The Magicians of Field Hockey

Story of the Olympic gold medal winners at the Berlin Olympics of 1936 - the Hitler Games

The Berlin Summer Olympics of 1936 is best remembered for Hitler and his Nazi racism. It is also remembered for the outstanding performance of sprinter Jesse Owens on track, winning four gold medals, much to the chagrin of the Fuhrer. Not as well remembered, was a greater blow on the field, that which punched holes into the theory of racial supremacy then prevalent in Hitler’s Nazi Germany. India's Dhyan Chand led Magicians underlined their talents and supremacy on the hockey field. This is a flashback to the exploits of Indian hockey team in the Hitler games.

It was a gorgeous spring morning in 1993 in Essex, England. Lionel Charles Renwick Emmett, member of the Indian Olympic team of 1936, was expecting a visitor from India, a Dr. Dasgupta, an alumni of the Calcutta Medical College, a college that Dr. Emmet was an alumni off too. Dr. Dasgupta arrived at a typical flower decked English cottage at Finchingfield Way, Colchester. On ringing the bell, a pleasant lady opened the door. With a twinkling smile, she said, “You must be Dr. Dasgupta. Come in, Lionel is expecting you. I am Dorothy, Mrs. Emmett”.

A tall and slim English gentleman with a slight limp walked slowly out. With a deep voice, he extended his hand and said, “Dr. Dasgupta, I am Lionel Charles Renwick Emmett, ex-student the Calcutta Medical College. I believe you want to talk to me regarding my time there.”
He waved, “Have a seat and call me Lionel. Well, I don’t know about my contributions but I am proud that I was a part of the College.” A wave of nostalgia and memories flooded Lionel’s face, his eyes looked towards the distance and went back in time.
He tousled his hair and started speaking, “I was born in Mussoorie in India in 1913 to a civil servant. And you know what, we were full British and not Anglo Indians and did not have any native blood flowing through our veins,” he gave a mischievous and impish smile. “My grandfather arrived in India and married a full white British lass; my father had done the same. We were called Anglo Indians because of our births and not by our pedigree”. He leaned back and looked at Soumit, “Please don’t get offended at this rather self righteous history. This background is important for you to understand what has defined me all my life.”

Lionel continued, “I was educated at the elite St George’s School in Mussoorie. You must know how white society was at that time. Mussoorie was an exclusive white town and in fact segregation was rampant. I was fed from a very young age about our superiority as a race and that the natives were almost subhuman”.

“I finished school in 1930, at the height of an armed freedom movement. I’d always wanted to be a doctor and my father immediately started making arrangements for me to get enrolled in Bart’s in London with his connections. But my mother would have none of it. She wanted me to stay in India. My father had to be convinced that medical college in Calcutta would be best for me as the education is comparable to that in the home country.”

And then Lionel sighed and a dreamy look came to his face. “You see doctor, arriving in Calcutta, was the best thing that had happened to me. I arrived when I was 18 years old, a white and a somewhat racist boy to study in a college that did not treat its students with any distinction. At that time, the college had about seven hundred students of which about fourteen of us were pure Europeans. We had Hindus of both low and high castes, Mohammedans, Sikhs and Parsees in our midst. We attended classes together, dissected bodies together, hobnobbed, laughed together and yes hung out together. Initially, it was not easy and I must owe it to my professors who continuously emphasized that doctors do not have any cast or creed or religion. We were all equal.”

“In fact, our principal Colonel Boyd gave us the white boys a pep talk that we will have to come out of our race prejudices, otherwise Calcutta Medical College was not for us.” His choked with some emotion and said, “I was just a man before I joined Calcutta Medical College but the college turned me to a human being”. He leaned towards me and asked, “Did you see my flowers at our front door? They are there for a reason. Both camellia and rhododendron were discovered by Nathaniel Wallich, a professor of botany at the Calcutta Medical College. These flowers remind me of our college every day”.

Dr. Dasgupta consulted his notes and asked, ”So it was during your time in our college that you got selected for the British Indian field hockey team in 1936, didn’t you?’ Lionel sat back, smiled and replied, “That’s right. I was always keen on hockey and played representing the Bengal province.” He recalled the weekends and evening sessions at the Ellenborough grounds on the Maidan, playing the local league with the Calcutta Police, the boys from La Martiniere, players from the Port Commissioners and the Armenians. The standards were very high.
“I got selected. And I was mighty proud. The team was captained by the legendary Dhyan Chand and half the team was pure Indian. We wanted to showcase to the world, that we were one united British Indian unit, a progressive and liberal team not shackled by any racial prejudice.”

“We arrived in Berlin in July, 1936. I was impressed by the city. It seemed like a highly developed capital and glittering with all modern amenities. I came to know much later that all anti Jew signs had been pulled down at the time of the Olympics. We didn’t have a clue. The tournament was a piece of cake for us, a dream ride. We won by huge margins in all the matches. In a match against the USA , we won by 7-0. I personally set up Dhyan Chand for 2 goals.” Dorothy came to the room with a tray with scones, biscuits and a wonderfully aromatic tea. Lionel whilst preparing the tea told me with a twinkle in his eyes, “This is from Corramore in Assam, doctor, you will love it”.

The greatest teams are those that perform at ethereal levels and are much greater than the sum of its parts. The Magicians rank as the greatest field hockey team of all time, rising above all others and sparkling in its own splendor and greatness. The mystique surrounding The Magicians has its origins in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games when the Indian team danced their way to gold. The world became conscious for the first time, of the unique talent the country, still a British subject nation, possessed for this stick and ball game. Till then, India was seen only as an exotic land of the occult, of snake charmers, rope trick mendicants and practitioners of black magic. Over the years, the aura might have become larger than life; but the truth is during its playing days, the team actually inspired dread amongst its rivals. The legendary batsman told the hockey legend that he scored field goals like he scored runs in cricket.

In the Berlin Olympics, the Indian team threw up a goal-difference of 37 (38 scored, 1 conceded) in just five games. India beat Hungary 4-0, United States 7-0 and Japan 9-0. In the semifinals there was a 10-0 massacre of France. No team had scored a single goal against India in their relentless march to the finals. Arguably, it was the greatest forward line in the world, spearheaded by the Wizard himself; to his left was his younger brother Roop Singh, someone Dhyan Chand himself rated higher than his own self; to his right was Ali Iqtidar Shah Dara, an instinctive goal scorer and the first captain of Pakistan hockey after independence from Britain. Together, they formed a fearsome troika that could unravel defenses through sheer speed, cunning and team-work. Flanked on either side by Ahmed Sher Khan and Syed Mohammed Jaffer, regarded as the best left-winger of all time. Lionel Charles Renwick Emmett completed the forward line and fed into the scoring assaults.

Holding sway in the midfield were Mirza Nasiruddin Masood, Ernest John Goodsir-Cullen and Babu Narsoo Nimal. Bengal's Joseph Galibardi and Carlyle Tapsell manned the backline while Richard Allen guarded the goal. Legend has it that Dhyan Chand dribbled on rail tracks to perfect close control. As preparatory camps were not practical, teamwork was magically instinctive, with players automatically falling into position.

The Indian hockey team set sail for Germany in the ocean liner 'Aitheneaver'. It was a long 15 days journey and the team needed to practice before the Olympics. So they practiced hitting and losing hundreds of balls from the deck of the ship. The run-up to the Games was not exactly satisfactory. A 1-4 defeat to Germany in a practice game rang alarm bells in the Indian camp. Following a team meeting, it was decided to bring in Ali Iqtidar Shah Dara from India. Dara had not arrived because he had been refused leave. Fortunately he arrived just before the semifinals where they thrashed France 10-0.

India met Germany in the final on August 15, 1936 in the Reichssportfeld before a record crowd of 40,000 spectators, the biggest ever to witness a hockey match at the Olympic Games. India scored first and then another. Then Germany deftly attacked and scored. This was the only goal scored against the Indians in the entire tournament. In response, Dara and Roop Singh tore the German defense to smithereens with deft passes and natty stick play. The Indian attack carried on relentlessly and soon India was up by six goals.

The Germans now decided to play rough. Going for Dhyan Chand, the German goalkeeper removed one of his teeth. Coming back after receiving first aid, Dhyan Chand threw away his boots and went barefoot. He instructed his team to go easy on goals. "We must teach them a lesson in ball control," he said. As the stunned crowd watched, the Indians repeatedly took the ball up to the German circle and then back passed to dumbfound their opponents. India ultimately prevailed over Germany 8-1 in the finals to win its third successive Olympic gold medal. The Fuhrer was very impressed by Dhyan Chand's performance in the finals. At a dinner party after the finals, Hitler is said to have offered to elevate Dhyan Chand to the rank of a Colonel if he migrated to Germany and joined the German army. Dhyan Chand politely turned down the offer.

This was a team playing before Indian independence and the country’s partition. The hockey team was supremely diverse with Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs contributing their skills and supporting each other for the game of hockey. The supremacy of Jesse Owens in track and field and the Indian field hockey team would have been a shock and a revelation to the Nazis and a major blow to their racist ideology.

Essex, England 1993. Lionel Emmet leaned back in his chair and stretched his tall frame. Dorothy poured him another cup of Assam tea. “We arrived in Berlin in July, 1936. I was impressed by the city. It seemed like a highly developed capital and glittering with all modern amenities. I came to know much later that all anti Jew signs had been pulled down at the time of the Olympics. We didn’t have a clue. The tournament was a piece of cake for us, a dream ride. We won by huge margins in all the matches. In a group match against the USA where I played, we won by 7-0. I personally set up Dhyan Chand for 2 goals.”

“In the finals, we demolished the German national team by 8 -1. Remember, the German national team comprised of the classical blue eyed blond Aryan prototypes and members from the Wehrmacht.” He rubbed his hands with glee, “On the victory podium, as the band played God Save the King, I saw the disdain in the Fuhrer’s face at a distance. After all, a team with a bunch of sub humans and led by a subhuman destroyed his invincible Aryan army. But saying that, I befriended a German hockey player Kurt Weiss, who seemed quite nice”.
Soumit took some delicious scones from Dorothy and continued with his queries, ”You know Lionel, when I was doing my homework about you, it is not very clear as to what happened to you after you won the gold medal in Berlin.”

Lionel stood up and went near the garden window. He looked at me and said, “You can imagine how proud I was. Professor Anderson the principal, declared a whole day off in my honour. Those were the days. After a gruelling examination, I qualified for the coveted Indian Medical Service in 1941 and was posted with the Field Hospital of the 8th Indian Division attached to the 5th British Infantry Division. In 1943, I was posted in the war theatre in Italy as a major.”

He came back and sat down. “I’ll tell you a story now that you might find incredible. In Bagnara Calabra, as I started my rounds, I came across a German prisoner of war, injured and being cared for by Dr. Anil Biswas, my lieutenant in the Indian Medical Service and also ex of Calcutta Medical College. This was no other than Sturmbannfuhrer Kurt Weiss, my German friend from 1936. He had joined the Wehrmacht in 1934 and was deputed to the Karstjaeger division of the SS, who I knew were fighting in Italy. Kurt looked at me and broke into a smile. ‘Ah Herr Major, your assistant, this young lieutenant is a credit to you. You know something, what I have been drilled so far is wrong. Non Aryans are as much humans as us.’ My heart swelled with pride. SS, the organization that preached violent racism to the core regarded every non Aryan as untermenschen or subhuman. Kurt Weiss was bred on that philosophy. And now he was saying this. He was like me, ex bigot and racist and changed by the empathetic touch of a doctor from my college. This is who we are.” And, once again he became emotional and his eyes had that faraway look.

“I returned to India and was posted in Burma where I became a lieutenant colonel and took up a job as a General Practitioner in the Assam tea plantations where I cared for the rich owners, managers and their very poor employees after the end of the war. Now you know my love for Assam tea. I retired in 1968, came to England and settled in Colchester and continued as a GP.”
Dr. Dasgupta looked at his notes again, “And you were honored with the Military Cross and conferred the Membership of the British Empire in 1945. So you were injured, weren’t you – that would explain the limp. And, you are a scientist and discoverer as well, aren’t you Lionel? Time h ad flown. The past and the present were meshed together through great tragedies, uplifting moments and moments of absolutely unbelievable wonder. They had been talking for over three hours and they wondered where time had flown.

When it was time to leave, Soumit asked Lionel in a pleading voice, “Lionel could you show me your Berlin 1936 gold medal?” “Of course,” he said. He went to the glass show case, opened it and brought out his Berlin 1936 gold medal in all its glory and history. “This must be your most precious and cherished possession,” Soumit commented in all humility. Lionel looked at him strangely and muttered, “No doctor. I have with me another one that is far more prestigious and cherishing than all the accolades I’ve ever been bestowed with. It defines me and my gold medal, my military achievements cannot be compared to it. Its in my bedroom next to me, I’ll go get it”.

Lionel slowly limped back to the living room. Very gingerly and with utmost care, he untied a purple velvet pouch and brought out a medal. The sun glinted at the polished silver. . On one side was etched,” Medical College of Bengal, founded 1835”. In the middle was a symbol of the snake and the tree and Cum Humanitate Scientia. On the other side, was etched, ‘’Awarded Goodeve Medal to Lionel Charles Renwick Emmett, year 1935”. Lionel’s eyes glinted and sparked with the sun and he said, “Prof Vivian Armitage and Sir Kedarnath Das were my examiners who thought me worthy of this.”

Lionel’s eyes misted over. It taught me humanity and empathy for my fellow man. The moment you enter its hallowed grounds you are meant to feel for others. That is the greatest gift in life and hockey. Don’t ever forget that”. As Dr. Dasgupta got into the cab, he waved at them and they waved back from among the flowers. It was a beautiful moment in space and time, a moment stretching from the classrooms of a Calcutta college to the Olympic fields of Berlin to a cottage in Colchester, England, a confluence of sport and life.