Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari

Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikary (also Sarbadhikari; ; 1869–1940) was an Indian educationist, sports administrator and football pioneer. He is widely regarded as the "Father of Indian Football" for his role in founding the first Indian football organisations after introducing the sport to his classmates at Hare School.

Early life and family Sarbadhikari was born on 27 August 1869 in Calcutta (now Kolkata, West Bengal), India into the renowned Sarbadhikari family, Kulin Kayastha (Bose) family originally hailing from Radhanagar (Khanakul) situated in Hooghly district. His father was Brigadier, Rai Bahadur Dr. Surya Kumar Sarbadhikari (1832–1904), a surgeon who served during the Sepoy Mutiny or Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the rule of the East India Company.

The Sarbadhikari family was founded during the early 15th century by Sureshwar Bosu of Choa ("Choa" is a village situated in Murshidabad district of present-day West Bengal), who was appointed Governor of Orissa province with the hereditary title of "Sarbadhikari" by the Imperial Court of Delhi.

He had 7 brothers and 2 sisters. Of the brothers, the names of Sir Deb Prasad Sarbadhikari who became Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta (1914–1918), and Suresh Prasad Sarbadhikari (1866–1921), an eminent surgeon of British India who organized the Bengal Ambulance Corps to serve in the Mesopotamia War during World War I, and managed the Carmichael Medical College & Hospital, Calcutta (now R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital) with Dr. Radha Gobinda Kar can be mentioned.

He was married to princess Krishnakamalini, daughter of Raja Ananda Krishna Deb, belonging to the Sovabazar Raj family.

Works and activities It was Nagendra Prasad who taught the game to his classmates at the Hare School compound in 1877, after he observed British soldiers playing the game in the ground of Calcutta FC while he's paasing near by road in a horse chariot. He then convinced his friends about the game and bought a ball from Messrs Manton & Co. in Bowbazar, and was later assisted and guided by professor of the Presidency College, G. A. Stack. Thus, attracted by the enthusiasm of the boys, the European teachers of the school and adjacent colleges encouraged Nagendra Prasad and his companions to promote the game among other students in and around Calcutta. The very next day Nagendra and his friends started playing football on school premises. The Boys' Club, founded by Nagendra Prasad in 1880, along with his royal friend Nagendra Mullick around this time, was the first Indian initiative to create a football organization.

Later, he formed a string of sporting clubs in Calcutta in the 1880s, one of the first being the Wellington Club in 1884. Wellington Club was formed as merger of all three of his own clubs: Boys Club, Friends Club, and Presidency Club. India's first football coach Dukhiram Majumder also played for his club. The club was later patronized by both the Shobhabazar Raj and Cooch Behar State, and participated in tournaments like Trades Cup. The first member of this new club was Moni Das. Das later captained the Mohun Bagan AC, yet another legendary institution of sports in India, in colonial and post-colonial era. Sarbadhikari's close friend Kalicharan Mittir (also 'Mitra') later captained as well as became an official of Sovabazar Club. Thus a man from the lower caste, through footballing process and sport broke into the upper echelons of the Hindu society. The club thus became the first Indian team to win a match in Trades Cup. They again (then managed by Manmatha Ganguly) defeated a British side Shibpur Engineering College on 11 August 1900 at their home ground. His proposals to both the British representatives and club officials of Calcutta for arranging tournaments in organized manner, was one of the driving forces behind the foundation of Indian Football Association (IFA) in 1892.

Sarbadhikari's contributions to the game during the age of associations in Bengal in late 19th century, influenced others like Dukhiram Majumder, Haridas Seal, Manmatha Ganguly involving in football and popularizing it among the masses.