<P> The Tournament is named after its founder, Sir Mortimer Durand, Foreign Secretary in charge of India from 1884 to 1894 . Sir Mortimer was recuperating from illness at the leading hill station of British India, Simla in northern India . Having become conscious of the value of sport as a means to maintain health, he decided to present a prize to encourage sporting competition in India . At first it was effectively an Army cup, and largely the preserve of the British Indian Army troops in India, but over the years it widened its appeal and opened up to civilian teams, until it became a more open and conventional sporting contest . It is now one of the leading prizes in Indian football . The final major administrative change was when the Army passed on the actual running of the Tournament to a civilian administration in 2006 . The Army presence is maintained by the participation of several military teams, including an Army XI, which won the competition as recently as 2005 . </P> <P> The Durand Tournament was initially a military affair, open to the Army in India: the British Army, the regular Indian Army and other Indian military units, such as Provincial frontier - security regiments and the Volunteer regiments of the reserves . In practice, however, the Indian Army traditionally preferred field hockey to football, a fact which has been evident from the Indian and Pakistani dominance of that sport in international events such as the Olympics . The exception to this tradition were the Nepalese men of the Brigade of Gurkhas . Initially, this tended to leave the field open to the British Army until football's popularity took hold and it became the more universal sport it is today . After the Second World War, the British Army left India and the tournament was opened to non-military teams to maintain the level of competition . </P> <P> The initial matches were played in Dagshai, which is actually a short distance outside Simla . The inaugural Final of the Tournament, in 1888, was a Scottish derby, with the first name on the trophy being the Royal Scots Fusiliers, who beat the Highland Light Infantry with a score of 2 - 1 . The Durand Cup has been suspended twice, due to the two World Wars . </P> <P> In 1940 the venue was transferred to New Delhi, and it is now held at the Ambedkar Stadium in the city . Following India's independence in 1947, the tournament was hosted by the Indian Army, with Durand Football Tournament Society being headed by three Service Chiefs . </P>

Where was the durand cup football tournament first played