On 28 August 1936, famous Scottish football club Celtic FC played a pre-season match against Galston. The Scottish heavyweights thrashed Galston 7-1. But the score line was not the biggest talking point of that match, as the Scottish football fans and the media were buzzing with talks about one player in the Celtic camp.
In just his second ever appearance for Celtic, he scored a hat-trick. But it wasn’t just the goals or his on-field brilliance that caught everyone’s attention. The Celtic fans had never seen someone like him play for their club before, literally. This man travelled all the way from the Bengal province of British India to Glasgow, Scotland in hopes of getting a trial at the club. In just two matches, he scored four goals, awed the Scottish football fans with his unique style of play and earned the nickname of Celtic’s ‘Indian Juggler’. His name is Mohammed Salim, he is the first ever footballer from the Indian sub-continent to play for a European club.
But how did Salim, a star footballer in Kolkata’s domestic circuit, end up at the Celtic park in Glasgow? Before making the trip to Europe, Salim was already a football star in his native country. He was part of Mohammedan Sporting Club’s first ever season at the Calcutta Football League in 1934 and helped them win the title in their maiden appearance. Mohammedan also retained the title the following two seasons, with Salim spearheading their attack.
In 1936, Salim was selected to play two exhibition matches against the Chinese Olympic side. But after playing the first match for an All India XI, the first ever international match in India, Salim disappeared.
One of the thousands of spectators who watched Salim play against the Chinese team was his cousin Hashem. Hashem had just returned from London and saw his cousin play for the first time. He then convinced Salim to come with him to London and to try to play at a club in England.
“Ten twinkling toes of Salim, Celtic FC’s player from India, hypnotised the crowd at Parkhead last night. He balances the ball on his big toe, lets it run down the scale to his little toe, twirls it, hops on one foot around the defender, then flicks the ball to the center who has only to send it into goal.”
No one from India had ever tried to do something like this before. During those days, football in India was seen as a way of protest against the British rule. Through competing and defeating British teams the Indians were showing that they are not an inferior race that need to be govern by the ‘superior’ Brits. Beating teams of English officers is one thing, but if an Indian player could to go over to Britain and make his place into a professional football club there, that would be seen as the ultimate statement through football.
Salim took the challenge to do what no one had done before. With his cousin by his side, he made the long and arduous trip to Glasgow, Scotland. Hashem somehow managed to get in touch with Celtic’s manager Willie Maley. Hashem told him, “A great player from India has come by ship. Will you please take a trial of his? But there is a slight problem. Salim plays in bare feet”.
Maley, who is Celtic’s first ever coach and also the most successful coach in the club’s history, found this proposal amusing. Maley is said to have laughed in his reply. But he signed Salim for a trial.
The Celtic players, trainers and club officials saw an amateur footballer from India enter the field. He was not wearing boots and instead had bandage wrapped over his feet which left his toes bare. But once the ball went to Salim, they all saw the undeniable talent this man from a foreign land possessed.
Celtic decided to field him in a match against Hamilton Accies. On debut, Salim made his mark by scoring from a penalty. And then came the match against Galston. The fans and the media were in awe of Salim after the Galston match. Scottish newspaper The Daily Express published a report titled “Indian Juggler – New Style” where they described what it was like to see Salim play that day.
“Ten twinkling toes of Salim, Celtic FC’s player from India, hypnotised the crowd at Parkhead last night. He balances the ball on his big toe, lets it run down the scale to his little toe, twirls it, hops on one foot around the defender, then flicks the ball to the center who has only to send it into goal.”
The report further said how Salim refused to take a penalty in the match because “he was shy”.
Salim’s footballing journey in Europe, sadly, ended there. He was feeling homesick and decided to go back home. Celtic tried to keep him, they even arranged a charity match in his honour and offered to give five per cent of the ticket sales to Salim. But Salim declined the offer and asked them to give that money to the orphans who were invited to see the match. Many years later Salim’s son Rashid revealed that his father had not realised how much the five per cent would amount to. Five per cent came to £1,800, which was an astronomical figure at the time. But Salim kept to his word and the money was donated to the orphans.
Salim returned to Kolkata and rejoined Mohammedan. He went onto have a great club career in India, coached youngsters after his playing days before passing away in 1980.
But he had one more contact with Celtic before his demise. The two matches Salim had played for Celtic were not competitive games. So, in spite of playing and making a splash while playing for the club, officially, he never played for Celtic. There were no records of him as a Celtic player. So, when Salim fell ill due to old age, his son Rashid sent a telegram to Celtic, asking for money for his treatment.
Rashid later said that he never actually wanted any money from Celtic for his father’s treatment. He wanted to see if the Celtic club remembered his father. To his surprise, the club sent him a bank draft of £100 for Salim’s treatment. Rashid was proud that his father is still remembered by Celtic and never cashed the draft.
The magnitude of what Mohammed Salim had achieved in 1936 becomes clear when you see the dearth of players from this region making it to even second or third tier clubs in Europe. Currently, the biggest player from this region to play in a big European club is Hamza Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi who plays for Leicester City in the English Premier League. But Hamza was born and brought up in England, and has never played any football in Bangladesh.
However grim the current picture of football in this region is , Salim's achievement still stands as proof that players from this region can make it to bigger stage, race doesn't determine excellence and that anyone from anywhere can achieve anything.