Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari

Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikary[1][2] (1869–1940) is known as the "Father of Indian Football" for his role in introducing football as a teenager in the year 1877 at Hare School, Calcutta.[3][4] It was he who mobilized his classmates and started playing the game at the Hare School compound. 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 students in and around Calcutta. The Boys' Club, founded by Nagendra Prasad around this time, was the first Indian initiative at football organization.

Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari
Born(1869-08-27)27 August 1869
Calcutta, British India
Died17 January 1940(1940-01-17) (aged 70)
NationalityBritish Indian

Later he formed a string of sporting clubs in Calcutta in the 1880s, one of the first being the Wellington. 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 he was however forced by the members' protest to dismantle the Wellington Club in 1884. Soon after, 500 members left and Nagendra Prasad founded the Sovabazar Club, one of the leading sports institutions of colonial India. The first member of this new club was Moni Das. He later captained the Mohun Bagan Club, yet another legendary institution of sports in India, colonial and post colonial. Thus a man from the lower caste, through cricketing prowess and sport broke into the upper echelons of the Hindu society.

Birth and Family

Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari was born on 27 August, 1869 at Kolkata, West Bengal, India into the renowned Sarbadhikari family originally hailing from Radhanagar (Khanakul) situated in Hooghly district, West Bengal.[5][6] His father was Brigadier, Rai Bahadur Dr. Surya Coomar Sarbadhikari (1832–1904),[7] a surgeon who served during the Sepoy Mutiny or Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the rule of the East India Company.[8]

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.[9]

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),[10] 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 (R G Kar) Medical College & Hospital, Calcutta with Dr. Radha Gobinda Kar[11][12][13][5] can be mentioned.

He was married to the daughter of Ananda Krishna Deb belonging to the Sovabazar Raj family.[14]

A Bengali film Golondaaj will be released on 14 August 2020 based on his life. The film is directed by Dhrubo Banerjee.

References
  1. "Legends Of Indian Football : The Pioneers". The Hard Tackle. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  2. "Passion Play in Kolkata". Forbes India Magazine. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  3. "FOOTBALL IN BENGAL". The Indian Football Association. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  4. "Football". West Bengal Youth and Sports Department, Government of West Bengal. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  5. Birendra Ghosh, "Suresh Prasad Sarbadhikari", Bharatbarsha - Bengali Magazine - Year 18, Volume II, Issue 3, p461-466, pub.1930. Retrieved 9 Oct 2020.
  6. Subal Chandra Mitra, "Saral Bangla Abhidhan" Bengali Encyclopaedia 7th ed, p1285-1286", New Bengal Press, 1936. Retrieved 9 Oct 2020.
  7. "প্রথম যে বাঙালি ফুটবলে 'কিক' মেরেছিলেন- তাঁর বায়োপিকে দেব".
  8. Amrita Lal Sircar, "The Calcutta Journal of Medicine: Vol. 24 Issue 2", P.Sircar, 1905. Retrieved 9 Oct 2020.
  9. "Second supplement to Who's who in India [microform] : brought up to 1914", Newul Kishore Press, June 1914. Retrieved 9 Oct 2020.
  10. "Second supplement to Who's who in India [microform] : brought up to 1914", Newul Kishore Press, June 1914. Retrieved 9 Oct 2020.
  11. "Suresh Prasad Sarbadhikari, B.A., M.D., C.I.E", British Medical Journal, publication_June 11, 1921, p 878. Retrieved 9 Oct 2020.
  12. Heike Liebau et al, "The World in World Wars", Brill Publishers, publication_2010. Retrieved 9 Oct 2020.
  13. K. P. Thomas, "Dr. B. C. Roy" p130, Atulya Ghosh, 1955. Retrieved 9 Oct, 2020.
  14. "ভারতীয় ফুটবলের জনক তিনি,আমরা কি মনে রেখেছি নগেন্দ্রপ্রসাদ সর্বাধিকারীকে?".
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