Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari

Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikary Harida[2][3] (Bengali: নগেন্দ্র প্রসাদ সর্বাধিকারী হরিদা) is known as the Father of Indian Football[4] for his role in founding the first Indian football organizations after introducing the sport to his fellow classmates at Hare School, Calcutta.[5][6]

Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari Harida
নগেন্দ্র প্রসাদ সর্বাধিকারী হরিদা
Born(1869-08-27)27 August 1869
Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, India
Died17 January 1940(1940-01-17) (aged 70)
NationalityIndian
Alma materHare School[1]

It was Nagendra Prasad who taught the game to his classmates at the Hare School compound in 1877,[7] after he observed British soldiers playing the game nearby in Calcutta.[1] Attracted by the enthusiasm of the boys in the school, the European teachers of the school and adjacent colleges encouraged Nagendra Prasad and his companions to promote the game among other students in and around Calcutta. The Boys' Club, founded by Nagendra Prasad around this time, was the first Indian initiative to create a football organization.[8]

Later, he formed a string of sporting clubs in Calcutta in the 1880s, one of the first being the Wellington Club in 1884. Moni Das was one of the first members to be inducted by Nagendra Prasad to the Wellington Club, but the other members of the club protested about playing with this man as he was from the lower caste. Sarbadhikary said that a sporting ground is beyond any prejudice, but after the members' continued protest, he chose to dismantle the Wellington Club. Soon after, 500 members left and Nagendra Prasad founded the Sovabazar Club, which would become one of the leading sports institutions of colonial India.[9] The first member of this new club was Moni Das. Das later captained the ATKMB Athletic Club, yet another legendary institution of sports in India, colonial and post-colonial. Thus a man from the lower caste, through footballing process and sport broke into the upper echelons of the Hindu society.

Birth and family

Sarbadhikari was born on 27 August 1869 in Calcutta (now Kolkata, West Bengal), India into the renowned Sarbadhikari family originally hailing from Radhanagar (Khanakul) situated in Hooghly district.[10][11] His father was Brigadier, Rai Bahadur Dr. Surya Kumar Sarbadhikari (1832–1904),[12] a surgeon who served during the Sepoy Mutiny or Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the rule of the East India Company.[13]

The Sarbadhikari family was founded during the early 15th century by Sureshwar Bosu of Choa ("Choa" is a village situated in Murshidabad district of present-day West Bengal), who was appointed Governor of Orissa province with the hereditary title of "Sarbadhikari" by the Imperial Court of Delhi.[14]

He had 7 brothers and 2 sisters. Of the brothers, the names of Sir Deb Prasad Sarbadhikari who became Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University (1914–1918),[15] and Suresh Prasad Sarbadhikari (1866–1921), an eminent surgeon of British India who organized the Bengal Ambulance Corps to serve in the Mesopotamia War during World War I, and managed the Carmichael Medical College & Hospital, Calcutta (now R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital) with Dr. Radha Gobinda Kar[16][17][18][10] can be mentioned.

He was married to the daughter of Ananda Krishna Deb belonging to the Sovabazar Raj family.[19]

A Bengali film titled Golondaaj directed by Dhrubo Banerjee and produced by Shree Venkatesh Films was released on October 10, 2021, based on the life of Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari, with Bengali film superstar Dev playing the part of Sarbadhikari.[20][21] The Times of India gave the movie a 4.5 out of 5-star rating.[22]

See also

References
  1. "Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari: The Unsung Face Behind Indian Football". sportycious. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  2. Sengupta, Somnath (24 April 2012). "Legends Of Indian Football : The Pioneers". thehardtackle.com. The Hard Tackle. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  3. "Passion Play in Kolkata". Forbes India Magazine. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  4. Majumdar, Boria, Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (1 February 2006). Goalless: The Story of a Unique Footballing Nation. New Delhi: Penguin India. ISBN 9780670058747. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022.
  5. "FOOTBALL IN BENGAL". The Indian Football Association. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  6. "Football". West Bengal Youth and Sports Department, Government of West Bengal. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  7. "History in Timeline of Indian Football". All India Football Federation. Archived from the original on 8 March 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  8. P.L.Dutt, Memoir of ‘Father of Indian Football’ Nagendraprasad Sarbadhikary (Calcutta: N.P.Sarbadhikary Memorial Committee, 1944) (hereafter Memoir); and Saurindra Kumar Ghosh, Krira Samrat Nagendraprasad Sarbadhikary 1869–1940 (Calcutta: N.P. Sarbadhikary Memorial Committee, 1963) (hereafter Krira Samrat).
  9. Hassan, Mehedi (1 August 2018). "ভারত যেদিন নেমেছিল খালি পায়ে... [The day India landed barefoot ...]". www.prothomalo.com (in Bengali). Prothom Alo. Archived from the original on 4 April 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  10. Birendra Ghosh, "Suresh Prasad Sarbadhikari". Bharatbarsha - Bengali Magazine - Year 18. Volume II, Issue 3, p461-466. pub.1930. Retrieved 9 Oct 2020.
  11. Subal Chandra Mitra, "Saral Bangla Abhidhan" Bengali Encyclopaedia 7th ed, p1285-1286", New Bengal Press, 1936. Retrieved 9 Oct 2020.
  12. "প্রথম যে বাঙালি ফুটবলে 'কিক' মেরেছিলেন- তাঁর বায়োপিকে দেব".
  13. Amrita Lal Sircar, "The Calcutta Journal of Medicine: Vol. 24 Issue 2", P.Sircar, 1905. Retrieved 9 Oct 2020.
  14. "Second supplement to Who's who in India [microform] : brought up to 1914", Newul Kishore Press, June 1914. Retrieved 9 Oct 2020.
  15. "Second supplement to Who's who in India [microform] : brought up to 1914", Newul Kishore Press, June 1914. Retrieved 9 Oct 2020.
  16. "Suresh Prasad Sarbadhikari, B.A., M.D., C.I.E", British Medical Journal, publication_June 11, 1921, p 878. Retrieved 9 Oct 2020.
  17. Heike Liebau et al, "The World in World Wars", Brill Publishers, publication_2010. Retrieved 9 Oct 2020.
  18. K. P. Thomas, "Dr. B. C. Roy" p130, Atulya Ghosh, 1955. Retrieved 9 Oct, 2020.
  19. "ভারতীয় ফুটবলের জনক তিনি,আমরা কি মনে রেখেছি নগেন্দ্রপ্রসাদ সর্বাধিকারীকে?". banglaamarpran.in. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  20. "সামনে এলেন নগেন্দ্রপ্রসাদ". Abandabazar Patrika. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  21. "'Golondaaj' Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari: the father of Indian football". Olympics.com. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  22. "নগেন্দ্র প্রসাদ সর্বাধিকারীর জীবনের জানা-অজানা কাহিনী লেন্সবন্দি". Times of India Bengali. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
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