Indian Football Association (West Bengal)

Sport	Football
Jurisdiction	West Bengal
Membership	23 district associations
Abbreviation	IFA
Founded	1893; 132 years ago (1893)[1]
Affiliation	All India Football Federation (AIFF)
Headquarters	Kolkata
President	Ajit Banerjee
Secretary	Anirban Dutta
Official website
ifawb.in

TheIndian Football Association, abbreviated asIFA, is the organisation that administersfootball in theIndian state ofWest Bengal.^[2][3][4] It is the oldest football association in India and was founded in 1893.^[5][6] Among the founders was formerEnglish internationalElphinstone Jackson.^[7]

The IFA organises tournaments such as theCalcutta Football League, theCalcutta Women's Football League^[8] and theIFA Shield.^[9] In 2021, the IFA also took an initiative to start its ownfutsal league.^[10]It also sends state teams forSantosh Trophy andRajmata Jijabai Trophy.

Contrary to the name, the association does not administer the game in India, a task that falls to theAll India Football Federation (AIFF), instead governs the game in the state ofWest Bengal. However, before the formation of the AIFF, the IFA was inde facto control of football in India by virtue of its administration byEnglishmen as well as its affiliation tothe Football Association.^[11] Hence, all foreign tours were conducted by the IFA and also foreign teams negotiated with the IFA for visits to India. In its formative years, the only Indian representative in the English dominated executive committee was Kalicharan Mitra from the Sovabazar Club.^[12] By vigorously promoting the game inBengal, the IFA became undivided India's premier football body in the early decades of the 20th century.^[13]

Through the efforts ofNagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari (thefather of Indian football), A.R. Brown and B.C. Lindsay ofDalhousie AC, and Watson ofCalcutta FC, the IFA was established in 1893.^[14] A.R. Brown was the first Secretary of the IFA.Norman Prichard, the first Indian to win anOlympic medal, was the Secretary of the IFA in 1900.The most remarkable person to head the IFA was theMaharaja ofSantosh,Sir M.N. Roy Chowdhury. During his tenure the IFA played an instrumental role in the formation of the AIFF.^[15]

The IFA had organised many historical tournaments like theTrades Cup, the Gladstone Cup, theCooch Behar Cup and the covetedIFA Shield, prior to the incorporation ofCalcutta Football League in 1898. The Trades Cup is the oldest tournament in Kolkata, being instituted in 1889.^[16]

Clubs outsideBengal complained about the lack of neutrality in the affairs of the IFA. This disillusionment of clubs and patrons led to the formation of associations such as theWestern India Football Association, which preferred to be governed by themselves rather than by the IFA. After years of numerous conferences and meetings, the IFA along with other five regional football associations broke their mutual deadlock to form the AIFF in 1937.^[13]

The 23 district associations affiliated with theIndian Football Association.

• Calcutta Football League
• Bengal Super League (franchise)
• IFA Shield
• Uttarbanga Cup
• Jayanta Chatterjee Inter District Football Tournament
• IFA Futsal Championship

• Calcutta Women's Football League
• Women's IFA Shield

• CFL 5th Division Group B
• IFA Nursery League

As of 2022^[update]

• List of Indian state football associations
• Football in Kolkata
• Football in West Bengal
• Football in India
• Premier League Soccer

• Mitra, Soumen (1 January 2006).In Search of an Identity: The History of Football in Colonial Calcutta. Kolkata: Dasgupta & Co. Private Ltd.ISBN 978-8182110229. Archived fromthe original on 21 October 2022.
• Kapadia, Novy (2017).Barefoot to Boots: The Many Lives of Indian Football. Penguin Random House.ISBN 978-0-143-42641-7.
• Majumdar, Boria, Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (2006).Goalless: The Story of a Unique Footballing Nation.Penguin India.ISBN 9780670058747.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Dutta, P. L.,Memoir of 'Father of Indian Football' Nagendraprasad Sarbadhikary (Calcutta: N. P. Sarbadhikary Memorial Committee, 1944) (hereafter Memoir)
• Ghosh, Saurindra Kumar.Krira Samrat Nagendraprasad Sarbadhikary 1869–1940 (Calcutta: N. P. Sarbadhikary Memorial Committee, 1963) (hereafter Krira Samrat).
• Roselli, John.Self Image of Effeteness: Physical Education and Nationalism in Nineteenth Century Bengal.Past & Present (journal). 86 (February 1980). p. 121–48.
• Sinha, Mrinalini.Colonial Masculinity, The Manly Englishman and the Effeminate Bengali in the Late Nineteenth Century (Manchester:Manchester University Press, 1995).
• Chatterjee, Partha.The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Post-colonial Histories (Calcutta:Oxford University Press, 1995).
• Mason,Football on the Maidan, p. 144; Dimeo,Football and Politics in Bengal, p. 62.
• Sen, Dwaipayan (2013). "Wiping the Stain Off the Field of Plassey: Mohun Bagan in 1911". In Bandyopadhyay, Kausik; Mallick, Sabyasachi (eds.).Fringe Nations in World Soccer. Routledge.ISBN 978-1-317-99810-5.
• Nath, Nirmal (2011).History of Indian Football: Upto 2009–10. Readers Service.ISBN 9788187891963. Archived fromthe original on 22 July 2022.
• "Triumphs and Disasters: The Story of Indian Football, 1889—2000"(PDF). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 13 August 2012. Retrieved20 October 2011.
• D'Mello, Anthony (1959).Portrait Of Indian Sport. P R Macmillan Limited, London.
• From recreation to competition: Early history of Indian footballArchived 9 July 2021 at theWayback Machine. pp. 124–141. Published online: 6 Aug 2006.www.tandfonline.com. Retrieved 30 June 2021.

• Indian Football Association onFacebook
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• IFA onthe-AIFF.com
• IFA onYouTube

• Football governing bodies in India
• Sports organizations established in 1893
• Football in West Bengal
• Organisations based in Kolkata
• 1893 establishments in British India

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• CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list