IFA Shield 1953, Calcutta Participants (41 teams): 24 Parganas 58th Gorkha Rifles (Dehra Dun) Allahabad District Sports Association Armed Police (Calcutta) Aryan Club (Calcutta) Bally Pratibha Club (Howrah) Bata Sports Club (Patna) Bengal-Nagpur Railway Recreation Club (Calcutta) Beniatola Club (Calcutta) Bhawanipore Club (Calcutta) Calcutta Customs Athletic Club Calcutta Football Club City Companions (Karachi, Pakistan) Dacca Wanderers Club (Dacca, Pakistan) Dalhousie (Calcutta) East Bengal Club (Calcutta) East Indian Railway (Calcutta) Gauhati Football Association George Telegraphs (Calcutta) Hindustan Aircraft (Bangalore) India Culture League (Bombay) Jamshedpur Sporting Association Kalighat (Calcutta) Kidderpore (Calcutta) Maharashtra Football Association Mohammedan Sporting Club (Calcutta) Mohammedan Sporting Club (Chittagong, Pakistan) Mohun Bagan (Calcutta) Orissa Police Police Athletic Club (Calcutta) Punjab Football Association Rajasthan Club (Calcutta) Salkia Friends (Howrah) Signals (Calcutta) Sporting Union (Calcutta) Students' Club (Muzaffarpur) Tata Sports Club (Bombay) Town Club (Purulia) Tripura State Sporting Association Wari Athletic Club (Calcutta) Youngmen's Club (Delhi) First round 21-8-53 Kidderpore 1-0 24 Parganas 21-8-53 Wari AC 2-0 Bally Pratibha 21-8-53 Salkia Friends 0-0 Signals 24-8-53 Salkia Friends 1-0 Signals (replay) 22-8-53 Students' Club 2-1 Calcutta Customs 22-8-53 Police AC 1-1 Tripura State (no extra time; crowd invasion) 25-8-53 Police AC 1-0 Tripura State (replay) 26-8-53 Aryan Club 3-1 Dalhousie 26-8-53 Sporting Union 3-1 Town Club (Purulia) 27-8-53 Bengal-Nagpur Railway 1-1 Orissa Police (no extra time; bad light) 28-8-53 Bengal-Nagpur Railway 1-0 Orissa Police (replay) 5-9-53 Bhawanipore Club 1-0 Armed Police Byes: 58th Gorkha Rifles, Allahabad DSA, Bata SC, Beniatola Club, Calcutta FC, City Companions, Dacca Wanderers, East Bengal Club, East Indian Railway, Gauhati FA, George Telegraphs, Hindustan Aircraft, India Culture League, Jamshedpur SA, Kalighat, Maharashtra FA, Mohammedan Sporting (Calcutta), Mohammedan Sporting (Chittagong), Mohun Bagan, Punjab FA, Rajasthan Club, Tata SC, Youngmen's Club Second round 22-8-53 Punjab FA 2-1 Kalighat 24-8-53 Students' Club 2-0 Beniatola Club 31-8-53 Jamshedpur SA 2-1 Calcutta FC 1-9-53 Gauhati FA 0-3 Mohammedan Sporting (Calcutta) 2-9-53 India Culture League 1-0 George Telegraphs 3-9-53 Kidderpore 1-1 Maharashtra FA (aet) 5-9-53 Kidderpore 1-0 Maharashtra FA (replay) 7-9-53 Hindustan Aircraft 3-0 East Indian Railway 7-9-53 Dacca Wanderers 0-0 Mohammedan Sporting (Chittagong) (no extra time) 8-9-53 Dacca Wanderers 0-0 Mohammedan Sporting (Chittagong) (aet; replay) 10-9-53 Dacca Wanderers 2-0 Mohammedan Sporting (Chittagong) (2nd replay) 8-9-53 Allahabad DSA 2-1 Sporting Union 8-9-53 Mohun Bagan 1-0 Bengal-Nagpur Railway 9-9-53 Wari AC 2-0 Youngmen's Club 9-9-53 Rajasthan Club 4-1 Bhawanipore Club 10-9-53 58th Gorkha Rifles 2-1 Aryan Club 12-9-53 City Companions 3-0 Salkia Friends 16-9-53 Tata SC 6-0 Bata SC 17-9-53 East Bengal Club 3-1 Police AC Third round 3-9-53 Jamshedpur SA 2-0 Mohammedan Sporting (Calcutta) 4-9-53 India Culture League 6-0 Students' Club 11-9-53 Rajasthan Club 6-1 Allahabad DSA 11-9-53 Hindustan Aircraft 0-0 Dacca Wanderers (aet) 13-9-53 Hindustan Aircraft 1-0 Dacca Wanderers (replay) 12-9-53 Mohun Bagan 2-0 Kidderpore 14-9-53 Wari AC 2-0 City Companions 18-9-53 Tata SC 5-0 Punjab FA 20-9-53 East Bengal Club 1-0 58th Gorkha Rifles Quarter-finals 14-9-53 Jamshedpur SA 3-2 Hindustan Aircraft 15-9-53 India Culture League 4-2 Mohun Bagan 19-9-53 Wari AC 2-1 Rajasthan Club 23-9-53 East Bengal Club 0-0 Tata SC (aet) 24-9-53 East Bengal Club 1-0 Tata SC (replay) Semi-finals 17-9-53 India Culture League 1-1 Jamshedpur SA 18-9-53 India Culture League 3-0 Jamshedpur SA (replay) 27-9-53 East Bengal Club 2-1 Wari AC Final 29-9-53 India Culture League 0-0 East Bengal Club (aet) [ICL: Sanjiva; Walter D'Souza, Peter; Shivram, Gulab Singh, Shankar; D'Sa, Parab, Kuppuswamy, Thomas, Krishna.] [EBC: M.Ghatak; B.Bose, P.Kumar; Gokul, Alagiriswamy, A.Dutta; Venkatesh, Apparao, Kittu, Ahmed Khan, Saleh.] [Referee: Ramen Bagchi.] 1-10-53 India Culture League 0-0 East Bengal Club (aet; replay) [ICL: Sanjiva; Shivram, Peter; Raphael, Gulab Singh, Shankar; D'Sa, Parab, Saxby, Thomas, Krishna.] [EBC: M.Ghatak; B.Bose, P.Kumar; Gokul, Alagiriswamy, A.Dutta; Venkatesh, Apparao, Kittu, Ahmed Khan, Saleh.] 3-10-53 India Culture League 1-1 East Bengal Club (aet; 2nd replay) [Saxby 4' / Masood Fakhri 34'] [ICL: Sanjiva; Shivram, Peter; Raphael, Gulab Singh, Shankar; D'Sa, Parab, Saxby, Thomas, Krishna.] [EBC: M.Ghatak; B.Bose, P.Kumar; Gokul, A.Dutta, Niaz Ali; Venkatesh, Kittu, Saleh, Ahmed Khan, Masood Fakhri.] Notes: this was the first edition in which wearing boots was mandatory. Following a protest that East Bengal Club fielded two Pakistani players (Masood Fakhri and Niaz Ali) in the 2nd replay without permission from the Pakistan Football Federation, on 11-10-53 the tournament committee awarded the tournament to India Culture League and suspended East Bengal Club until 31-12-54. East Bengal obtained a court injunction (enabling the team to continue participating in Indian competitions) and later filed a legal suit against the IFA. Eventually the matter was settled when on 16-3-54 the IFA announced that an agreement had been reached: East Bengal's suspension was revoked, the legal suit was withdrawn, and it was confirmed that India Culture League had won the tournament. The Shield itself was presented to India Culture League's representatives on 24-4-54 at an IFA function in Calcutta, and the Shield finally arrived in Bombay on 2-5-54, almost seven months after the last match had been played. India Culture League became the first civilian team from outside Calcutta to lift the Shield - the next was Ararat Yerevan in 1978. Exhibition (at Kharagpur) 21-9-53 India Culture League 3-0 All-India Railways XI
list of calcutta league champions.
list of delhi league champions.
list of federation cup finals.
list of santosh trophy finals.
Sources: The Statesman (Calcutta), The Times of India (Bombay), The Hindu (Madras), The Indian Express (Madras).
Prepared and maintained by Neil Morrison for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Neil Morrison
Last updated: 31 Jul 2025
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