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Celtic Football Club was the first European club to sign an Indian. Contrary to what people say, Baichung Bhutia is not the first Indian to transfer to a European club. The correct answer would be Mohammad Salim...

A Tribute To Indian Football's Unknown Hero

by Michelle Alves (Senior Writer)

42

818 reads

Opinion

October 05, 2008


Celtic Football Club was the first European club to sign an Indian.

Contrary to what people say, Baichung Bhutia is not the first Indian to transfer to a European club. The correct answer would be Mohammad Salim. Being an Indian, from Calcutta, it was in the 1930’s when Salim was signed to play for Celtic.

At the time Salim was born, Indians were still under the British rule, although the fact that they played barefoot, and didn't have enough players, they managed to defeat the Englishmen, who wore boots.

A member of the renowned Mohammeden Sporting Club, Salim had claimed five consecutive Calcutta senior league titles. Following his title win in 1936, Salim was requested to take part in two friendlies.

His cousin, Hasheem from England, was visiting Calcutta at the time and watched his first friendly. After seeing Salim's spectacular display, Hasheem insisted Salim try his luck at European football.

It must have been tough to take a barefoot, amateur Indian footballer seriously, but due to Hashim’s determination and diligence, the Celtic manager settled with giving him a trial. Salim's skill amazed him, and he decided to play him in a match against Hamilton Academical Football Club.

Soon, he astonished the crowd and supporters alike—establishing himself to be immensely talented. Salim played for a few months in Scotland, after which he said he got homesick and sought to go back to India.

After returning, he played for  his preferred Mohammeden Sporting Club in the Calcutta football league.

Rashid, Salim’s son, later revealed that his father was undoubtedly desired by Celtic, "Celtic tried to persuade my father to stay by offering to organise a charity match in his honour, giving him five percent of the gate proceeds. My father did not realise what five percent would amount to, and said he would give his share to orphans who were to be special invitees for the match. Five per cent came to £1,800 [colossal money then] but although my father was astonished, he kept to his word," Rashid said.

Salim’s story should be legendary, but it seems to be buried deep within the pages of the past—fading away slowly into a distant memory.

It is astounding and unjust that he is not referred to as the initial Indian to play for a European team. In his obituary, his celebrated time with Celtic FC seemed to have been forgotten, and only the Indian side of his football has been brought to the reader’s eye.

Several years later, Rashid wrote to Celtic informing them about his father’s distress and poor health due to old age.  He wrote of the money required for Salim’s  treatment.

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42 comments Last one added 7 months ago — Leave a Comment

  1. Dev Ashish 9 months ago

    Nice article Michelle! Its a great tribute to one of India's unsung heroes!

    Well, a lot of true footie fans in India do know about him and still respect him but the problem with India is its a land of billion people ...one hero retires, another takes his place...and every generation has its share of heroes... coupled with media and sports frenzy, the people have developed a short memory span...Baichung Bhutia will be a hero for our generation.. for the next generation, there might be someone better and few generations later they might not even remember Baichung!

    It's a sad thing but thats the truth!

    5* and POTD!

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    • Michelle Alves 9 months ago

      Thanks Dev,

      I know, its unfair isn't it? Here we are, we still look up to legends like Pele and Maradona, why can't India do the same?

      anyhow, maybe things will be different for Bhutia

      thanks for the comment and POTD
      cheers x

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  2. Guido 9 months ago

    Quality article Michelle. I had already heard of Shalim from a book on unsung heroes worldwide. Fascinating story. A classy update, keep this level of work up. 4* rating and POTD.

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  3. Yoosof Farah 9 months ago

    great article michelle, very interesting, and very insightful on a past indian football legend. i'm surprised though this current legend, baichung bhutia, used to play for bury! a league two team in greater manchester, not the most glamourous of places.

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  4. Michelle Alves 9 months ago

    Yes it was because of this that people say he's the first Indian to play for a european team, I don't like that. They forget about Salim.

    anyhow thanks..

    cheers x

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  5. Willie Gannon 9 months ago

    Good article Michelle. I've never heard of Salim, and it's always nice to read about someone you've never heard of.

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  6. sarvesh kanaujia 9 months ago

    Hey Michelle...
    Nice article....you do lot of research on it.....good work...
    Things are changing in indian football...i hope with in 4-5 years...we will see quite different Indian football team....i have got reason for it.....look at our cricket team with in last 5-6 years they have improved alot...now they r in top 3 teams....
    Similarly in football corporates are pouring mooney which was essential for indian football as government couldnt provide much fund to develop the game in our country....
    Things r changing rapidly...A lot of new professional clubs are coming....
    Hey can you cover on Mumbai FC,one of debutant in I-league 2008-09 season,have done very well in first two matches....have beaten giants Mohun bagan,East bengal....
    It will be interesting....

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    • Michelle Alves 9 months ago

      Thanks Sarvesh
      I understand that things might change, but remember 25 years ago or so, when India won the world cup? Looked like things were changing back then too, it all went downhill after that. I'm just hoping we come up in football, and stay on top.
      I'll try my best to cover Mumber FC, I watched the match in which they beat Mohun Bagan , pretty shocking game , that was.
      cheers

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  7. Joe G 9 months ago

    Good article Michelle, I really enjoyed it. I'm surprised that a nation of India's size hasn't produced a few more footballing stars.

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    • Michelle Alves 9 months ago

      Thanks Joe,

      I'm pretty surprised about that too. Goa, being such a small state, has quite a few footballers, A friend of a friend was hand picked to train in Manchester a few months ago . 3 players were taken into the reserve team of FC Porto, things are definately looking up for Goa, but I'm not so sure about India...

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    • RedRaider Red 9 months ago

      Thats coz ppls heads r dunked in cricket.

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  8. Thomas 9 months ago

    i had heard of him but not really payed attention. great article Michelle

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  9. Nithin Bekal 9 months ago

    What a coincidence! Your other article about Dempo got me discussing Indian football with a friend of mine and we finally ended up talking about Salim. (I didn't know the name then.) I heard there was a documentary about him on TV recently, but I missed it. Thanks to you, I get to know more about Salim anyway. Keep up the good work. :)

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  10. Vivek Jacob 9 months ago

    wow michelle...great article...i had absolutely no idea who he was! so im really glad i read it!

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  11. Ashutosh D 9 months ago

    The best I have read on B/R. I am probably being biased in some way cuz it is has something to do with Indian football...but you raised some very good questions...and great bit of research.
    I always thought Baichung was the first. Am glad he wasn't, that an Indian made a mark, invisible as it may seem, a long time ago.
    yep. Mumbai FC has really raised some eyebrows. Am supporting my home team. ;)
    "who be's your dad, btw."

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  12. Shyam Parthasarathi 9 months ago

    So, now we're on a streak are we Michelle?

    Superb article.. I'd never heard of Salim - so, thanks for enlightening me! Baichung, though, will be remembered for generations because people actually care/know about football today - in the past, it was not as well known.. I guess that it has to be put in context.

    That said, I don't think that we should have "buried him" in the past.. it's quite sad.

    Great read! 5 stars and a POTD vote (should I even bother saying that..?!)

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    • Michelle Alves 9 months ago

      Haha yes Shyam

      Thanks :) I think everyone should hear about him, even though Bhutia is immensely talent , he wasn't the first and thats what India should know. It's like calling Dhoni , India's first immensely talented captain. Its unjust to the others.

      Thanks again,
      cheers x

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  13. illya mclellan 9 months ago

    Nice story, good conclusion. There must be hundreds of similar stories in regards to players who shot from obscurity and then vanished back to it again. Interesting to hear he was there in the thirties. I read not long ago about an Aboriginal player who featured for Everton and Liverpool in the thirties and was quite a popular and handily skilled winger with great pace who went back to Australia because he missed his family. Before he left he was approached by Manchester United as well, but went home instead. He was rumored to have been the unofficial fastest sprinter in the world at the time but was banned from participation in the Olympics because of the Australian governments racist policy.
    I read about him in an Aboriginal history book I found at the Napier library and now cannot for the life of me remember what his name was or what the book was called. Maybe someone out there in internet land knows.

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  14. Aneek Biswas 9 months ago

    The problem with Indian Football or rather the problem they are facing is that they are not able to create role models..
    Bhaichung is some one who is popular and with time Chettri will rise ..
    but what about other good players like Steven Dias,N.P.Pradeep, Surkumar, Gawli and many more...though they are good players but they are still not that popular....so kids do not follow them ...
    Indian populations needs some1 to emulate to... we are lacking in that department.

    and nice article hope you come up with more in future on unsung heroes

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    • Michelle Alves 9 months ago

      Thats true,
      Steven Dias and Gawli are popular but only within India, where as Bhutia, you could say is well known all over Asia.
      Maybe if they stopped investing unnecessary time and money in cricket and payed attention to other sport, it might work out

      thanks Aneek :)

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  15. tim chapman 9 months ago

    One of the best articles I have read. There should be more of this on B/R, there are very few stories like this one, just seems sometimes that this site can get used a bit too much for pointless arguing. Thank you.

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  1. Shaun Ahmad 9 months ago

    Not a big soccer guy but this was a great article highlighting things that most never bring to the forefront. Excellent work and my pick of the day.

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  2. Ankit Munjal 9 months ago

    Real good article Michelle read it earlier, didn't have the time to comment on it, just wanted to say that it was very well written, and that I learnt something new from it, had never even heard about Salim before.
    Just by reading some of your replies and stuff, it seems that you hold a grudge against cricket for some reason, cricket is so not the reason we as nation aren't producing quality footballers.

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    • Michelle Alves 9 months ago

      Thanks Ankit.

      I don't hold a grudge against cricket. I love cricket. Its just the Indian team that i have certain issues with. Firstly, before Dhoni took on captaincy, they had great youngsters but all left on the bench thanks big names like Sachin and Sehwag, even though they weren't performing well.
      In football if that happened, the player would be sidelined for most games.
      Cricket is like the glamour sport of India and way too much money is spent on it. I mean look how much they gave yuvraj just becase he scored six sixes. More thank most Indian footballers might get paid in their lives. And yuvraj hasnt been great on the field, it was just one good match for him.

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  3. Sumit Som 9 months ago

    Absolutely brilliant article - I'd never heard of Salim before.

    I think India in general is too dismissive of sport outside of cricket. The amount of money the government spends on cricket is enormous when compared to other sports. And while cricket does bring in loads of revenue from the varied tournaments, Ranji Trophy, ICL, etc., the Indian government needs to step up its investment in other sport so that it can reach the same levels. You hear the bitter tone of the Olympic medalists we had this last Games, who got little to no support from the government in their quest for a medal.

    Football is a sport that we can succeed at. I refuse to believe that we can't field a winning XI from a nation of a billion people. Even outside clubs, like Manchester United, hold youth tourneys in Goa and such to find promising young footballers. Hell, they've put more into Indian football than our government.

    It's time to step up.

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    • Michelle Alves 9 months ago

      Thanks Sumit.

      Thats true, India needs to focus on football, it sounds repetitive cuz ive said it so many times, currently with the media focusing so much on the India v Aussie test, The dempo match in the AFC will be over shadowed

      with the second highest population in the world , im sure india can come up with some great footballers

      cheers x

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  4. raam shanker 8 months ago

    Whoaa Michelle...enlightening...thanks for this...I was not aware of this...at all !!!!

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  5. Saraswathi Siriginia 7 months ago

    Nice job Michelle--great historical perspective

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  6. Diarmuid Gervin 7 months ago

    hey michelle, i just found your article by chance. Im an irish celtic fan, and to learn that Mohammad Salim, was not only the first ever Indian born player to play for celtic, but also in europe. you have shown me something i did not know and im a celtic fanatic! and you have helped enrich the history of my team to me.

    Hail Hail Mohammad Salim, you'll never walk alone

    Diarmuid

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    • Michelle Alves 7 months ago

      Hey Diarmund.

      Thanks for the comment. I hardly knew about Salim, but my dad told me about him.So he's the one to thank.
      Being a Liverpool fan, there's a lot I don't know about the team, so I can relate , and its great to find out new info!

      Cheers x

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  7. Joel F 7 months ago

    Awesome, informative article, Michelle. I've heard of his name but never read such a detailed account of his career.

    I realise this is a deviation, but it's amazing how resistant England was, in contrast to some Scottish clubs, to anyone who would undermine English notions of footballing superiority. Arsenal's manager Herbert Chapman was an advocate of introducing mainland European footballers but the association always objected. Which puts into perspective what players like
    Englishmen Frank Soo and Walter Tull, Jamaican Lindy Delapenha, and South African Albert Johanneson achieved, because they were visibly "different" to the majority, during a period when minorities were usually marginalised and almost hidden away because of racism.

    Are you planning similar articles?

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