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Due to this reason, FIFA imposed a ban on India in the 1954 World Cup and we all know about Indian football's downfall after that.
There are many myths about this incident which are mostly bogus. Many are of the opinion that AIFF decided not to send their players to the 1950 World Cup as the Indian players used to play barefoot at that time and it was mandatory to play with boots at World Cups. AIFF thought that their players would not be able to compete with the other nations wearing boots which they were not accustomed to. However, there is no conclusive evidence to back this claim.
A more logical and acceptable myth is the one that goes like - Indian domestic football matches used to be 70 minutes long back then and Indian players were not accustomed to playing for 90 minutes straight.
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