Why India did not participate in the 1950 Football World Cup despite qualifying for the mega event?

India impressed everyone with a good show in the 1948 Olympics. What drew attention was that utmost players played barefoot, while some wore socks. It was their first transnational event since independence.

Brazil 1950 was the fourth investiture of the competition that has now come the zenith of the game. One similar platoon was India. They had qualified for a World Cup for the first time but they didn’t take part. The reason for their absence has frequently been attributed to them refusing not to play barefoot, still, this composition will explore that this may not be the full verity.

Did India withdraw from the 1950 World Cup?

Fédération Internationale de Football Association( FIFA) made it clear to India that they would not be allowed to play in the 1950 FIFA World Cup without footwear. Also, a curious thing happened. When determining the make- up of the 1950 World Cup, FIFA determined that obviously the two defending finalists, Brazil and Italy, would be guaranteed spots. That left fourteen spots that demanded to be filled.

FIFA decided that seven of those spots would come from Europe, six would come from the Americas and one would come from Asia. The problem was that of the four Asian brigades that were invited to the World Cup, three of them (the Philippines, Indonesia and Burma) withdrew from the event before the qualification round. thus, India earned an automatic spot in the World Cup. It would be India’s first time appearing in the World Cup (and, indeed, as of 2011 they still have no way appeared in the World Cup), but India, too, withdrew from the event.

FIFA categorically told India that they would have to wear shoes for the World Cup. With just one niche from Asia, Philippines, Indonesia and Burma withdrew before the qualification round leading to India automatically earning a spot.

The preamble to every football World Cup inescapably gives rise to one of the most pointless,over-used, and, as it turns out, a fabulous piece of trivia. India, the hourly-cited story goes, didn’t play in the 1950 edition – the closest the country has come to share in a World Cup – because the country has come to wear shoes. And FIFA, the tale continues, didn’t allow players to step on the field barefoot.

Nowhere in any of the conversations at the time was the barefoot issue. It might clearly have been a commodity that would have annoyed the Indian platoon, but it didn’t appear as though it was the main reason for the platoon refusing to travel to Brazil. It seems much more likely that the Indian football officers just didn’t suppose that the World Cup was a big enough of a deal to warrant transferring their players half across the world.

Raising plutocrats for making such a long trip was of course a headache. But the problem actually was answered as three state associations came to AIFF’s deliverance. Fifa too promised to help. A camp was also organised for a short period in Calcutta. But what eventually redounded in the trip failure was the indecisiveness of the AIFF top brass. They dilly-dallied over opinions till the last moment and held a series of meetings, but still couldn’t reach a decision.