INDIA at FIFA WORLD CUP!!

I am sure you are shocked!! India playing football??and that too World cup.. Yes is the answer.. In 1950, India actually was supposed to play in Football World cup. Many of the current generation are unaware that World Cup participation was offered to India on a platter. In the days before rankings, India was then recognized by FIFA as the best team in Asia and so was invited to participate in the 1950 World Cup at Brazil.

In the 1950 World Cup draw, India was placed in Pool III, with Sweden, Italy and Paraguay. India would have started their campaign against Paraguay on June 25 and their league fixtures would have finished by July 3. Paraguay was not a formidable team then and India could have held their own against them. Italy fielded a weakened side as their brilliant club side Torino, flying back after a friendly in Lisbon, crashed into the wall of a hillside monastery.

The Italian team was unsettled. They had travelled by ship to Brazil and were not in proper physical condition. So considering the circumstances, India could have matched the Italians in their second match. Maybe Sweden would have been too fast and physical for India but overall it would have been a great exposure for the national team.

If only India, or rather the All India Football Federation (AIFF), had accepted the challenge in 1950, it would have been a major boost for the game in a newly independent country. The international media exposure would have made our footballers household names. Instead, various reasons, like inadequate foreign exchange reserves, the long journey by ship and the problem of bare-footed players forced India to pull out of this tournament.

The Brazilian organizers wanted to make their tournament more representative and were keen to have a team from the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and so even offered to pay most of the expenses. India’s entry remained in the draw till the tournament started and no other team from Asia was invited. When India did not turn up, Pool III became a three team group with the winners Sweden qualifying for the final round robin league phase. Though there is no clear-cut reason as to why India did not participate in the 1950 World Cup. 

This withdrawal from the 1950 World Cup was a major setback for Indian football. Till the mid-sixties, India was amongst the top three in Asian football. In both, the 1951 Asian Games at Delhi and the 1962 Asian Games at Jakarta, India won the gold medal in football. In a regional competition known as the Quadrangular tournament, India was unbeaten champions for four successive years.

I hope one day comes again when I get to see Indian Football team qualifying for the Football World cup... Till then, its all a dream!!

Hello everyone.. sorry for not being able to put up any updates. Work got me busy but here I am yet again with some news for you guys..With just a couple of weeks before we have footie action back to help us kill our weekends, transfer window is hotting up.. I am sure all you fans are looking forward to great signings by your team. Some good ones bought and some sold!! Here is some latest transfers that took place in the last few days -


Source - bbc.co.uk

26 JULY

Nacer Chadli [Twente - Tottenham] £7m (reported)

Juan Carlos Garcia [Olimpia - Wigan] Free

23 JULY

Karl Henry [Wolves - QPR] Undisclosed

20 JULY

Andre Santos [Arsenal - Flamengo] Undisclosed

19 JULY

Stevan Jovetic [Fiorentina - Manchester City] £22m

18 JULY

Maicon [Manchester City - Roma] Undisclosed

Florent Malouda [Chelsea - Trabzonspor] Free

Sebastien Squillaci  [Arsenal - Bastia] Free

Well these are a few of the recent transfer that took place. With 35 more days before the transfer window closes, i am sure there will be a lot more shocking, and many exciting, signings that we will get to see this season.

Though as a Manchester united supporter, I would love to see the Ronaldo, Fabregas and Bale saga solved...Ronaldo seems unlikely this season, with Fabregas a strong probable, in my opinion. Bale would end up with Madrid if my guess would go right....but we do need to strengthen our midfield, if we are to compete well in Europe and England.

And before I end this post, I would like to request all Manchester united fans to be patient with David Moyes as its still early for him. I am sure he would do a great job as time goes on.


Rest i am sure no matter which club you support, you cant wait for august to come!!!


Will soon be back with some more updates...thank you

Here is a beautiful video, for your enjoyment!! Hope you all enjoy it....

Early Years of Football

I thought a lot about what my first post should be, and I guess I'll just give a brief about this game.. Football, according to FIFA, has its history spanning more than 100 years. It all began in 1863 in England, when rugby football and association football branched off on their different courses and the Football Association in England was formed - becoming the sport's first governing body. Its a game played with 11 players on each side, with two teams facing each other at one time. Now with several different formations and tactics involved in the game, world's most loved sport has never been this exciting. 

For all the evidence of early ball sports played elsewhere in the world, the evolution of football as we know it today took place in Britain. The game that flourished in the British Isles from the eighth to the 19th centuries featured a considerable variety of local and regional versions - which were subsequently smoothed down and smartened up to create the modern-day sports of association football, rugby football and, in Ireland, Gaelic football.

Primitive football was more disorganized, more violent, more spontaneous and usually played by an indefinite number of players. Frequently, games took the form of a heated contest between whole villages - through streets and squares, across fields, hedges, fences and streams. Kicking was allowed, as in fact was almost everything else. Sometimes kicking the ball was out of the question due to the size and weight of the sphere being used - in such cases, kicking was instead limited to taking out opponents.

Curiously, it was not until nine years after the rules of football had been first established in 1863 that the size and weight of the ball were finally standardized. Up to then, agreement on this point was usually reached by the parties concerned when they were arranging the match, as was the case for a game between London and Sheffield in 1866. This encounter was also the first where the duration was prearranged for 90 minutes.

(Source: www.fifa.com)

WELCOME TO FOOTY FIELD!!!!!!!

Footy Field, a page for all football enthusiasts(and non-football fans) to come and share their views and comments on anything and everything related to the beautiful game of football. I am a hardcore Manchester United and England fan, but overall, I breathe and live football. And that's the reason for me creating this page, to have a common forum for all us to write and share our views about this game.

This is my first post and I will keep on sharing my views everyday with all of you to share my love and passion with you all for this beautiful sport. Being an Indian, I feel sad to see the sport not doing well here and people having not much knowledge of the most loved sport in the world, here in India. I hope through my blog posts I can inspire people to start following this game, no matter from where they are or what they do...Football, for me, is a religion, with no boundaries or expectations, and like Music, it brings people from all over the world together. This is the main reason for me to write about what I love and hope you all enjoy my posts and feel free to share your views and comments.. Positive or Negative....