The ‘Beautiful Game’ may well be called as “Game of the ghettoes” here. But Bangalore surely has had a fair share of colourful  footballing history.

At a time when cricket holds the imagination, it is fascinating to see pockets of passion for football in Bangalore, the very epitome of a cantonment city. This enduring passion has to do with the World Cup hype. Some history somewhere must tell us how the great game insulated itself from the odds of cricket.

Bangalore is no stranger to football. The city always had some wonderful private football clubs in the 1940s and 1950s such as Bangalore Blues, Bangalore Sporting, Bangalore Muslims, and the Mysore Rovers, who played quality stuff.

Bangalore’s Cantonment area has seen players making history for the country. The Austin Town Football Ground gave India one its great goalkeepers, P.K. Nandan who coached youngsters here and organised tournaments. The ground later came to be known as Nandan Grounds.

The first Olympians for the country came from Austin Town. Greats like Raman, Kannaiah, Shanmugham, and Anthony, who played on the ground, were part of the 1948 and 1952 Olympics.

The Cantonment also got its flavour from the innumerable tournaments organised there. The Stafford Cup, and the Ashgold Cup tourneys were very popular. Royal Air Force personnel would play with local teams for the Ashgold Cup which drew heavy crowds.

The British brought Italian prisoners in the early ’40s to Bangalore. They were put up at the Garrison Grounds, today’s Parade Grounds-Cubbon Road area. While serving their term, the Italians would play football. Locals who worked for the British in their homes would join or play against the prisoners in friendly contests. The locals would always play barefoot, the Italians in boots. And the locals were expected to win… they would… some even played barefoot later in the Olympics!

The standards of football during the ’50s and ’60s were high, considering that in the ’60s, the Mysore team beat a Bengal team in the Santhosh Trophy, won the Pentangular Tournament in Ceylon, and made it to the Santhosh Trophy finals in the ’70s.

Has the game then moved out from the ghettoes? It has and it has not. In some places, it makes a star out of the man next door – Europe holds the key to this turn – and in others, it’s the down and out, who, for reasons of economy, make passion out of necessity.

Bangalore’s date with football has been romantic, and at a time when cricket overwhelms, a recall of this fascinating tradition may help preserve an art being played out in the bylanes of this once-Cantonment City.

Reference:

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2002/06/10/stories/2002061000270100.htm