First History Lessons: Sports and Games

First History Lessons: Sports and Games is part of the book series published under the ‘Revisiting the Craft of History Writing for Children’ project by the Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata (IDSK) with support from Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. The project involves the writing and publication of a series of illustrated history books for children, 12 to 14 years of age.

This book, published in October 2024, was originally written in Bengali by Anik Biswas and Kaustubh Mani Sengupta. It was translated into English by Arunava Sinha and features illustrations by Ranjit Chitrakar and Sirajuddaula Chitrakar – Patachitra artists from the West Medinipur district of West Bengal. The book traces the history of three sports – Football, Cricket, Hockey – in India from the colonial period to the present day. These histories show how the classism, casteism, religious divides and patriarchal structures of the larger society were reflected in the constitution of teams and the gameplay as well as the part these sports played in uniting Indians.

The 57-page document is divided into four chapters:  Battles of tangled feet: On the football pitch (Chapter 1); Bat versus ball: The journey of cricket (Chapter 2); Stick and ball: The tale of hockey (Chapter 3); and And Finally (Chapter 4). These chapters show how sports became a battleground for national identity and pride. And how, in what was once the domain of the British and the Indian upper classes, the common people carved out spaces for themselves. The book begins with the introduction of western sports to India by the British, and says that the British hoped that the rigid rules of sport would train Indians into following orders and being subservient to the empire.

However, as Chapter 1 highlights, sports often became areas for Indians to assert their distinct identities. The establishment of Indian football clubs in Bengal during the end of the 19th century was one such assertion, especially when the British partitioned Bengal in 1905. But diversity within the Indian football teams lagged behind and players from marginalised castes found it very difficult to secure places on teams. The chapter also covers the prejudice shown against women players and the opposition to women stepping out of their homes and playing in public. In the 1930s, football changed with the changing political situation in Bengal with matches between Hindu and Muslim football clubs often leading to violent clashes.

Post Independence, people also took interest in the national team which won two Asian Games. By the 1970s and 1980s, with the deterioration of the Indian team and the growing interest in teams from other countries, the craze for football played in India declined.

Chapter 2 explores the rise of cricket in India from the 1830s, when Parsis started playing in Bombay, to the present day. It was a more leisurely sport with games stretching on for the entire day and thus was initially played by the upper classes who could devote it time. In the second half of the 19th century, more cricket clubs and teams emerged in Bombay, many of them along religious lines. As with football, cricket teams made up of Hindu members were divided along caste lines. The Palwankar brothers were skilled players and an integral part of their teams, but had to face discrimination because they belonged to the 'lower' Chamar caste. They were often not allowed to take meals with their teammates.

In Independent India, cricket started to thrive in the 1970s when the Indian team won matches against West Indies and England. It grew more popular when they won the world cup in 1983. A women’s cricket association was set up in 1973 but women’s cricket had to struggle for several decades and only in 2022 did the national team start earning the same as the men’s national team. However, women’s cricket in India is still not as popular as men’s cricket.

Chapter 3 explains how in the middle of the 19th century, hockey began to be played in Indian cities like Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Surat. Modern hockey too was introduced in India by the British. Although, initially, it was the upper-class Indian men who played the games. Working Indians were part of the game as khidmatgars, serving the British and Indian players. The Indian men’s hockey team – captained by Jaipal Singh Munda – won its first Olympic gold in 1928. Among women, it was the Anglo-Indians and Parsis who started playing in the early 20th century before others joined in. By the 1960s, changes in rules, the shift from grass to artificial turf, and the migration of Anglo-Indians contributed to a decline in the popularity of hockey.

In its concluding section, the book reflects on the changing landscape of class, caste, gender and religious equality in the domain of sports.

Focus by Alisha Khan.