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
(C) Copyright Neil Morrison and RSSSF 2024/25
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
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