The Golden Years

Exclusive Extracts from Olympics: The India Story by Boria Majumdarand Nalin Mehta

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India claims to be the foremost in many things in the world. The world admitsthat she is foremost in hockey.

--A.M. Hayman, President, Indian Hockey Federation, 1932

‘Can I See My Trousers In The Sun’:
The Beginning

Men’s hockey first appeared at the 1908 Olympic Games in London. Itreappeared in Antwerp in 1920, returning to stay from the 1928 Amsterdam Gamesonwards. Women’s hockey waited much longer, finally debuting in 1980.

Between 1928 and 1956, India won six straight Olympic gold medals and 24 consecutivematches, a record likely to stand for the foreseeable future. Indians have wontwo more gold medals since, in 1964 and 1980. In fact, it was at India’sinsistence that hockey was reinstated at Amsterdam after being dropped from theprogram of the eighth Olympiad in Paris in 1924. Anthony S. de Mello—fromwhose autobiographical essay we have borrowed the sub-title of thischapter—writes that before leaving for Amsterdam, India’s hockey playerswere ‘confident that they would not disgrace themselves’. At the same timethey had not approached the Games with any fantastic hopes. Jaipal Singh, whohad a first class degree from his native Ranchi and was then a student atBalliol College, Oxford, was appointed captain of the team…

Sent to Oxford by missionaries, Jaipal successfully led a team comprising ofIndians studying at British universities to Belgium and Spain and had earned agreat reputation as a hockey player in the UK, as is evident from his numerousprofiles published in World Hockey magazine. When the team for Amsterdam wasannounced it included Jaipal, S. M. Yusef and the nawab of Pataudi Senior, whowere already in Britain. Thirteen players sailed from Bombay, nine of them AngloIndians, to lead India’s challenge at the 1928 Olympics.13 However, beforesailing for London, there was a last-minute alarm when it was revealed that because ofinsufficient funds only 11 of the 13 selected players could undertake the tour.The shortfall, contemporary reports revealed, was Rs 15,000. That the crisis wasserious was evident when the federation announced that in case sufficient fundsweren’t garnered, Shaukat Ali of Bengal and R.A. Norris of the CentralProvinces would not accompany the team. In the end, it was largely owing to themunificence of the sports-loving public of Bengal, who organized publiccollections to make up the funding shortfall, that the two players were able tomake the trip. While he became known in later life as a prominentParliamentarian and Adivasi leader, Jaipal described his hockey career in the UKin his memoirs thus:

"The effect of the tours of Indian students I conductedevery year with the help of Aga Khan, ‘Kanji’ Baroda, Patiala, Bhopal andother Indian royalty was the formation of the Indian Hockey Federation…Indiadecided to send a team to the Amsterdam Olympiad in 1928. I was still at Oxforda probationer for the Indian Civil Service…As after 1926 I could not play forthe University team, I played for the Wimbledon Hockey Club…As at Oxford Icontinued to receive publicity in the London press. "

In a clear reflection of how haphazardly that first Olympic team was puttogether, and also of the times, he goes on to narrate the strange manner in,which he was appointed captain of the Indian team:

One early evening twoBritishers, Colonel Bruce Turnbull and Major Ricketts, both of the Indian army,called at the Church Imperial Club. Turnbull was Secretary of the Army SportsBoard in India and Ricketts was his lieutenant. I stood them drinks. They toldme the Indian hockey team was coming the following week on its way to Amsterdam.‘We want you to captain the team,’ I agreed but told them I would have toget leave from the India Office for absence during term time. I did not getleave!

I decided to defy the ruling and face the consequences.

Jaipal met his team when their boat docked at Tilbury on 30 March 1928.Having lived in England for a few years by now, he was unimpressed by what hesaw as their rustic ‘untidy dress and crude demeanor’. The team was put upin a pension at South Kensington and Jaipal invited them a couple of times tothe well-known Veeraswamy’s restaurant on Regent Street. ‘It was expensiveto feed them. The Indian dishes were Hyderabadi but not cheap.’ Soon afterarrival the players started addressing Jaipal as ‘skipper’ though he was yetto accept the offer formally. In the first few practice sessions, Shaukat Aliand Dhyan Chand caught Jaipal’s attention. Shaukat played for the CalcuttaCustoms and could adopt in any position. Dhyan Chand, a lance naik in the Indianarmy, had made his name in New Zealand, scoring the bulk of the goals for theIndian Army team in 1926. Dhyan Chand, Jaipal states: "…was humble. He hadonly one pair of trousers. I took him to Austin Reed on Regent Street. We wentdownstairs. Trousers galore were shown. ‘Can I take them upstairs and see themin the sun?’ That finished me. I told Shaukat the story. ‘What else do youexpect of a Lance Naik?’ he laughed."

The Indians played a series of matches in London against leading club sidesand haphazardly put together national teams like the Anglo Irish. Dhyan Chandscored in almost every game. India’s last engagement in England was at theFolkstone Easter Festival where they beat the English national team 4–0 and ateam calling itself the Rossalians 18–0. Following these victories, theBritish and French press in unison suggested that the Indians were favouritesfor the hockey gold in Amsterdam.18 And they weren’t wrong.