When Kashmir ruled the pitch

It would have been a sight to behold when a crowd of 20,000 Kashmiris carried Abdul Majeed Khan, their local football hero, to his home while chanting his name. The glory associated with "Episkyros" and "Harpastum" (older and varied versions of football) by the Greeks was being experienced by a Kashmiri man almost 3000 years later.

Yet the game that evolved, surviving the test of nearly three millennia, faded within just a few years after experiencing a brief golden period in the turbulent waters of Kashmir.

It is impossible to talk about football and Kashmir in the same breath and not mention Cecil Eric Tyndale Biscoe. Biscoe's contributions towards introducing football in Kashmir and his engagements with the local population are well-known and have been thoroughly discussed. The introduction of football, in particular, served as an avenue to train Kashmiri students along the lines of the ‘imperial culture’ of Great Britain.

A sound body with a sound mind was the ideological value guiding Mr. Biscoe and, later, looked upon by his students.

Boost to the game of football came when Dogra Maharajas hosted tournaments like the ‘Maharaja Gold Cup’ to celebrate occasions like the Maharaja's birthday.

These tournaments provided a platform for the local teams to showcase their talent and brought the community together in celebration. Furthermore, football would be a source of entertainment for the people of the valley, who had only a few avenues of experiencing entertainment.

In 1964, the formation of the Jammu and Kashmir Football Association (JKFA) facilitated the growth of football in Kashmir. It took JKFA over a decade to bring the game and the infrastructure to the mark of being able to host national-level football tournaments in Kashmir. However, the football mania in Kashmir was not merely defined in terms of its performance against the teams from the rest of India.

By the 1970s football in Kashmir was entering its ‘Golden Era’. A total of 18 government department teams from the state would put up a show for the local audience. A huge crowd would gather for every game to support their favourite team.

Legends like Muhammad Yusuf Dar, Shafi Nari, Farooq Ahmad Bhat and Abdul Majeed Khan (Majeed Kokroo) worked hard enough to entertain their local audience and make them proud on the international stage as well. Their efforts were proportional to the excitement of their fans, who would climb trees to get a glimpse of their heroes. This appreciation was not exclusively limited to the local players.

The Kashmiri audience was judicious enough to appreciate an excellent game and a good player. An example is that of players from Hyderabad, who, when they won against Goa, were venerated with garlanded by the locals.

However, this golden era of football in Kashmir was short-lived. A prolonged period of struggle for peace took a toll on football in Kashmir. Teams started dismantling, players faced financial difficulties, and the community lost a significant source of entertainment and unity. The crowd started dispersing. Grounds started getting encroached upon. Football became an unaffordable luxury. The sport which once infused the people of Kashmir with life, was dying.

Yet there were promises made and dreams dreamt. Players of the dismantled teams regrouped under new names. Srinagar FC, Rambagh FC, Barzulla FC, Eidgah FC–footballers gathered. Being a mute spectator to the tragedy was not an option for the Kashmiri legend Kokroo, who took it upon himself to save football in Kashmir. He had to take circles of government offices to save Srinagar's ‘last’ football ground. Kokroo was willing to throw his medals in Jehlum or even immolate himself if that was what it took to save football.

In 2015, the football club ‘Lonestar Kashmir’ was the I-League 2^nd Division season runners-up. In the 2017-18 season of I-League 2^nd Division ‘Real Kashmir, ’ another Kashmiri football club went on to win the league. Kashmir’s football philosophy, now imbued with energy by its lovers–veterans and young children–assisted in enthusiastically adorning the field. More importantly, football gradually started strengthening community cohesion among Kashmiris. The efforts of the lovers of football started bearing fruit.

Ironically, a distant successor of the person who introduced football to Kashmir had in his share a portion of the task of saving football. Mr Parwez Samuel Koul, the then principal of Tyndale Biscoe School, assisted Sajid Dar and Majid Dar (sons of football legend Muhammad Yusuf Dar) in forming a football team called YMCA in 2021.

It was a team of local teenagers competing against grown men. A spectacle of young kids winning local tournaments back to back attracted the attention of the Kashmiri crowd towards local football once again. In hushed voices, they asked…What’s the score?

Football is winning.

Moin S. Hakak, Research Scholar, CHRIST University, Bangalore