Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Sporting Club, often abbreviated as HAL or HASC, was an institutional

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

n football club based in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. It was named after the company

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is an Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Bangalore, India. Established on 23 December 1940, HAL is one of the oldest and largest aerospace and defence manufacturers in the worl ...

(HAL). The club competed in the top tier of Karnataka football — the

Bangalore A Division The Bangalore Football League is organised by the Bangalore District Football Association (BDFA), which is affiliated to the Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA) as a ladder-based state football competition involving a total of four di ...

and from 2001, the

Bangalore Super Division The Bangalore Football League is organised by the Bangalore District Football Association (BDFA), which is affiliated to the Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA) as a ladder-based state football competition involving a total of four di ...

. One of the top clubs from

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...

, they have also competed in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

till 2007, and subsequently the

I-League The I-League (known as Hero I-League for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp) is the second-tier men's professional football competition of the Indian football league system. It is currently contested by 12 clubs across the country with the win ...

, then top tier of Indian football league system. In 2014, following a poor performance in the 2013–14 season, the club announced of "temporary shutting down... activities".

History

Formation and journey

Originally founded in the 1990s and soon became affiliated with ''Bangalore District Football Association'' (BDFA), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Sports Club began their journey through participating in the

league, in which they emerged champions in 2000. Before getting revived in 2006, they clinched the

titles in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005.

2006–2010

After finishing third in the NFL Second Division in 2006, HASC were promoted to the Premier Division. Although only the top two teams from the Second Division gain promotion, Tata Football Academy who finished first in the standings were not able to form a professional team for the Premier Division. Therefore, HASC were promoted to the 11th NFL Premier Division along with runners up

Churchill Brothers Churchill Brothers FC Goa, or simply known as Churchill Brothers, is an Indian professional football club based in Margao, Goa, that competes in the I-League, alongside Goa Professional League. Founded in 1988 in Margao, the club usually p ...

In 2010, the club emerged as the runners-up of the 2010 I-League 2nd Division after the end of final round, hosted in

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. With 16 points in 7 matches, HAL finished on 2nd as ONGC FC clinched title.

2010–2014

HASC qualified for

2010–11 I-League The 2010–11 I-League was the fourth season of the I-League, which waa the highest football league competition in India during the time. It ran from 3 December 2010 to May 2011. Dempo are the defending champions. On 30 May 2011 Salgaocar SC ...

season after finishing second in the 2010 I-League 2nd Division. They were the second South Indian team in I-League after Viva Kerala. In the last match of the season they defeated defending champions Dempo 4–2 to starve off relegation to

I-League 2nd Division I-League 2, previously known as I-League 2nd Division and officially known as or Hero I-League 2 (for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp), is an Indian men's professional football league. It is the 3rd tier of Indian football, behind India ...

, with Xavier Vijay Kumar scoring two goals. HAL later clinched the 2012–13 Bengaluru Super Division title. Rohit Chand

In the 2013–14 edition of the Bangalore Super Division, HASC finished eighth among nine teams. This prompted the club to shut down their activities "temporarily" in December 2014. The coach H. Chnadrashekhar said, "We will not field a team temporarily (in the Cups and the league) and to that effect HASC's management had sent a letter to BDFA secretary ST Bhoopal." Reports of the club resuming operations and fielding their team emerged after they held selection trials in 2019.

Crest

The HASC crest was different from the crest its parent company. For instance the Hindustan Company logo has a picture of the earth with a plane going around and has the word HAL written as well as the Hindi way of writing HAL while the HASC just has a crest with the word HAL in green letters.

Home ground

Enhanced photo of the New Bengaluru Football Stadium on a matchday

HASC used the Bangalore Football Stadium as its home ground for domestic and regional league matches since 2006, which previously had a capacity of 45,000 spectators. Built in 1967, the stadium has

Artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

and currently has a capacity of 8,400.

Ownership and finances

The ownership of HASC has been from

(HAL). The company HAL were not so influential when running the club at first, as shown from their poor record before the 2010 I-League 2nd Division season in which the club achieved promotion.

Notable former players

''For all current and former notable players of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited with a Wikipedia article, see:

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited S.C. players ''Hindūstān'' ( , from '' Hindū'' and ''-stān''), also sometimes spelt as Hindōstān ( ''Indo-land''), along with its shortened form ''Hind'' (), is the Persian-language name for the Indian subcontinent that later became commonly used by ...

''.

Other department

Field hockey

The club has its hockey team, that competed in Beighton Cup (one of the oldest

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shootin ...

tournaments in the world). Then known as ''Hindustan Aircraft'', they lifted the trophy in 1951, and finished as runners-up in 1952. Honours * Beighton Cup **Champions (1): 1951 **Runners-up (1): 1952 *Aga Khan Gold Cup **Runners-up (1): 1949

Honours

League

* National Football League II **Champions (1): 2000–01 **Third place (1): 2005–06 *

**Runners-up (1):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

**Champions (7): 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

**Runners-up (1): 2011–12 *

Bangalore B Division The Bangalore Football League is organised by the Bangalore District Football Association (BDFA), which is affiliated to the Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA) as a ladder-based state football competition involving a total of four di ...

**Champions (1): 2020–21

Cup

* Sait Nagjee Football Tournament **Champions (3): 1952, 1953, 1954 *Puttiah Memorial Trophy **Champions (6): 1977, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008

References

External links

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC
at WorldFootball.net
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC
at Soccerway
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC
at Global Sports Archive I-League clubs Football clubs in Bangalore