Mohun Bagan versus East Bengal isn’t a mere football rivalry. It is a sentiment and a part of the ethos that is integral to the Bengali identity. It doesn’t matter who plays for either of the teams, or who coaches them, for all that is relevant is the contest between the Green-and-Maroon and the Red-and-Yellow. And that’s why fans shouldn’t really bother much about where the game is being played, and just continue to enjoy this 100-year-old legacy.
From the time Nepal Chakrabarty scored the first goal in the Kolkata Derby in 1925 to MBSG’s 2-0 win last October, the Kolkata Derby has been the most-talked-about event in Bengal on the day it is played. No wonder there are thousands of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan fans who are on social media continuously engaged in a fascinating banter of sorts. The TV ratings for the game will surely be the highest the ISL has seen this season, and that’s only a part of the story.
On most days, and this derby will perhaps be no exception, the game does not scale any great heights. MBSG have been the dominant team in the recent past and, in the absence of key players, it will take a humungous effort on the part from Oscar Bruzon’s side to stop the table-toppers from adding a further three points to their tally. If they lose this one, East Bengal have no chance of a comeback. It is now or never.
Fans are tired of losing in the derby and, despite the many losses in the recent past, not a single East Bengal fan will leave their seat in front of the television set. The tension and the intensity are such that fans are often consumed by the occasion, finding it impossible to stay calm and rational. The standard of play doesn’t really matter. We, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal fans, will still watch. Even watch it ahead of an EPL Game or a La Liga contest where the standard of football is far higher. This rivalry is an extension of us, and to see the two teams play weds us to our roots in Kolkata.
In 1975, and I hate to recount this as a Mohun Bagan fan, East Bengal won the Derby 5-0. In shame and sorrow, one Umakanta Palodhi committed suicide. He couldn’t bear the shock, and hoped that he would be born again to avenge the defeat. We won’t ever know if that can happen. But what we do know is that Palodhi is not alone. There are millions like him making this rivalry between two teams in a country ranked 120th in the FIFA rankings no less than a Real Madrid versus Barcelona or a Boca Juniors against River Plate. “Somebody said that football’s a matter of life and death to you,” said the great Bill Shankly shortly before he passed away in 1981. “I said ‘listen, it’s more important than that’.”
I will end by saying that MBSG against East Bengal has the potential to be watched by millions in Europe as well. Rather, more globally. That’s what we should aspire to. Just like we in India sit down to watch Man United v Man City, there will come a day, with professionalism and corporatisation, that European football fans will tell themselves that it’s time to order fish and chips or paella and sit in front of the screens to watch India’s greatest footballing derby.
That’s the day we are all waiting for, and that’s what this derby should aspire to. With high-quality television coverage and proper build-up, this could well happen, and it will in turn benefit Indian football going forward. After all, sport is an aspiration that nurtures and fuels dreams, and Mohun Bagan-East Bengal is stuff of sports fans’ fantasies in India and in the diaspora.
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