AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: In July 1941, India was a vastly different country. The horror of partition was still six years away, an undivided India was reeling under the British rule, Mahatma Gandhi’s call for “Quit India” movement would come a year later, and the nation was yet to realise the impact of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s escape from under the nose of foreign rulers in the month of January.

However, the inaugural National Football Championship, played in June-July 1941, was not much different from the current edition of the NFC for the Hero Santosh Trophy. It was a perfect pan-India competition like the present one – matches were hosted all over India and it was a huge hit right from the kick-off of the first match.

Beginning Friday, December 23, 2022, the 76th NFC would be played across six centres – Delhi, Kozhikode, Kokrajhar, Kolhapur, Bhubaneswar and Imphal. In 1941, the Santosh Trophy was played on the knock-out basis in five centres – Madras (now Chennai), Bombay (now Mumbai), Delhi, Patna and Calcutta (now Kolkata), which hosted the final. A sixth centre was also planned by the All India Football Federation, but political unrest in Dacca (now Dhaka, Bangladesh) forced the AIFF to cancel the plan.

The maiden Santosh Trophy final was played in Kolkata on July 26 at the historic Calcutta Ground, now the Mohun Bagan-CFC ground. Hosts Bengal and Delhi were the two competing teams with the former winning by a 5-1 margin in front of a capacity crowd. Bengal were led by J Lumsden, a legendary sportsman from the eastern metropolis, who played both football and hockey with equal proficiency.

One thing was clear from Day One - Santosh Trophy had come to stay. As the years passed, the inter-state championship rapidly grew in popularity and soon became the country's most prestigious meet. The crowd presence in the last edition in Kerala is testimony to the lofty heights Santosh Trophy has attained in the last 81 years.

The immortal eleven, who were proud recipients of the inaugural Santosh Trophy winners medals:Osman, Sirajuddin, Paritosh Chakrabarty, Anil Nandi, J Lamsden, Masoom, Nur Mohammad, A Bhattacharya, D Banerjee, S Ghosh and P D’Mello.