History

The troubled relationships in the 1930s between the Indian Football Association

Indian Football Association

The Indian Football Association , [abbreviated as IFA] is the organization that administers association football in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the oldest Football Association in India and was founded in 1893. Amongst the founders was former England international Elphinstone Jackson....

  (IFA) and other state Football associations reflected the regional character of the conflict over the central question of power, control and organization of the game in India. However the regional growth of the game had its own dynamic. Among the major challengers to Bengal's supremacy in the politics of soccer in 1930, only Bombay could boast of a lineage in football, dominated by the Europeans until 1928 when the Indian Football League was started at J.C. Moitra's initiative. Bombay's organization and performance were gradually overtaken at the national level in the 1950s-60s by Mysore, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...

 and Punjab.

Although WIFA waged a bitter fight against Bengal on the question of AIFF

AIFF

Audio Interchange File Format is an audio file format standard used for storing sound data for personal computers and other electronic audio devices...

's foundation, it could not invite comparison with the kind of enthusiasm and euphoria Bengal boasted in the 1930s. In fact A.C. Hinrichs the president of the WIFA, referred to the appalling state of public interest in League Football and consequent loss to Association in the 1938 season. He invited the public and press to offer constructive suggestions for the betterment of football in Bombay. The Association under Hinrichs's guidance attempted every method in their stock to excite the public interest in the Harwood League and increase its revenue. J.C. Moitra has pointed out some innovations in his report in the Bombay Chronicle:

"They brought Military Teams from Poona (Pune), Kirkee, Ahmednagar for several years to increase the popularity of the League. They made various improvement in stands by providing chairs and electric fans to attract the crowd. They enclosed the ground from all sides to prevent a free show of the games. They paid second class travelling expenses for the up-country military team and gave the players "shandy" in place of soft-drinks. In addition they installed a bar at the Cooperage. Lastly they appointed a Publicity Officer to advertise their activities through Weekly Programmes or Press Stunts. They also put European and Indian teams of their own creation to make the field more attractive."

Motra, however, noted in the end that all these innovations have failed to raise the standard of soccer in Bombay and to increase public interest in this league. The failure can be ascribed to two reasons. Indian civilian teams such as Bengal United, Colaba United and Matunga Hindus were debarred from participation in this League for a long time while more and more military teams featured in it. This resulted in a loss of enthusiasm among local civilian clubs over the long term. More importantly the WIFA fell into deep financial crisis in the late 1930s in sustaining the expenses cited above. During World War Two (1939–45), however, the Association recovered from the crisis and in fact experienced a financial upswing. As the local teams earned their chance to play in the League and the Rovers Cup

Rovers Cup

The Rovers Cup is a football tournament held in India. It was started by British football enthusiasts at Bombay in 1891. It is the 2nd oldest football tournament in India, after Durand Cup. 1st Worcester Regiment was the winner in the inaugural year...

, the game became more popular among the fans.

Members Association

• MDFA- Mumbai District Football Association
• PDFA- Poona District Football Association
• TDFA-Thane District Football Association

Future work

• Renovation of Cooperage Ground and laying of artificial-turf by FIFA.
• Organizing the MAHA League (the start of Maharashtra State League) with clubs from Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Kolhapur etc.
• Reviving historic-Rovers Cup after almost ten years
• Probably the renaming of WIFA to MFA (Maharashtra Football Association)
• Organize along the same lines a MAHA League for women