The Sagas
Kolhapur
A city that has been playing football since the 1880s, and the families still holding the evidence.
3 films · Hindi narration · English title cards
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Why FIFA spoke Marathi
FIFA posted in Kolhapuri Marathi, which made no obvious sense — Maharashtra is cricket country. Except Kolhapur built its first club the same year the world played its first World Cup.
The 1936 draw
Khasbaug Maidan. Barefoot local boys in a jersey stitched by the village tailor, against a British regiment. It finished one-all, and a century of Kolhapur football was built on that afternoon.
The jersey, kept 95 years
After the football film went out, the grandson of Shri S. R. Sawant got in touch — with the 1931 team photograph, and his grandfather's jersey, kept by the family since.