In which sport has Hyderabad produced the best players?
Some might say badminton. Some others would say cricket. But it is football that stands out with flying colours.
In cricket, there have been famous players from the city who have represented India with distinction and two Hyderabadis–Ghulam Ahmed and Azharuddin–have captained the country.
In football, however, Hyderabad has produced six captains for the country, nine national coaches, 14 Olympians (some of them being double Olympians), 21 senior international players, plus many junior internationals and three accredited international referees who served on the FIFA panel. It is a stupendous achievement by any standard. After Kolkata which was considered the Mecca of football, it was Hyderabad which was the dominant force.
Fans of Hyderabad football were to be found even in Bollywood. Thespian Dilip Kumar was a keen follower of Hyderabadi players as was music director R.D. Burman. In the 1970s whenever Hyderabad’s footballers played at the Cooperage ground in Bombay (now Mumbai), these Bollywood celebrities would turn up to watch. Seats were always kept reserved for them. Dilip Kumar used to say that Hyderabad’s[S1] [S2] footballers had a unique and pleasing style.
For many years talent scouts from the big clubs of Kolkata (then called Calcutta) made a beeline to Hyderabad to select talented local players and induct them into the big teams like Mohammedan Sporting, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. As a result, the budding young footballers of those days found a stable platform and they could earn a comfortable livelihood through sport.
It was the British army units stationed in Secunderabad cantonment which introduced football to the youth of the twin cities in the early 1900s. Later, the then Principal of Nizam College, an Englishman named Kenneth Burnett, began conducting football matches between college and school teams. The first non-army teams to be formed were from Nizam College, All Saints High school, St. George’s Grammar school, Asafia High school and Darul Uloom High School.
In 1939 the Hyderabad Football Association was formed. One of the Presidents of the HFA had a huge influence on the development of the game. That was Shiv Kumar top-ranked police officer who devoted himself to promoting football. The Goshamahal stadium became a hub of football activity and with Shiv Kumar Lal’s support, the Hyderabad City Police team began an unstoppable rise to the top. With S.A.Rahim to coach the players, the police team became one of the most famous teams of India. It won the Rovers Cup tournament in Mumbai for five successive years.
In 1948 when the first Indian team to take part in the Olympic Games was sent to London, two Hyderabad players were named in the side. They were Norbert Andrew Fruvall, a police officer and K.P. Dhanraj from Secunderabad. Sadly Fruvall could not go since he could not manage to gather funds. Back then the players had to meet their own expenses. Dhanraj managed to find sponsors and he went with the first ever Indian team to the Olympics. Incidentally, Norbert Fruvall’s son Conrad Fruvall became a good cricket player and represented the Indian schoolboy’s team.
In the 1950s, there were 75 football clubs, nearly 2000 registered players and more than 40 qualified referees operating in Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Talent blossomed rapidly as every nook and corner of the twin cities produced excellent players. At the 1956 Olympic Games, the Indian team included eight players plus the coach S.A. Rahim – all from Hyderabad. At the next Olympics, there were seven players plus the coach from Hyderabad. This was the golden phase of Hyderabad football and rarely did any city dominate the sports as Hyderabad did during this period.
In 1950, the Indian team was invited to take part in the FIFA World Cup which was held in Brazil. But for reasons unknown, India did not send its team. Had the Indian team been sent, then surely Hyderabad players would have gotten the opportunity to take part in one of the greatest events in international sport. That objective remains unfulfilled to this day. As the 2022 edition of the World Cup looms around, it is the dream of every football lover that one day India will take part in this prestigious event and that there will be an adequate number of Hyderabad players in that Indian team. With hard work and planning, it can happen.
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