The derby beckons

I-League 2016, India’s biggest football league, began on 8^th January. And the first derby of Kolkata (for the uninitiated, the face-off between the biggest names of Bengal club football Mohun Bagan and East Bengal) is scheduled on 23^rd January. Here are some thoughts crossing the mind of a Mohun Bagan supporter.

• This I-League is different for Mohun Bagan. They are the title defenders for the first time. So expectations of the lakhs of supporters and the club management are at a peak for a dream encore. And nobody knows that better than Sanjay Sen, the coach and architect of last year’s league win. So I was not surprised when he said before every match in the ongoing league, “All I want from the match is three points’. He has proved himself in Mohun Bagan with the last I-League and has a tough task at hand to deliver a satisfactory performance again. He has a good squad at his disposal. So the cold calculations in his mind are understandable and it seems all he is looking for is three points from this match again. The margin of victory won't matter to him.

• Mohun Bagan’s winning streak should be long like the I-League 2015. It will help retain a high position on the league table in the long term. The club has started off well by winning both the matches played (3-1 against Aizawl FC and 4-2 against Salgaocar FC). East Bengal, on the other hand, has won the first (3-1 against Sporting Club de Goa) but drew goalless in the second against Mumbai FC.

• I-League and Calcutta Football League (CFL) are two different worlds. Still, a derby is a derby in Kolkata. So though it was not the same Mohun Bagan of I-League 2015 in the last derby (September 2015 in CFL, thanks to Sony Norde and other key players not playing),  a fitting reply to East Bengal for the humiliating 0-4 loss is high on the wishlist.  

• Debjit Majumdar is set to guard the goal instead of skipper Shilton Paul. Can he become a superman again, thanks to his amazing flying saves which we saw in I-League 2015? It will be a delight to see him frustrate the Dongs and the Rantys.

• The problem of plenty for Sanjay Sen- Who all to bench and who all to field? For example, he has four key, in-form strikers to pick from- Cornell Glen, Balwant Singh, Jeje and Sony Norde. Right now, it seems Balwant may not make it to the final XI due to his injury in the practice and Jeje will replace him. Jeje is in top form and it will be great to see him back after his successful stints in ISL 2015 and the recently concluded SAFF Cup. Cornell Glen and Balwant are on fire (The duo have scored in both the matches in the league).

• Sony Norde- Hope he delivers, as his first match in this year's league is going to be the derby. “When will he join?”  “Won’t he join?” Mohun Bagan’s biggest star of I-League 2015 kept the fans guessing from December ’15 and finally joined the squad when the team has had played two matches. He is now the most expensive player in India, commanding approximately Rs 1.7 crore ($ 258 thousand)) apart from perks. He is match fit and every fan is looking forward to his sparkling performance in the league. 

A dash of trivia: Five of the first XI players of Mohun Bagan are Bengali- Debjit Majumdar (Goalkeeper), Pritam Kotal (Right back), Kingshuk Debnath (Stopper), Pranay Halder (Midfielder) and Azharuddin Mullick (Striker). Those who lament the exodus of the Bengali from Kolkata football can take heart. By the way, 5-6 players in the recent SAFF Cup champion Indian team were Bengali too.

#MohunBagan #KolkataDerby #KolkataFootball #ILeague2016

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A new recruit and a welcome development at Mohun Bagan

Have been feeling like coming back on football after the ISL final post, especially Mohun Bagan, but things were not falling in place.  I was keenly following its I-League journey and was ecstatic after the historic league win, still couldn’t make it to a post.

Of late, liked Mohun Bagan’s new defender recruit- Gustavo Silva Conceicao, the six feet plus 29-year old robust stopper back from Brazil, who has played for Flamengo, a top league club in the country. The pictures of his first day practice at his new club ground earlier this week released on the Mohun Bagan Facebook page generate hope that in the upcoming Calcutta Football League (CFL) he will be the nightmare of the opponent in the defence. Cheers to his remark in the Times of India interview that in terms of fan base he finds Mohun Bagan on a par with Flamengo and that’s one of the main reasons that made him decide in favour of the club.

  

 Gustavo Silva in practice as eager supporters look on

Gustavo Silva

More cheers to the new development- re-start of merchandise sale after years.  Famous clubs all over the world have it for ages, and it’s a pity that possibly no big club in Bengal has sustained it. So far I’m aware, Mohun Bagan pioneered it here, but couldn’t continue. East Bengal followed but met the same fate. Hope this one continues forever. The severely cash-strapped club desperately needs additional revenue sources, and if judiciously and smartly planned and implemented, merchandise can become a significant revenue earner for the club thanks to its massive fan base. Enquiries are already pouring in on its FB page on whether they are being sold online, whether there are outlets in the city etc.

Currently four products are available- T-shirt (Rs 350), coffee mug (Rs 200), key ring (Rs 35) and wrist band (Rs 30)- only from the club tent. The t-shirt definitely looks tempting.

All merchandise

The Mohun Bagan t-shirt up for grabs

Hope the fans lap them up and add style to their fandom.

Looking like some smart moves are being made by the club management of late. The merchandise followed the well implemented ‘VIP stand seats for sale’ at Salt Lake Stadium in the last I-League. The ticket included a sumptuous treat including fish fry and sandesh. Looking forward to the same this CFL apart from some good football.

Pictures are acknowledged to the Mohun Bagan Facebook page.

#MohunBagan #KolkataFootball # GustavoSilva #MohunBaganmerchandise

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Kolkata lives the ISL dream

This football-obsessed city dreamt of this moment a little more than two months back when country’s first private international football league kickstarted in this city itself among massive fanfare. What made it special was that it was co-dreamt by its loved warrior prince. Atletico de Kolkata started with a stunning opener of Indian Super League and kept the tempo burning...before it hit a plateau from the middle of the season till the end (the precise reason why I haven’t blogged about it so far). It lost its league topper position and the ‘undefeated’ distinction down the way. And then it crawled to the semis. The home match was a disappointment, adding to its increasing list of draw games. When the away match took it to the coveted finals, the dreaming eyes were wide open again.

It was an exciting match with some attacking football. So much so that some moments found the box unguarded at either end. But the ninety minutes didn’t see a single goal again. ATK didn’t have its full strength. Its out-of-form striker Fikru had been dropped from the squad earlier and the skipper and marquee player Louis Garcia had to watch from the sidelines due to a hamstring injury. As injury time started rolling, we got ready for a tie-breaker decider which would fall short of a desired triumph if in our favour. And then..............the moment came from an underdog. The match was over soon. The dream came true. We are the champions of the first ever Indian Super League!

Mohd Rafique, take a bow for that stunner of a header off the measured corner kick that gave us the first ISL and made history. You gave ‘opportunistic’ a new meaning in your replacement stint of those few minutes (Due credit to the coach for this).  Despite your short height, you emerged the tallest among all in the evening. And the icing of the cake, again, is the fact that you are from this city.

A shoutout to our ‘wall’ Bete on the goal line too. Had it not been for that incredible save off Kerala’s aggressive striker Michael Chopra, the match would have ended differently.

Atletico de Kolkata with the trophy. Also seen are Ms Neeta Ambani of Reliance, co-promoter of ISL and ATK co-owners Utsav Parekh (sixth from left sitting) and Sanjeev Goenka next to him. Mohd Rafique is sitting next to Ms Ambani and the trophy, facing.

ATK coach Antonio Habas and co-owner Saurav Ganguly with the trophy

And yes, my heart goes to Kerala Blasters. Not because it gave us some wonderful buddy moments with Saurav and Sachin who watched the match from the stands cheering for their respective owned teams, but for the superb football it gave us in the final. If we are the champs, they’re not far off.

I sincerely hope ISL lives the football dream of this nation in every possible way. The eyes will be on spotting and nurturing talent from all corners in for the long term. The euphoria that it has generated is enough to drive that.

 Photos sourced from http://www.indiansuperleague.com/

Mohun Bagan does it again

A happy news to share here: Mohun Bagan defeated Chirag United 1-0 a while back to become the Kolkata football league champion. And that's three times in a row! Congrats to the green-maroon brigade. A great feat.

Finally they did it!!

Yesterday was the one of the most memorable days in life of all the people in Bengal and other parts of India and the world for whom two colours matter most- dark green and maroon. Yes, I'm talking about all the fans and supporters of Mohun Bagan, one of the giants among football clubs in the city. It was a 'Big match' yesterday as Mohun Bagan clashed with their arch-rival East Bengal, the other giant.

It's incredible that no less than seven goals were scored in the rain-soaked game in the stipulated time, and Mohun Bagan emerged the winners at 4-3. Never in the past has Mohun Bagan scored as many goals against East Bengal, the highest being 3. Had it not been for a silly miss, MB would equal EB's record of 5 goals against MB in the black day for the latter- the '75 IFA Shield final. The four goals must have acted as a balm for Mohun Bagan supporters in living with that deep wound.

Bablooda changes guard

He has served his club for seventeen years (1974- 1991) with a loyalty that is no short of a legend and unmatched till today. All the more so because his club, Mohun Bagan, is one of Kolkata football's Big three and among the top clubs in Indian football. His car was maroon- one of the colours of Mohun Bagan jersey. The competitors of his club desperate to poach him have invariably faced the deepest of frustration whenever he had turned down the most tempting of offers. The name of this rock-solid defender will be embossed in history of Indian football and in the heart of every football-lover in Bengal no matter where his/ her loyalty lies.

His undying love for his club translated into active association even after he hung up his boots, as he moved into a coaching career. Under his guidance Mohun Bangan claimed the national league title twice besides one runner-up finish in the most glorious of his three stints as coach. His success as a Mohun Bagan coach is not matched by too many of his peers.

He is Subrata Bhattacharya, among the alltime best of Bengal's football talents.

And then came the dark phase. After a few disappointing games, he was accused of foul-mouthing his boys, alarmingly losing popularity among them and resistant to any advice and intervention of club officials in selecting players. He was sidelined in his club and unceremoniously dropped as a coach. The treatment he got in his own club post his career as a footballer will find few parallels in Indian football.

And when he finally made up his mind to join Mohun Bagan's arch rival East Bengal during the last two days, it created a stir. "How, just how, could Bablooda (As he is popularly known) do this to us?", fumed Mohun Bagan supporters. Finally yesterday he visited East Bengal tent among ecstatic East Bengal supporters to collect the confirmation letter and attend a press conference. What the East Bengal officials have done is no less than a recruiting coup, the answer to the one Mohun Bagan did long back as they poached Manoranjan Bhattacharya, who was East Bengal's answer to Mohun Bagan's Subrata till he switched loyalties.

I wonder what those who feel betrayed or let down are up to. The logic, rational or emotional, is too strong to defy. On a rational point of view he is a professional coach, and a professional coach doesn't look at personal loyalties in joining a club. East Bengal needed, going by the new AIFF guidelines for all teams taking part in the first professional league set to start this year, a coach with a coaching license. And Subrata has one, unlike Subhas Bhowmick, one of the other names discussed in the meeting to select the coach. And on an emotional point of view, how many miles does one walk holding the hands, when the insults from the loved one refuses to stop?

I am sure there are many Mohun Bagan fans who buy this logic and are not feeling 'betrayed'.

Wish you a great time Bablooda, do better than what you've achieved so far. And prove your worth to those who reposed faith in you. And I said all this being a Mohun Bagan supporter.

Harsh reality

A friend a reader of this blog has requested a post on football, which is a passion for him (And Kolkata's too). Incidentally I was also thinking on writing on the same for the first time in connection with the recent happening as detailed below. This is not a happy post though and I never intended to start off on football with an issue like this.

Fifa president Joseph Sepp Blatter and Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hammam (Photo above from their Colombo visit. Source: FIFA website) are on a visit to India. On their first stop in Kolkata they went to the three top football clubs- Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting- all located on Kolkata Maidan, the largest green stretch of the city. The also watched the big match between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal on Sunday at Salt Lake Stadium.

As it is expected in such a tour, it is filled with feel-good moments, making dreams of taking Indian football to the next generation and an intention to create a roadmap for the same. But in a stark contrast to that Hammam and Blatter did not mince words and pointed to us the pathetic condition of the sports infrastructure here in Kolkata. To the embarassment of the national and state level and club officials Hammam said given the current infrastructure Indian football will take another hundred years for India to play the World Cup. He was not far from truth. Just to think of Salt Lake Stadium, our prized asset and Asia's largest stadium with a capacity of 1 lakh spectators, it has never been overhauled since it was built more than two decades ago. I remember due to this a few years back the ground became unplayable after just a few showers. Blatter said in his next stop in Delhi that Mohun Bagan Club, to him, looked exactly from the same time it was founded, that is in the 19th century, so pathetic is its condition with a dingy players' room, an old-fashioned gym and an unkempt canteen with broken seats.

Officials, just out of the rude shock, wasted no time in starting the blame game, something they play way better than our footballers play the sport. According to club officials little can be done as Maidan is an Army property. Well, what prevented them so far to try to fend for themselves in the long history of their clubs? Couldn't they look for other places to build their own stadiums, however low-profile they might be? Anjan Mitra, Mohun Bagan secretary said their members would sue the club if subscription rates were hiked. This sounds like a lame excuse. In a state whose citizens created a record in donating blood to raise funds for a power project in Bakreshwar, where the big achievers among the sons of the soul are passionate about football, would raising funds for a halfway-decent stadium be as difficult as it can get? Yes, the state govt. can't shirk responsibilities, what with the same sports minister around for 25 years.

I am sure not much will change with this visit, but we will remember this tight slap. We will possibly take note of the fact that football cannot move ahead only with passion, it needs sincerity of all stakeholders and organisation skills of the highly placed individuals.