India Club, Silchar

History of India Club, Silchar

India Club, Silchar, founded in 1900 is an institution which stirs respect and admiration in thousands of hearts and its name has rolled across the frontiers. However, at the time of its establishment, it had the name “Silchar National Club.” It got its present name in the year 1903. The Club was donated a greenish expanse on the Silchar Maidan by the then Chief Commissioner of Assam, Sir Archdale Earle. The building of the club in brick and mortar sprang up on its western fringe and the rest was earmarked for the football and hockey grounds. That was way back in the first quarter of the 20th century, thereby heralding a new beginning in Silchar sports. The club was dedicated for an ideal to build sports and society that “may stand as a beacon light guiding man’s footsteps to happy and peaceful days.”

The club came into being when the country was groaning under foreign yoke. In the first few years of its infancy, the club crawled through a host of difficulties including the crunch of finance and lukewarm support from the locals. The country was then plunged into the massive struggle of Non-Cooperation for achieving independence and people, old and young alike, thought it to be improper to fritter away energy by getting hooked to the sports. This scenario was, however, changed with the arrival of Capt. Nalini Mohan Gupta in the sports arena. Through hard work and inexhaustible devotion to sports, he created such a feverish enthusiasm in the town that all the initial difficulties were swept away.

However, one positive aspect of its growth is that the arena of sports was free from bickering and antagonism, with Indian and Europeans fraternizing without any political and professional inhibition. This quickened the process of the growth of the club and revolutionized the club outlook. Not only the club contributed towards sports, its main orbit, but also branched out in the various wings of culture—theatre, songs, library movement and various social services projects, and thereby ushered in a new culture in Cachar-Sylhet habitat, formerly known as Surma Valley. Thus, the story of India Club, founded by determined and dedicated sports lovers in the very beginning of the century, is indeed a case-study in how a group of people, Indian and foreign, successfully freed themselves from seemingly unbreakable shackles and harsh contradictions, which had immobilized the society and the country.

Earle Ground of India Club

Capt. Nalini Mohan Gupta, the legendary personality of the valley, approached Sir Archdale Earle, the then Chief Commissioner of Assam for a plot of land for a football ground. Sir Earle inquired of the Captain if sportsmen availing the ground for sports would be willing to render services to the World War I, if required. Capt. Gupta unhesitatingly offered his services with twenty of his followers, joined the Indian Defence Forces (1915-16) and underwent six months military training in Calcutta. The India Club ground of today which has been the scene of many great sports events—was thus a gift in honour of the Captain. Since then, the ground came to be known as “Earle Ground”. Later, in 1948, London Olympic bound Indian Soccer Team played two exhibition matches on this ground.