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Mission High School Bannu football team that Theodore Leighton Pennell took on a nationwide tour in 1906. They played matches in Karachi, Bombay, Hyderabad and many other cities, then they came under attack in Calcutta.
From his book: Among the Wild Tribes of the Afghan Frontier
From his book: Among the Wild Tribes of the Afghan Frontier
His team had religious and ethnic diversity, the captain was called Shah Jahan Khan Khattak and the vice captain was James Benjamin.
Pennell saw this tour as a way to break down barriers, promote religious and ethnic harmony.
Pennell saw this tour as a way to break down barriers, promote religious and ethnic harmony.
Crossing the Indus River during the summer floods.
Managed to find a ferry-boat near Dera Ismail Khan.
India was so big that football season ran at different time of the year in the north, east south and west. Pennell found that out as they set out, he still managed to get teams to play despite being off season for some.
Match Report from the Bombay Gazette as MHS Bannu played City Club in Bombay.
Their match in Karachi was against Karachi Y.M.C.A at the Howard Institute ground, this appeared in the Sindh Gazette.
The tour came to an abrupt end in Calcutta after unrest in the area and a conspiracy theory that "a company of Afghans had come to steal away their children".
5 players were brutally attacked by a raging mob and left on the streets.
5 players were brutally attacked by a raging mob and left on the streets.
The tour only ended on the pitch but they were now stuck in Calcutta with police case against the alleged attackers. Pennell and his boys had to take trips to police station and courts, there was a trial but it didn't go anwyere and they were allowed to head back to Bannu.
Football match in Bannu.
Theodore Leighton Pennell, the man who brought football to Bannu and the surrounding areas.
