Hyderabad City Police FC (popularly known by the nickname City Afghans) was an Indian institutional football club, being the most famous and powerful team in Hyderabad, affiliated to the Hyderabad Football Association (HFA).^[1][2][3][4] The club was associated and affiliated with Hyderabad City Police during reign of the Nizam of Hyderabad.^[5][6] From 1939 until the merger of Andhra, and Hyderabad Football Associations, the club shaped the sporting culture in the province.^{[7][8][9][10]}

History

Hyderabad City Police had enjoyed a series of endless achievements in the pre-Independence era, the first non-Kolkata club to do so.^[11] In 1941, the club reached final of prestigious Stafford Challenge Cup, but a defeat in hands of Bangalore Muslims Club let them finishing runner-up.^[12] The first major success came in 1943 when the team win Ashe Gold Cup final against Bangalore. The club established its legendary performance on national level when it won the prestigious Durand Cup against Mohun Bagan,^[13][14] the cup was held after a break of 8 years and first time after Indian Independence; it won total 4 Durand Cups, including one as Andhra Pradesh Police after 1959. The club won Rovers Cup consistently for five years from 1950 to 1954,^[15][16] and state league championships for 11 consecutive years.

It was N. A. Fruvall who shaped the club in his captainship early from 1940s, and by 1950 the team was transformed into the national champions. In 1951, Syed Abdul Rahim took over Hyderabad City Police club as a coach and served until his death in 1963.^{[17][18][19][20]} They also finished as runners-up in DCM Trophy twice, in 1959 and 1965.^[21]

The team underwent a change in name in the 1960s after the state of Andhra Pradesh was formed and Hyderabad became its capital, with the change in name of the police force to Andhra Pradesh Police. They continued to play as Andhra Pradesh Police Football Club and won tournaments like Rovers Cup in 1960 and DCM Trophy in 1965.^[22]

Notable players

Hyderabad City Police was one of power houses of Indian football, praised for producing some of country's legendary players like Sayed Khwaja Aziz-ud-Din,^[23][24] Muhammad Noor,^[25] Syed Nayeemuddin,^[26][27][28] Anthony Patrick,^[29][30] Yusuf Khan,^[31] and Syed Shahid Hakim.^[32][33][34] In the 1950s, the club achieved success with their 2–3–5 formation.^[35]

Honours

• Durand Cup^[36][37][38]
  • Champions (4): 1950–51,^[39] 1954, 1957–58, 1961
  • Runners-up (3): 1952, 1956–57, 1963
• Rovers Cup^[40]
  • Champions (9): 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1960, 1962*, 1963–64
• IFA Shield^[41][42]
  • Runners-up (2): 1954, 1962
• DCM Trophy^[43][44]
  • Champions (2): 1959, 1965
  • Runners-up (2): 1964, 1970
• Sait Nagjee Football Tournament
  • Champions (1): 1958, 1959^[45][46]
• Stafford Challenge Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 1941^[47][48]
• Madura Cup
  • Champions (1): 1947^[49]

(*) joint winners with East Bengal

See also

• History of Indian football
• List of football clubs in India

References

Further reading

Bibliography

• 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). A Social History Of Indian Football: Striving To Score. Routledge. ISBN 9780415348355. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021.
• Basu, Jaydeep (2003). Stories from Indian Football. UBS Publishers' Distributors. ISBN 9788174764546. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022.
• Martinez, Dolores; Mukharjiim, Projit B (2009). Football: From England to the World: The Many Lives of Indian Football. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-88353-6. Archived from the original on 2 July 2022.
• Sharma, Nikhil Paramjit; Gupta, Shantanu (4 February 2019). India's Football Dream. SAGE Publications India. ISBN 9789353283063. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
• 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).
• Nath, Nirmal (2011). History of Indian Football: Upto 2009–10. Readers Service. ISBN 9788187891963. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022.
• Dineo, Paul; Mills, James (2001). Soccer in South Asia: Empire, Nation, Diaspora. London, United Kingdom: Frank Cass Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7146-8170-2. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022.
• "Triumphs and Disasters: The Story of Indian Football, 1889—2000" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
• D'Mello, Anthony (1959). Portrait Of Indian Sport. P R Macmillan Limited, London.
• Shreekumar, S. S. (15 August 2020). THE BEST WAY FORWARD FOR INDIA'S FOOTBALL. HSRA Publications. p. 244. ISBN 9788194721697. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
• Sengupta, Somnath (14 May 2018). "Legends of Indian Football : Peter Thangaraj". thehardtackle.com. Mumbai: The Hard Tackle. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2022.

Others

• Sarkar, Dhiman (25 March 2018). "India's football past gasping for survival". hindustantimes.com. Kolkata: Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 6 January 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
• "SportMob – Best Indian football players of all time". SportMob.com. 12 May 2021. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
• "Chuni Goswami: A legend in every sense of the word". theweek.in. The Week. Archived from the original on 26 November 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
• Bhattacharya, Ayan (10 September 2023). "বাংলা ভাগের ক্ষত কিভাবে বিষিয়ে দিল মোহনবাগান আর ইস্টবেঙ্গলকে?" [How did the wound of the partition of Bengal poisoned both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal?]. inscript.me (in Bengali). Kolkata: ইনস্ক্রিপ্ট বাংলা নিউজ. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.

External links

• News archive at The Times of India