DigitEye India Fact Checkers
A picture of three players walking barefoot on the ground is going viral. The claim attached to the image alleges that the men in the frame are footballers who had represented India in football in the 1948 Olympics. It mentions that the players played the match barefooted because the government did not have money to sponsor their shoes.
The post also takes a dig at Jawaharlal Nehru and adds that it is because of him that the government did not have money. It mentions that because of this reason FIFA banned India from the 1950 World Cup match. Here is what the claim reads:
यह एक तस्वीर है 1948 के ओलंपिक की जो लंदन में हुआ था।
हमारी फुटबॉल टीम ने फ्रांस के साथ मैच 1-1 से बराबर किया था।
हमारे खिलाड़ी इसलिए जीत न सके क्योंकि उनके पास जूते ही नहीं थे । और वह नंगे पैर पूरा मैच खेले थे।
जिसके कारण बहुत ही खिलाडियों को दूसरी टीम के खिलाडियों के जूतों से चोट भी लगी थी।
फिर भी मुकाबला बराबरी का रहा।
इस टीम के कप्तान थे शैलेन्द्र नाथ मन्ना। वो विश्व के बेहतरीन खिलाडियों मैं से एक थे। सरकार ने जूते क्यों नहीं दिए क्योंकि सरकार के पास इतने पैसे भी नही थे।
यह वो वक्त था जब नेहरू के कपड़े पेरिस से ड्राइक्लीन हो कर आते थे। और साहब अपने कुत्ते के साथ प्राइवेट जेट मैं घूमते थे।
नतीजा यह हुआ के फीफा ने 1950 वर्ड कप मैं इंडिया को बैन कर दिया क्योंकि बिना जूते के कोई भी टीम मैच नही खेल सकती थी। फिर कभी भारतीय टीम फीफा वर्ड कप मैं नही गई।
(Translation: This is a picture from the 1948 Olympics in London. Our football team had tied the match with France 1-1. Our players could not win because they did not have shoes. And they played the entire match barefoot. Due to the shoes of players of the other team, our players were injured. Still, the competition remained equal. The captain of the team was Shailendra Nath Manna. He was one of the best players in the world. Why did the government not give them shoes? Because the government did not even have that much money. This was the time when Nehru’s clothes came dry-cleaned from Paris. And he used to travel with his dog in a private jet. The result was that FIFA banned India from the 1950 World Cup because no team could play the match without shoes. The Indian team never went to the FIFA World Cup again.)
Digiteye India received a request to fact check this viral image on WhatsApp.
FACT CHECK
The Digiteye India team ran a Reverse Image Search on Google. We found the image in a ScoopWhoop Hindi article that dated back to August 17, 2021. The website used the image from Wikipedia. When we went on Wikipedia, we found the same image with the caption, “Talimeren Ao on the left, leading the Indian team to Cricklefield Stadium to play against France.”
We used this clue to conduct a keyword search on Google. One of the results led us to a Sportskeeda article dating back to August 7, 2016. The article takes a deep dive into the history of the first team that represented India in football at the Olympics in 1948. It mentioned that the players were used to playing barefoot. The article stated that the cold weather of England was a challenge for Indian players. “On most days in a year, the weather in England is definitely cooler than most parts of India. And this was seen as a challenge for the players without shoes from India. This was a decision the Indian players had to make and finally settled on wearing shoes if the conditions were wet (rainy) and if they had to play on soft grounds,” said the article.
The Sportskeeda article added, “When the conditions were dry, most players opted to play without shoes and instead wore bandages to protect their feet. The question was not about affording shoes – it was a matter of Indian players finding it comfortable playing without shoes.”Eight players voluntarily chose to play without wearing shoes.
Further searches led us to this tweet by FIFA that dates back to July 31, 2018. It shows the full image and proves that the viral image has been cropped.
#OnThisDay in 1948, India played their first international match 🇮🇳⚽️
Competing at @Olympics, the Indian team – most of whom were playing barefoot – pushed France all the way before going down to a 2-1 defeat 👏
👉 https://t.co/32ZGbXJag8 pic.twitter.com/gqbmAEehgj
— FIFA (@FIFAcom) July 31, 2018
Shailendra Nath Manna represented the Indian National Football team between 1948 and 1956. But Talimeren Ao was the captain of the India national football team in their first-ever match after independence. France won that match with a 2-1 victory.
A report by The Bridge that dates back to December 8, 2022 reveals that India had the opportunity to participate in the 1950 FIFA but the team backed out 10 days before the event. The report mentions that Baichung Bhutia claimed that the government of India felt the Olympics was more important for India to go because the World Cup was not so big then.
CLAIM: A viral image claims that the Indian football team played barefoot in the 1948 Olympics. It also claimed that FIFA banned India from the 1950 World Cup.
CONCLUSION: Only eight Indian players played barefoot in the 1948 Olympics simply because they were used to playing without shoes and they only opted to play without shoes The other players wore shoes. India had the opportunity to participate in the 1950 FIFA World Cup but they backed out of it.
RATING: Misrepresentation — 
