`With Political Pakistan in the Offing...': Football and Communal Politics in South Asia, 1887-1947

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between football and communal politics in India between 1887 and 1947. It argues that, while cricket was the outlet for communal antagonisms in Bombay and Delhi, it was football that played this role in Calcutta. Given the scale of violence in the 1930s and 1940s and the enormity of its consequences in terms of both political upheaval and genocide, the contribution made by sports clubs to help focus these divisions is a very important — if often ignored — element in South Asian history.