Gandhi Jayanti: How Mahatma Gandhi gave South Africa its first football team
The entire country has joined together to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi's 152nd birthday, paying tribute to him by recalling his efforts and sacrifices.
Every year on October 2, India honours the birth anniversary of its greatest independence warrior, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who pushed the British out of the nation using his Ahimsa teachings. The entire nation has joined together to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi's 152nd birthday, paying tribute to the 'Father of the Nation' by recalling his efforts and sacrifices throughout India's independence struggle. Let us look at one of the untouched aspects of Gandhi's life on this auspicious day, which many people are unaware of even today.
How Gandhi created South Africa's first football team?
The first football squad in South Africa was founded by Mahatma Gandhi. According to Foot The Ball, Gandhi had a key role in the development of South Africa's first football squad. Gandhi is said to have started three football clubs in the country, all of which were named 'Passive Resisters.' The team was primarily made up of Indian-origin players who used their matches to promote Satyagraha and collect donations for families of Indian "resisters", who were imprisoned in South Africa for raising their voice against racism and violence.
Gandhi founded the Transvaal Indian Football Association in 1896. It was the first non-white organised football association in the whole of South Africa, which was then ruled by the British and was part of the infamous empire. Blacks and Indians did not enjoy the same privileges as compared to white citizens in South Africa, which forced Gandhi to create his own football team with non-white players. The Passive Resisters played several matches to raise funds for Indians in South Africa before Gandhi left the country to start a freedom struggle back home against the colonizers.
Even as Gandhi left, his legacy remained intact as the first proper football team from South Africa, called Christopher’s Contingent, even visited India in the early 1900s to seek blessings from the charismatic leader and play a 14-match series.
Image: PTI/Pixabay
Published By : Vishal Tiwari
Published On: 2 October 2021 at 18:14 IST