A glorious history of Chinsurah Town Club had started back in 1883 in the era of British Raj. Popularly known as the "Town Club", this sports association has been the pioneer in the major sporting activities here. For years, it has been regarded as the epicenter for football, cricket and hockey in Hooghly district as well as in undivided Bengal. In those days of British Raj, only a few native club teams like Chinsurah Town Club, Sovabazar Club and Kumartuli Club were in the arena of Bengal football. Rest were dominated and controlled by British teams like Dalhousie FC. As expected, in those days even major tournaments like IFA Shield were largely influenced by British teams.

In spite of many obstacles, major native clubs continued to throw challenge and as a result Chinsurah Town Club made a history of being the first native club in India to reach the Semi-Final of IFA Shield in 1905. Indeed it was a moment of glory not only for Chinsurah Town Club but also for the entire nation.

The Semi-final match against Dalhousie FC in IFA Shield – 1905 was an one-sided affair and Chinsurah Town Club was the victim of unhealthy influence of the British Raj. Town Club was up against the water-pool like ground (due to heavy rain, the ball was literally floating on water), against the British referee and against the opposition who were wearing the boots (Town Club footballers were bare-footed!!). Thus the result was expectedly gone against Town Club as it lost the game in 3-0 margins. But this was perhaps the stepping-stone for the native clubs to dent the supremacy of the British football teams and inspired Mohun Bagan Club later in 1911 to win IFA Shield, which is an epic by its own credential. Incidentally, legend like Shibdas Bhaduri was a member of Chinsurah Town Club, which participated in the Semi-final of IFA Shield in 1905, and it was his first appearance in IFA Shield. Later on Shibdas Bhaduri went to play for MohunBagan Club and was the captain of MohunBagan in the historic win of IFA Shield in 1911.

To commemorate the centenary celebration of “Participation of IFA Shield Semi-final in 1905”, Chinsurah Town Club have organized an exhibition football match between Mohun Bagan Club and Hooghly XI. The match will be held on 18th Feb,2006 at 2-30 PM in Eastern Play Ground of Chinsurah. Hooghly XI will be represented by some of the very known present and past footballers from Hooghly District, who have rich contribution in Indian football. The list of players include names like Anit Ghosh, Goutam Ghosh, Chandan De, Tanumoy Bose, Swarup Das to name a few. We expect a huge turnout of fan followers and sport lovers to share the glory along with Mohun Bagan. A team from www.mohunbaganclub.com will be present in the occasion.

Report: Arabinda Bhar