Mohammedan surpassed East Bengal by a point and defeated Railways 3–0 in the Shield final. By the 1960s, Mohammedan changed its rules and formed teams with players from other communities too. In 1960, as a top club of India, Mohammedan was invited to the Aga Khan Gold Cup, which was at that time considered a continental tournament to determine the unofficial Asian champions. Held in Dhaka, Mohammedan became the first Indian side to win a trophy on foreign soil, beating the Perserikatan champions Persatuan Sepakbola Makassar 4–1 in the final. The match is still considered to be one of the greatest matches ever played in Dhaka, and also featured renowned Pakistani forward Mohammad Omar Baloch for Mohammedan. Despite considerably low performance domestically, Mohammedan was still one of the biggest crowd pullers, especially in Delhi, during Durand Cup and DCM Trophy. The next CFL success came only after a decade since their last win, when Mohammedan became the champions without losing a single match, registering their tenth CFL title. In 1971, Mohammedan won the IFA Shield without conceding a goal and by defeating Tollygunge Agragami FC 2–0 in the final.

Gradual downfall and a period of major failure (1981–2019)

In the 80s, the success came at the beginning with Mohammedan winning the '81 CFL unbeaten for the third time, surpassing Mohun Bagan by a point. The following year, Mohammedan appointed one of the iconic Indian footballers, Syed Nayeemuddin