Indian Football Team Was Forced To Play Barefoot At 1948 Olympics Because Nehru Didn't Provide Any Shoes? No, Viral Claim Is False

An image of Indian football players walking barefoot onto a field is again being widely shared across social media. Netizens have shared the image with the claim that Indian players lost to France in the 1948 Olympics as the erstwhile government could not buy the players' football shoes.

The claim has gone viral in the context of FIFA suspending the All India Football Federation for "undue influence from third parties." Indian footballers have been restricted from participating in international matches after FIFA's decision, reported The Logical Indian.

Claim:

The black-and-white image shows three footballers walking onto a field barefoot. The image is shared with a claim written in Hindi.

The translated claim reads, "After looking at this picture, you will start to hate the Gandhis... and yes, this picture is from when Nehru's clothes used to be chartered by a special plane...This is a picture of the 1948 Olympics which took place in London. Our football team tied the match with France. Our players were not able to win because they did not have shoes. And they were forced to play the entire match barefoot. The shoes of the players of the other team injured many Indian players. Still, the match was competitive. Shailendra Nath Manna was the captain of this team. He was one of the best players in the world. Why did the government not give shoes, even if they had that much money This was the time when Nehru's clothes used to be delivered dry-cleaned from Paris. And he used to roam in a private jet with his dog. Never again did the Indian team go to the FIFA World Cup. But today, many stadiums in the country are named after Nehru Gandhi's family."

The claim is viral across Facebook and Twitter.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian fact check team verified the claim and found it to be false. We found that most Indian footballers preferred to play without shoes against France in the 1948 Olympics.

We conducted a reverse image search on the image and came across this article posted on the official website of the Olympics. The article titled 'Talimeren Ao, more than just independent India's first football captain' was published on February 3, 2022.

The article carried the viral image and talked about Talimeren Ao, India's first football captain. The article recounted India's match against France at the 1948 London Olympics.

The match was India's first-ever international match as an independent nation, in which Ao reportedly led as the captain of the Indian team. The Olympics article talks about how India lost to France 2-1 in the final minutes, where the Indian team played barefoot.

The article also quotes Talimeren Ao, who talked about why the Indian teams played barefoot. He is quoted as saying, "In India, we play football, whereas you play bootball!"

In the article, we also came across this image posted by the official Twitter handle of FIFA on July 31, 2018. As can be seen in the image, another player can be seen walking onto the field in the same uniform with shoes on. This person was not seen in the viral image.

We then conducted a keyword search for 'Indian Olympics team 1948.' We found an article by The Hindu published on 17 May 2014, discussing how Indian footballers preferred not to wear shoes while playing football.

The article also mentions how many onlookers were surprised by the Indian footballer's performance despite not wearing shoes. In the Hindu article, trainer B.D Chatterjee is noted as saying that the Indian team did have shoes in case there was a need to wear them.

We also searched through newspaper archives from August 1948. We found this article in the Indian Express newspaper published on August 1, 1948. The link to the article can be found here.

The article mentions that India lost to the French football team. The Indian Express article also mentioned that some Indian players did not wear footwear. "Eight of India's side did not wear boots, but this did not hamper their kicking ability," say the article.

We also came across another article by The Hindu published on August 1, 2018. The article titled, 'When the Indian football team almost beat France at the 1948 Olympics' gave more information about India's match-up against France.

The article mentions that India decided to send a football team to compete as an independent nation in the first post-World War Olympics in 1948. The Hindu article also mentions how the Indian players were largely unused to playing in sports shoes. "The players kept the boots supplied by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for occasions when the wet and slippery English conditions left them with no alternative but to wear them," the article states.

In our Fact Check, we also came across the 1948 Olympics report. In the report, it is mentioned that nine members of the Indian team played in the India Vs France match without wearing shoes.

On page 524 of the report, it is written that several players of the Indian team had their feet bound in bandages. The report also states that playing without shoes gave the Indian team an advantage in speed.

In our Fact Check, we found this Sportskeeda article published on 7 August 2016. The article talked about the Indian players' reluctance to wear shoes while playing football. "The question was not about affording shoes - it was a matter of Indian players finding it comfortable playing without shoes." the article states.

We also came across several images from the 1948 Olympics, which showed some Indian players wearing shoes at the India Vs France match. The images can be seen on the stock photo website Alamy.

Conclusion:

In our Fact Check, we found that most Indian footballers preferred to play without shoes against France in the 1948 Olympics. This is attributed to nine Indian players of the team being reluctant to wear the shoes as they were not comfortable playing with shoes on.

The then Indian team captain, Talimeren Ao, is quoted as saying, "Well, you see, we play football in India, whereas you play bootball!" Apart from this, we found several images which showed some Indian players at the 1948 Olympics wearing shoes and playing football. Thus, we can conclude that the claim that Indian footballers were not provided shoes for playing against France at the 1948 Olympics is false.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

Also Read: These Images Show Misleading Comparison Between Cells Of Nehru, Gandhi And Savarkar