he appeared in two friendly games for the celebrated team of Celtic Rangers. However, faced by homesickness Salim did not take up a permanent place in the Glasgow based outfit.
Salim was born in colonial Calcutta in 1904. Boria Majumdar, a Indian football researcher and journalist, says,"At the time, with Indian nationalists fighting for independence from Brithish colonial rule, many Indians took to football to answer British jibes that Indians were not manly enough to rule themselves. The Indians played in bare feet and despite this they defeated English men in boots which was seen as evidence that Indians were not inferior to the British."
By the mid-1930s Salim, a winger, was an essential member of Calcutta’s Mohammedan Sporting Club side, and helped them to claim five successive Calcutta League titles.
In England playing for Celtic in a freindly match Salim, in bare feet, proved exceptional helping Celtic win 5-1. In his second match against Galston, Celtic won 7-1 and his performance led the Scottich Daily Express of Aug 29, 1936, to cary the headline, "Indian Juggler-New Style. Ten twinkling toes of Salim, Celtic FC's player from India, hypnotised the crowd at Parkhead last last night. He balances the ball on his big toe, lets it run down the scale to his little toe, twirls it, hops on one foot around the defender."
However, after a few months in Scotland, Salim began to feel homesick and was decided to return to India. Celtic tried to persuade him to stay by offering to organise a charity match in his honour, giving him five per cent of the gate proceeds. However, Salim offered that money to the charity and returned back to India.
Mohammed Salim passed away on the 5th November 1980 and will forever be remembered not only as the first Indian player to play in Europe but probably the finest football talent India ever produced.
No comments:
Post a Comment