Sport in British India

During the British rule of India, sport played a significant role in shaping interactions between the rulers and the native population. British influence saw the native sports decline in popularity but become more standardised, while British sports were imported, having initially been seen as a method of civilising the native population before being repurposed as a method of resistance against colonialism.
During the colonial period, British India competed at six Olympic Games, winning medals in field hockey. British sports were introduced into India during that period. Some Indians were variously participating in British sports to rise up the social hierarchy by imitating their colonisers as well as aiming to achieve victory against the British in their sports. The British also aimed to spread their sports among Indians as a way of spreading British values. Efforts were made to develop the native games of India during this time period; this led to the successful standardisation of games such as kabaddi and kho-kho, as well as their demonstration in the 1936 Summer Olympics. However, the economic struggles prevailing at the time limited people's overall ability to participate in sport.
The interaction between local beliefs and Western sporting practices sometimes manifested itself in anti-sport ways; for example, the initial introduction of football at one Srinagar school, designed to produce physical fitness among the children, had to take place by force because the schoolboys saw contact with the ball as defiling them, and similar sentiments of avoiding defilement led to Brahmins preferring cricket because it didn't involve physical contact with lower castes. An American observer later commented that the British physical education regime also appeared to be meant to produce a "race of subservient people" through its emphasis on elements such as military drills.
Dorabji Tata, with the support of Dr. A.G. Noehren, the then-director of YMCA, established the Indian Olympic Association in 1927.
One of the world's earliest football clubs, the Mohun Bagan was established in 1889. The club was formed when The Football Association of England began making standard rules for football before FIFA, the international governing body of football was founded.
Snooker originated in the late 19th century among British Army officers stationed in India. Modern polo originated in British India in the 19th century in Manipur, where the game was known as Sagol Kangjei, Kanjai-bazee, or Pulu. The name polo is the anglicized version of the lattermost term. The first polo club was established in Silchar, Assam, in 1833. The oldest polo club still in existence is the Calcutta Polo Club, which was established in 1862.
Some British board games, such as Snakes and Ladders and Ludo, were also inspired by Indian board games.
The British sought to impose their standards of physical discipline onto Indians, while discouraging traditional Indian games and negatively depicting Indian physiques. They disarmed and demilitarized Indian society throughout the 19th century.
Some self-funded sports clubs, such as the akharas, vyayamshalas, and kreeda mandals promoted and organized competitions at various levels for traditional games during this time. Traditional games and practices which were considered to embody masculine values, such as kabaddi and kushti, were promoted as a way to resist British accusations of effeminacy; Sikhs for example used their martial history as a way to distinguish themselves.
Some traditional games, such as kho-kho, were also exported to places like the Caribbean, Africa, and other parts of Asia where indentured Indian servants had been taken by the British.
India had been under direct British colonial rule since 1858, and showed constant political, social, and cultural resistance throughout history. Though the British Raj had attained direct control over the subcontinent, there was a perspective that the Native Indians were able to cultivate their own form of national empowerment and a sense of implicit sovereignty through means of sport.
The British used sport as another conduit of transferring British socio-political ideas, culture, and beliefs into the fabric of India's system. As Australian author Brian Stoddart writes in his article on British sports and cultural imperialism, “Colonial governors were especially important in emphasizing cricket as a ritual demonstration of British behavior, standards, and moral codes in both public and private.” (see also: Cricket in South Asia) Despite many Indians being a part of white-dominated sports teams, there was an inevitably constant re-emphasis of the superior and inferior race ideology within the teams. During this era, there was a prevailing mindset amongst the British colonizers, being the fact that they viewed the Indians through a lens of superiority, which was reflected through socio-political events, specifically through sports. The British believed that the Indians were the inferior and effeminate race, taking the opportunity of sport as a mission to mold, reshape and therefore improve the Native race into a stronger, more physically capable race. However, unsurprisingly, the native Indians were not keen on giving up their traditions to follow their colonizers, as author Subhadipa Dutta emphasizes through the quote of “the colonized were not always fascinated to ‘mimic’ the manly gestures and leisure pursuits of their white masters.” To illustrate this, in his book, Ramachandra Guha has delved deep into the political aspect of religion, race and caste within sports teams, especially cricket. Guha successfully highlights the significance of the socio-cultural factors that are entwined in cricket, and how it encouraged the indigenization of the sport.
Cricket came to be seen as a unifying way to demonstrate resistance and success against the colonisers and helped in reducing various forms of societal discrimination, with tours to the United Kingdom starting in 1911 displaying aspects of Indian progress and international diplomacy, while football came to be seen as an equalising game that cut across class lines and united the global anti-imperialist struggle in left-wing regions such as Kerala and West Bengal. British accusations of Indian effeminacy, which enabled them to demonstrate superiority and powered their programs to reshape local practices, were resisted in a variety of ways, with success against British teams seen as contributing to national revival.
Consequently, a strong desire stemming from frustration arose from the Indians; a desire to essentially reclaim their country that has been controlled by Europeans. The theory that Indians resisted British colonialism through sports to regain power over their country has been evident in various scholarly articles, books, and monographs. Specifically, in the 1963 memoir Beyond a Boundary, Trinidadian Marxist intellectual C. L. R. James compares Indians on the field to Greek drama plays: “selected individuals played representative roles which were charged with social significance.” The author explains that there is irony between the English origins of the sport and the means of which Indians use it as a way to express their national identity – an identity which they feel was stolen from them as a result of the British Raj rule. This is further evident through the quote “... Social and political passions denied normal outlets, expressed themselves so fiercely in cricket precisely because they were games.”
Furthermore, emphasizing and delving deep into its meanings, the memoir offers crucial points regarding the concept of native Indians expressing sovereignty within the games that they play. The memoir leads the reader to speculate beyond the meaning of cricket being a game for pleasure to view Englishness as an inherent and leading force within the actual sport. Through the lens of James’ memoir, the sport evolves into a nuance where Englishness intersects with West Indian identity formation, both in and beyond the field. Indians used sports as a gateway or an opportunity to regain national pride and identity, ultimately fighting against the British narrative. The colonized therefore developed their own physical strength and power while confronting and rejecting the components of imperial ideology. They developed proud self-image throughout time as a significant step for achieving freedom and establishing popular sovereignty, which underscores the revolutionary power of resistance amongst Indians against their British colonizers through harvesting strength and national self-determination and identity.
The YMCA played a role in bringing Western physical culture and ideas around Muscular Christianity, while also shaping the development of modern yoga. Harry Crowe Buck was one of the major proponents at the time.