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By Jignesh Patel
A photo of barefooted sportsmen has been juxtaposed with an image of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru debarking with his pet. This has been shared with the claim that the 1948 Indian football Olympics team did not have enough money to purchase shoes but Nehru got his clothes dry-cleaned from Paris.
( Link https://twitter.com/kavita_tewari/status/1419530065985949704?s=19)
The collage is massively widespread on Facebook.
The claim has been circulating since 2018. Facebook page, Social Tamasha, wrote on July 19, 2018, “ऐसे थे कांग्रेस नवाबों के ठाठ (such was the pomp of Congress’ nawabs).” The post similarly said that the Indian football team did not have shoes when Nehru’s dog was travelling in aeroplanes.
Another Facebook page Bharat Positive had shared the same image with their page logo on November 4, 2018. At the time of writing this article, it had accumulated close to 6,900 shares and 10,000 likes. Many Facebook users also shared similar claims.
Were Indian footballers made to play barefoot?
Alt News reverse searched the images on Google and found that they are genuine. An article published by Frontline carries an image where Talimeren Ao, India’s first football captain was shaking hands with G. Robert, captain of the French team. Whereas, Nehru’s photograph was found on a website owned by The Times of India Group called Times Content. According to the website, this image was clicked around January 1961.
So, while the images are genuine, is there any truth to the claim that Indian players were forced to play barefoot because of a lack of finances and support from the Indian government?
Indian players had boots: Selection camp, Calcutta
Before the Indian football team was selected for the 1948 Olympics on May 7, 1948, the players had to play two trial matches for team selection. An Indian Express report published on the same day stated, “The first of the two trial matches for the selection of the Indian football team for the London Olympics was played today on the Calcutta F.C ground before a fairly big crowd.
Read the full story here:- https://www.altnews.in/did-lack-of-financial-support-by-nehru-govt-force-indian-football-team-to-play-barefoot-in-1948-olympics/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=social-media&utm_campaign=