Calcutta Football League – Rise of a New Star Amidst Problems Galore

After a thrilling competition last season, this year’s Calcutta Football League turned out to be a pretty one-sided affair although the supporters of East Bengal club are not complaining. However, the league also taught us a few important lessons and will possibly be remembered for the rise of a star player. Kaushik Saha elaborates here at Goalden Times.

Calcutta Football League 2014 was settled on the very last day, with three teams in contention for the crown. This year has been a tame affair onfield, with more drama happening off the field. After Mohun Bagan’s I-League win in 2014–15, this year’s Calcutta Football League started with a lot of promise. There was widespread anticipation that they might finally be able to wrest the crown from East Bengal after five seasons. However, financial troubles forced Mohun Bagan to loan several of their first team players to various ISL teams from the beginning of the season itself.

East Bengal brought in a new coach, Maidan veteran Biswajit Bhattacharya, after a poor finish in I-League. Bhattacharya went about his task quietly, along with his assistants Debjit Ghosh, Sanjay Majhi,and Sammy Omollo. The club also built a good team comprising local players and foreigners. The jackpot they managed was Do Dong Hyun, a South Korean U-23 player, who almost single handedly won East Bengal a few matches in the league.

As a result, East Bengal won the CFL for a record sixth consecutive time, the second time they achieved the same in their and the league’s history (the last one came amidst a glorious run between 1970–75). They also remained unbeaten, the first time this has happened since 2000. However, the path was not exactly rosy as the club began the tournament with a lackluster 1-0 victory, followed by a goalless draw. In two other matches the team was trailing by 0-2, but went on to win eventually. The league saw some spectacular goals— Do Dong scored a few of them, along with Mehtab Hossain(East Bengal), Abinash Ruidas (East Bengal), Azharuddin Mallik (Mohun Bagan), and Christopher Chizoba (Kalighat). Do Dong also scored a fantastic hattrick en route to becoming the top scorer in the league. Mohammedan Sporting beat Police AC 7-0, but their prominence as the third “big team” from Kolkata has long subsided. They barely managed to be fifth in the league this year.

The biggest incidents, however, happened off the field. This includes a major gaffe by Mohun Bagan, where they violated the Governing body of Indian Football Association’s rules by not having a U-23 player on the field. They subsequently lost points because of this. Even in the match against Army XI, which they lost 0-1 (that virtually ended their title challenge), they had a chance to take three points as Army XI had flouted jersey rules.  Army XI eventually ended up becoming the runner up through a series of good performances, leaving a demotivated Mohun Bagan far behind. Mohun Bagan finished a forgettable campaign in the third place (the first time in 13 years) behind Army XI. They had the same number of points as Southern Samity, but were ahead on goal difference.

The biggest incidents, however, happened off the field. This includes a major gaffe by Mohun Bagan, where they violated the Governing body of Indian Football Association’s rules by not having a U-23 player on the field.

A match between Southern Samity and Tollygunge Agragami, which Tollygunge won 4-0 and saved themselves from relegation, was allegedly under the spotlight and was briefly investigated by the IFA—the governing body of football in West Bengal. Another goalless match involving Tollygunge and Aryan came under investigation too. The result ensured that the Subhash Bhowmick-coached Tollygunge stay in the top flight of the league. There were issues of matches being washed out due to rain, and some, including a crucial match between Aryan and Mohun Bagan, were halted due to poor light as well.

However, there were a lot of positives too. On display was the pure passion of East Bengal supporters, as they sensed what they now call the historical “Hexa”.They crowded each match their club played, irrespective of venues. The icing on the cake was, of course, the Kolkata Derby played at Salt Lake Stadium. East Bengal beat Mohun Bagan 4-0, the largest margin ever in a CFL Derby.The match was attended by more than 80,000 fans (East Bengal had also beaten Mohun Bagan 4-0 in a 1936 Kolkata Derby match). There were serpentine queues for tickets, and crowds braved the rains to watch their favourite team play. This was reminiscent of the last decades of the past century, when Satellite TV had not invaded our homes. The TV Channel which beamed almost all the matches live claimed that this match had the highest TRP for a single event on that particular channel, with close to 10 lakh people tuning in. The most heartening thing about the league was to see a Kolkata Derby with two Bengali coaches in charge after almost a decade. The Amal Dutta–PK Banerjee era may just be back.

Kolkata: East Bengal player Dong Hyun Do celebrates after scoring a goal during a CFL League match against Mohun Bagan A.C. in Kolkata, on Sep 6, 2015. East Bengal won. Score 4-0. (Photo: Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS)
Kolkata: East Bengal player Dong Hyun Do celebrates after scoring a goal during a CFL League match against Mohun Bagan A.C. in Kolkata, on Sep 6, 2015. East Bengal won. Score 4-0. (Photo: Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS)

The Korean revolution

When East Bengal signed a little-known South Korean U-23 player under their Asian quota, very few seemed to have heard of him. Do Dong Hyun has played in the A-League (he holds the record for being the youngest foreigner to play there) and the J-League. He has also been a part of the Korea U-20 team and even the Indian Super League, but he was a little-known entity in Indian footballing circles. However, after a terrific 1.5 months, in which Dong almost single handedly won East Bengal the league, he is now being seen as a successor to the great Majid Baskar of Iran.He has been feted as, arguably, the best foreigner to have played in India in terms of pure footballing skills and seems to be a refreshing change from the big-bodied Africans who dominated the Kolkata football scene for the past three decades. Though it’s still early days and Dong has not faced much competition so far, the Korean (recently selected for the South Korea U-23 team) has shown glimpses that with a set and stable team, he can do wonders. No wonder East Bengal extended his contract till the 2018–19 seasons.

However, having said that, Dong (who top scored with 12 goals in 10 matches) has still a long way to go to become the next Majid. He must build a better physique and must develop a habit of controlling the game from the midfield. His speed, dribbling, free kicks, and big-match temperament are a matter of no concern for his team. However, it can be a concern for the opponents. In fact, this year Dong single handedly made sure that the poor performance of other foreigners cutting across clubs was not noticed at all. Here is hoping that Dong can have a long and successful stint in Indian football and can enrich the Kolkata football scene, maybe even bringing a few I Leagues to the state.

The solution to the AIFF conundrum

Recently, AIFF announced a possibility of the merger of the ISL and the I-League because of dwindling crowds in the latter. While they did not specify the details, it was said that lack of viewership in I-League was the major reason for such a move. My sincere request to the powers that be would be to have a look at the recent East Bengal vs Mohun Bagan Derby at Salt Lake Stadium, where more than 80,000 people turned up to watch a match that was of little consequence in a minor league. Why doesn’t AIFF arrange a series of East Bengal–Mohun Bagan derbies across cities where the two clubs have a healthy fan following? Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Guwahati, and Siliguri can be possible venues. This will ensure that (a) the two clubs don’t fall on hard times and have to loan players out, and (b) a revived interest in Indian football by fans of these two clubs. This is because this rivalry is not ordinary.It’s a battle of egos, identities, and cultures—the three things that drive a human being. It’s also the only rivalry that made the top 10 list of major football rivalries from a nation ranked below 100 in the FIFA list.

Image Source – PTI

Calcutta Football League 2014: A Review

  It is not often that a local Indian league becomes the main topic of discussion in football circles, especially with several high profile global leagues, a newly launched football super league in India, Euro Cup qualifiers, and international friendlies in full swing. Kaushik Saha takes a look at one of the most exciting finishes to the Calcutta Football League in recent times, which revived interest in the moribund tournament.

 
In the past decade and a half (or more), the Calcutta Football League (which has undergone several name and format changes, mainly due to organisational reasons) has become the epitome of inefficiency, poor management, and a passing-on-the-buck syndrome on part of the organizers—the Indian Football Association (IFA). There have been occasions in the not-too-distant-past when teams forced changes in schedules at will, matches were played in random between India’s top flight national football league matches, and tournaments started in July one year and finished in May the next year. Long, erratic, and irrational schedules meant that the smaller teams were never in a state to compete with the Big Two—East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. This led to a loss of interest among fans to such an extent that even the most sought-after Derby matches between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan were played in half-empty stadiums. There was little or no sponsorship, little media coverage outside West Bengal, and very little attention from stakeholders like advertisers and TV channels.
 
However, all this changed this year. The much-maligned IFA Secretary, Utpal Ganguly, and his team made several sweeping changes to the schedule and format. First, the double-leg system was done away with. Just 11 teams were chosen to play in order to reduce the number of meaningless matches. The League was scheduled to finish in a span of one-and-a-half months, before the start of any other major national level tournament elsewhere. A TV partner was roped in, and all matches started at the same time of the day (unlike earlier gimmicks, where Derby matches started later in the evening) so that the maximum number of matches were telecast live (actually 39 out of 55 matches were telecast live, including matches between lowly ranked teams).  

All the above had a positive impact. The single-leg format and short span of time for completion of the tournament meant that the smaller teams had to spend less money on training and the teams could gel together. This had the desired effect, as some of them—Army XI, Southern Samity, and, of course, Tollygunge Agragami, gave the big two a run for their money. Mohammedan Sporting also managed to beat both, something no team had done in the past two decades. Another very interesting development came about, which is expected to have a very positive effect on Bengal football in the long run.    

The Indian Super League, scheduled to begin on October 12, enforced the rule that players selected to play for the various teams cannot play any competitive football from September 1 onwards.  This led to the major teams releasing most players from their first team by August 31, and, as a result, forced to play reserves or young players. This had a positive effect on both the players, who got a rare chance to prove themselves, and the teams who found out that in case of injury to their main stars, they actually have players to fall back upon. The emergence of such new players, most of whom are home grown and trained in local academies, augurs well for Bengal football as these youngsters look to revive lost glory in Santosh trophy.  

This season was also the battle of the coaches and technical directors—the stars, the former players, the maidan veterans, the wily foxes and experienced hands. Armando Colaco, Subrata Bhattacharya, Subhash Bhowmick, Chima Okorie, Raghu Nandi, and his son Rajdeep all contributed in their own ways in making this League a thrilling one. Then, there were the marquee players—Pierre Boya of Mohun Bagan who has played in the UEFA Champions’ League and Leo Bertos of East Bengal who had represented New Zealand in the 2010 FIFA World Cup—who added the necessary color and spice,and attracted a number of sponsors as well as eyeballs. The best part of the entire League was that it managed to get the crowds back to the stadiums—Yuva Bharati Krirangan (Salt Lake) and Barasat Stadium.

An exciting finish, a string of upsets, and a major comeback

 
The League began with a bang, when, on the opening day (August 10), Mohammedan Sporting defeated the four-time defending champions East Bengal 1-0 via a wonderful strike by youngster Imran Khan and   some superb goalkeeping by Arnab Dassharma (reminding viewers and reporters of the Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa in the Mexico vs. Brazil match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup). Some dogged defending by Lal Daniela and Sunil Kumar ensured their best start to a season in five years. Their maverick coach, Fuja Tope, then plotted the defeat of Mohun Bagan a few days later. However, towards the end of season, a series of setbacks—notably, defeats to Army XI and Tollygunge Agragami (an eight-goal thriller where Tollygunge won 5-3) laid their hopes to rest.  

East Bengal, after an ordinary beginning, managed to beat BNR, and then had a game called off against Chima Okorie-coached Police AC due to bad light. Their season plunged into further misery after they managed a 1-1 draw vs. the lowly ranked Kalighat, despite playing World Cupper Leo Bartois. However, the arrival of Nigerian Striker Dudu Omagbemi and his partnership with Ranty Martins, one of Indian football’s most prolific strikers of this century, changed their destiny. The duo teamed up well and scored at will as they led East Bengal to a Derby win vs. Mohun Bagan, which was followed by winning the title. Dudu (with two hattricks) also emerged the top goal scorer along with Koko Sakibo of Tollygunge Agragami (though, it must be noted, Dudu played four matches less).   This title is the fifth one in a row for East Bengal (they are the only team to have won the League in five  consecutive years, and that too on two separate occasions. In 1970-75, they won six times at a stretch, a feat which included their performance in the year 1972 when they won the League without conceding a goal) and represents a victory of the idea of the “youth first” strategy of coach Armando Colaco who had declared long back that he views the league as a launchpad for the I-League. It was a brilliant team effort, where seniors like Mehtab Hossain and Joaquim Abranches led the way for youngsters like Abinash Ruidas  to take over.

eb-vs-tolly-13
Prohlad Roy’s goal against Tollygunge Agragami on the Judgement Day

Arch rivals Mohun Bagan played good football for  five out of six weeks, and won eight out of ten matches. However, one bad week, where they lost to both Mohammedan Sporting and East Bengal in a span of eight days, put their hopes to rest. However, Mohun Bagan can take heart from the fact that they may finally have assimilated a team which can win a trophy for them after a few barren years. Kingshuk Debnath and Shouvik Ghosh have looked solid in defense, Balwant Singh has emerged as a prolific scorer, and, after a few initial hiccups, Pierre Boya is finally starting to show his class. Lalkamal Bhowmick has been a calming influence in the midfield and Shilton Paul has led the team well from under the bar.   The Mohun Bagan Technical Director this season is maidan veteran Subhash Bhowmick, while the team’s coach is Shankarlal Chakrabarty, a wily customer of many a big match himself. The man often (dis)credited with having ended Shankarlal’s football career, and one of the best foreigners to have ever played in the Kolkata maidans, Chima Okorie, coached the Police AC team this year (after being associated for a short while with Mumbai FC and Mohun Bagan). The team started off well, but a 1–6 defeat to Kalighat MSC made Chima resign in tears.  

Raghu Nandi, a former East Bengal player and a veteran coach who is credited with building teams from scratch, coached Southern Samity this season—a team that played good football, especially against East Bengal. Raghu Nandi joined Southern Samity after being unceremoniously forced to resign from Tollygunge Agragami, soon after he led them to credible results in the 2013-14 season (Subrata Bhattacharya was made his boss at a short notice). His son Rajdeep made his coaching debut this season for Aryan. Another team that deserves a special mention is SAI (East Zone), who, playing without a foreigner, played well against Mohun Bagan and nearly held them to a draw. They were also impressive in a 4-1 defeat of BNR, which was led by youngster Azharuddin Mallick.    

Finally, a word and two about the two teams responsible for taking the league to the wire—Army XI and Tollygunge Agragami. Army XI is a team composed of 20-25-year olds who are engaged in service with the Indian Army. The team does not employ foreigners. However, they put up an impressive show, especially Anthony Chetri in defense and Arjun Tudu in attack. They led the League table till the seventh round, having chalked up impressive victories over teams like Mohammedan, SAI, Southern Samity, and Aryan. They fought East Bengal on an even keel before losing 1-4, courtesy a Dudu Hattrick, and ran Mohun Bagan close, before a Balwant hattrick sunk them. They finished fourth eventually, their best-ever finish in nearly three decades.    

Tollygunge Agragami was coached by the wily Subrata Bhattacharya, considered widely to be one of the best coaches in India. They began with a 0-1 loss to Mohun Bagan, but chalked up impressive wins to lead the League on goal difference going into the last set of matches. They also ended up conceding the least number of goals, courtesy a solid defense led by youngsters like Shanku Guha, Goutam Thakur, and Sheikh Habibur.  In fact, six of the seven goals they conceded were scored by East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, and Mohammedan Sporting. Their 5-3 win against Mohammedan was considered the match of the tournament.  They also had a strong attack led by joint top scorer Koko and Daniel Bidemi, and a defense marshalled by Bello Razzaq.  

The League went down to the wire, and, on the last day, the scenario was such that any of the following three—Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, and Tollygunge Agragami—could have won the League. If they had managed to beat East Bengal, Tollygunge would have been the first team outside East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, and Mohammedan Sporting to win the CFL since Eastern Railway FC, captained by P. K. Banerjee, did it in 1958. A draw in the last match would have seen Mohun Bagan win the League, the first incidence when one of the Big Three would have won the league despite having lost to the other two. However, East Bengal held their nerves, and beat Tollygunge Agragami 2-1. The winner was scored by Ranty Martins, but it was Prohlad Roy, the scorer of the first goal, who stole the limelight.  

Prohlad Roy is one among a bunch of youngsters who benefitted from the Indian Soccer League. This is not because they have been directly selected to play for the League, but because they were mostly taken off the reserve team and selected to play for the first team after the regulars were selected to play for ISL and their contract forbade them to take part in the CFL post September 1. Roy, along with players like Abinash Ruidas, Abhishek Das (all East Bengal), Sukhen Dey and Shouvik Ghosh (Mohun Bagan) represent a new breed of local players who can go far if given the right opportunities. Given the fact that Santosh trophy is now an under-23 tournament, Bengal, led by these youngsters has a good team now which can bring back the glory days. Credit must be given to Colaco and Bhowmick for giving these youngsters the chance to develop. If one needs any confirmation as to the talent of these youngsters, check out this world class goal by Prohlad Roy.

A special mention must be made of the newly promoted club, Pathachakra. After United Sports was disbanded following financial reasons, their coach Nabab Bhattacharya joined a second-division team called Pathachakra. With limited resources and local players (most of whom are under the age of 21), Nabab led the team to second-division glory.

The good, the bad and the ugly

 
The good:  

 
IFA has extensively used lady referees and lineswomen this time. This is to bring down crowd, official, and player violence towards match officials after results or decisions. A star referee this time has been Kanika Barman, a diminutive Government servant who did an excellent job and kept her cool, even in volatile situations. After winning the League, East bengal coach Armando Colaco dedicated the League to the Kashmir flood victims and appealed for donations from club supporters.  

 
The bad:  

Despite all the efforts by IFA, violence by officials and crowds has not really gone away. Mohammedan officials and supporters physically assaulted referee Pranjal Banerjee after the former’s 3-5 defeat to Tollygunge Agragami, as they felt they have been denied a penalty. East Bengal supporters and Southern Samity coach Raghu Nandi were also involved in a similar incident after East Bengal’s narrow 1-0 victory. Subrata Bhattacharya continued allegations that officials had favored East Bengal in the title-deciding match.  

The ugly  
 
Endurance James of BNR made ugly sexist gestures at referee Kanika Barman in their 1-2 defeat at the hands of Mohun Bagan. There were widespread calls from former players, the State Commission For Women, and other football officials to ban James or even deport him, but nothing happened. BNR simply looked away as their best player was involved. Even the lady downplayed the incident, possibly under pressure from the Referee Association and political parties.

 

 

James Endurance vs. Kanika Barman
James Endurance vs. Kanika Barman

Team of the tournament

All said and done, this was an exciting tournament, which ended on a high note for a lot of stakeholders—the officials who were paid well due to better sponsorship, the IFA, the TV channel which telecast the matches live, the players, and, of course, the crowds   The team of the tournament is as follows (strictly based on performances in the CFL and keeping in mind that only two foreigners are allowed per match and keeping a 4-3-3 formation):

 
 

Goalkeeper: Raju Ganguly (Tollygunge Agragami)  
 
Defense:
Abhishek Das and Abhra Mondal (East Bengal), Anthony Chetri (Army XI), Imran Khan (Mohammedan Sporting)
 
 
Midfield:
Lalkamal Bhoumick (Mohun Bagan), Prohlad Roy and Abinash Ruidas (East Bengal)
 
 
Forward:
Balwant Singh (Mohun Bagan), Dudu Omagbemi (East Bengal), Koko Sakibo (Tollygunge Agragami)
  Coach: Armando Colaco (East Bengal)

An Eye on I-League : The Ball gets Rolling

With the top division football league in India commencing this month, intriguing battles await the coming weeks. Debojyoti Chakraborty tracks down the proceedings in the I-League through a monthly review series. Here is the first instalment

The national football league of India, popularly known as the I-League, kick-started on October 6, 2012 with a new sense of expectation. Much like the football revolution taking place in England, a lesser known club – Prayag United, who have not won anything significant till date in their short history – have been making the news by building a strong team, with a string of high-profile signings, to compete in this year’s edition. With the usual favourites, Dempo and some strong contenders like East Bengal, Churchill Brothers and Salgaocar already in the fray, this will surely light up the scene in coming months.

There was no shortage of goals in the first round of matches. Only East Bengal and Sporting Clube de Goa drew blanks. Other than that, each match saw at least two goals with Prayag United’s 5-1 hammering of Air India topping the charts. Prayag United is the team to watch out for this season as they have splashed out cash (with a bit of Middle-East / Russian influence!) and their star man Ranti Martins, captured from Goa, did not disappoint as he started the campaign with a hat-trick. This win was even more impressive considering they had to play with ten men for 70 minutes after their influential centre-half, Bello Rasaq got sent off.

Ranti Martin opens his account with a hat-trick

Similarly impressive were United Sikkim, brainchild of the iconic Indian forward Baichung Bhutia, who twice came back from behind to beat Salgaocar in a 3-2 thriller. Pailan Arrows, the U-19 team put up by the AIFF, showed similar fighting spirit to defeat Mumbai FC by the same scoreline.  ONGC, another lowly football club in the competition, too put up a brave face but lost 2-3 to Pune FC.

There was no such fight seen in the match against Shillong Lajong where Mohun Bagan lost 0-2. After the much hyped pairing of Odafa Okolie and Tolgay Özbey misfired there was not much left in the team to draw inspiration from. Elsewhere, Dempo had the final say in a 2-1 local derby win over Churchill Brothers.

Dempo showed why they are the best club in India for the last few years with a 5-0 thrashing of local rivals Sporting Clube de Goa. Churchill Brothers also kept up the pace by beating ONGC with similar margins. Another title contender, East Bengal, had to rely on a deflected free kick to win by 1-0 against United Sikkim.

Prayag United kept up their good show and in the process brought in more misery for Mohun Bagan with a 2-1 win. This result saw the Kolkata giants with no points from two matches and brought in the first casualty of the season in the form of coach Santosh Kashyap.

Elsewhere, Pailan Arrows kept on surprising people with their back-to-back win, this time against Mumbai FC while Pune FC kept up their pace with another win against Mumbai FC. Shillong Lajong were able to hold on to a 1-1 draw against Salgaocar, thus keeping the Goan club in the bottom half of the table.

So, after two rounds of matches, we have seen 50 goals at an average of more than 3.5 per game and already one of the coaches have been shown the exit door. Kashyap is not going to be the last man sacked this season, one may feel. Dempo sit pretty at the top of the table with team of the season, Prayag United. Joining them are the steady Pune FC and minnows Pailan Arrows, who have won two matches – same number of wins they could manage in the entire last season. Mumbai FC, Mohun Bagan, Air India and ONGC are all looking to open their accounts while Sporting Clube de Goa will be the last team this season to score a goal. But these are early days and we are sure more surprises and drama will be unfolded before we draw the curtains.

Santosh Kashyap: Those were the happy days!

A flurry of goals speaks volumes of the foreign players’ – mainly forwards and advanced playmakers – influence in the I-League. So it is not surprising to see two foreigners with one hat-trick apiece already under their belt forming the partnership up front in our team of the month – Ranti Martins (Prayag United) and Akram Moghrabi (Churchill Brothers). The linkman would be Carlos Hernández who has already mesmerized everyone with his passing and free kick taking skills during his short stint with Prayag United. Beto from Churchill Brothers will give him able company in the middle of park who himself is another superb dead ball specialist. Clifford Miranda of Dempo will occupy the left side of the midfield by virtue of his brace against Sporting Clube de Goa. The last place in the midfield goes to the youngster from Pailan Arrows, Milan Singh Ongnam. Subhasish Roy Chowdhury from Dempo has looked very much assured under the bars and he takes the keeper’s spot. East Bengal is the only team with a clean sheet so far and much of that credit should go to centre-half Uga Okpara. He is partnered by Bilal Sheikh El Najarin from Churchill Brothers who has been strong in defence as well as scored one against ONGC. They are flanked by Sukhen Dey of Prayag United by virtue of his fine defensive display, especially against Mohun Bagan and Khangembam Jeevan Singh from Lajong FC.

Team of the month: Subhasish Roy Chowdhury (Dempo); Sukhen Dey (Prayag United), Uga Okpara (East Bengal), Bilal Sheikh El Najarin (Churchill Brothers), Khangembam Jeevan Singh (Lajong FC); Milan Singh Ongnam (Pailan Arrows), Beto (Churchill Brothers), Carlos Hernández (Prayag United), Clifford Miranda (Dempo); Ranti Martins (Prayag United), Akram Moghrabi (Churchill Brothers).

Indian National League (I-League) 2011-12 Season Review

With the Indian domestic football season having come to a close in May, Debojyoti Chakraborty summarizes the nation’s top-tier football league

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The top-tier football league in India, known as the I-League, came to a close in May and Dempo Sports Club won the 16th edition leaving behind 13 others vying for the honour. The tournament started in 1996-97 as the National Football League to bring in professionalism in an age-old and dying Indian football system. It may seem contrasting but the national team was at its highest ever FIFA ranking of 94 at the start of 1996 but has seen an all-time low of 165[1] in April, 2012. However, football remains a hugely popular sport in India, more so in Kolkata, capital of West Bengal, where it is treated as a religion. Let us start our journey showcasing a recap of the season that just got over.

Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata can host over a hundred thousand spectators

At the start of the league in the fag end of October last year, the big boys grabbed all the headlines. Two clubs from Kolkata, the eternal capital of the game in India, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan were favourites along with the two teams from Goa, the new power centre of Indian football, Dempo and Churchill Brothers. Dempo set the pace early with an all-win record in their first seven matches which included a 5-0 thrashing of Mohun Bagan. They were first beaten by another club from Goa – Churchill Brothers who put up some fine performances – they defeated Shillong Lajong FC 6-0 and Sporting Club de Goa 5-0 – but lacked consistency. On the other hand, East Bengal looked to follow the leaders closely until they were held to a scoreless draw by the lowly Pailan Arrows. This started a patchy stage for the men in Red and Gold as they could only manage four victories in their next 10 encounters. Their archrival Mohun Bagan had a roller coaster ride. After being humiliated by Dempo they themselves netted five against Mumbai FC in an away match. They defeated title contenders East Bengal and Churchill and followed that up by dropping points against mid-tabler Prayag United and struggling Shillong Lajong FC.

As the second half of the fixtures started, teams settled down rather well. Teams vying for the championship got the results they wanted as the relatively smaller teams started to run out of gas. But there was too much of a gap at the top created by now and Dempo maintained the pole position throughout the second half with their superb squad. They are an example of a settled side, the team management and to officials have been there for some time now and their core group of players have remained more or less the same too. This is so rare in this part of the world, but manager Armando Colaco might have to say something to this as he went on to win a record five League titles with Dempo. There was a small hiccup when they lost to Pune FC in Round 19 but Dempo ensured neither of their competitors can get a sniff in by quickly regaining the composure.

Dempo FC – worthy winners

By the time Dempo faced East Bengal in Round 23, other contenders had already faded away. Dempo maintained their 6-point gap over the Red and Gold brigade with a scoreless draw and were almost certain of the title with only three matches to play. Results elsewhere became meaningless even though Mohun Bagan thrashed Shillong Lajong FC 6-1 in the return leg and Sporting Clube de Goa thumped HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Sporting Club) 7-0.

The league was a classic example of a bunch of teams fighting it out. There was not much difference between them as all the top half teams lost nearly equal number of matches (5 or 6). What set Dempo apart is their incredible ability to get a result when the game was all set for a draw. They could not enforce a result in only three of their matches – this number is twice better than any of their challengers. On the other end of the table Pailan Arrows and HAL were easy hunting grounds for others as both the teams struggled to get a win under their belt. HAL was nothing more than a punching bag as they finished rock bottom with eight points in 26 games and a negative goal difference of 49. Pailan Arrows, the U-19 team fielded by All India Football Federation (AIFF), is probably the only team across all the domestic leagues worldwide to be guaranteed a stay in the top flight irrespective of their league standing. So, even though they finished 13th, they stayed up and poor Chirag United Kerala, finishing 12th, was relegated.

The league produced over 500 goals, close to an impressive average of three goals per match. But with the modern era icon Baichung Bhutia in the twilights of his career and no other players showing that much promise, the top goal-scoring chart was dominated by the foreign recruits. In I-League a team can field four foreign players which should include one player from the AFC region. There is a strong influence of Africa in Indian football as they are the main supply line for foreign players. Ranti Martins from Nigeria topped the charts with 32 goals playing for Dempo. Following him was his country man Odafa Okolie of Mohun Bagan with 26 goals. Tolgey Ozbey from Australia netted 18 for East Bengal to finish third. C.S. Sabeeth of Pailan Arrows was the top Indian goal scorer with only nine goals who could feature even in the overall top 10 list.

Ranti Martins – Head and Shoulder above others

On the other end of the field, Indian shot stoppers put up a decent fight and Pune FC goalkeeper Abhra Mondal, who was let go by East Bengal, emerged as the top performer in the absence of their star man, India number one Subrata Paul. Uga Okapara from Nigeria of East Bengal and Mahesh Gowli of Dempo put up some brave displays at the heart of their teams’ defence. And in the midfield area, the honour goes to Pierre Douhou from Ivory Coast of Pune FC.

The I-league has grown in numbers over the years – be it in terms of number of teams participating or the money spent by the sponsors. But the standard of football very rarely lives up to expectations. Still in this millennium, some players have started showing their aspirations for trying their luck abroad in more prestigious European leagues. Most recent of them all is the current national team captain Sunil Chhetri who has been roped in by Sporting Clube de Portugal. This will only help the Sleeping Giant of Asia to come into its own in the football world.


[1] The same was held in May 2007 too. Since April though, the team has moved two spots higher and holds a current ranking of 163

THE DREAM THEME

Asked by a television channel, a day prior to a major international match 11 years ago why he liked cricket better than football, an unpretentious Class IV student practising outside the Eden Gardens clubhouse said, “You have to run less!
 
 
An innocent answer, now overtaken by media hype, sponsorship power and big names. For a sport that has evolved to the T20 format, a more ‘gladiator’ version of the ‘gentleman’s game’ where “sixes and wickets!” have replaced the “blood and kill!” cries of yore, cricket has indeed become popular, so much so that it’s being played from the lanes and by-lanes of the big city to a clearing in a forest in rural India. This year’s Team India win in the World Cup has further bolstered cricket enthusiasm among the youth.
 
Well, enough said about cricket! Amidst this cri-crazy milieu came a strong idea to marry a well-liked but ‘threatened’ sport with an omnipotent and perpetually revered Lady so that the ‘multitudinous offspring’ would breathe, eat and sleep the game. Football became the theme for the recently held worship of Goddess Kali (the lady in question) by a neighbourhood club in south Kolkata. One can say that the help of Goddess Kali was taken to rejuvenate, rekindle and radiate popularity of football.
 
Football has been, is, and will be the first love of Bengal’s youth. So believe the members of the club Eastern Park Netaji Sangha (EPNS) in the Kalikapur/Santoshpur area of south Kolkata who attempted to spread their conviction, apparently aware of the inroads that cricket had made. The annual worship of the deity of power is as accepted an event among the masses as is Durga Puja or Christmas in the West. “Our club has been organising Kali Puja for the last 35 years. It occurred to us that this year, we should have football as the theme in a bid to revitalise sagging popularity levels,” said Joyjit Sinharoy, a marketing manager of a Kolkata-based firm and a member of the club, who has been visiting the Maidan (the green area in the centre of the city) to watch football since he was a kid holding his dad’s hand.
 
Not that Eastern Park has a dearth of enthusiasts for the game. In fact, none of the youth from the neighbourhood chose to go to Eden Gardens on the day India played England in the only T20 match of the series. Instead, they all went to Salt Lake Stadium for the East Bengal-Prayag United (East Bengal being the most popular club football team in this part of the world) tie. It was this love for the game that they chose to propagate, and what better way for them to do so than to take the Goddess’s help?
 
Now, a word about the ‘collaborator’. She is the Hindu Goddess associated with eternal energy and destruction of evil. Kali means ‘the black one’, the consort of Lord Shiva. Kali is considered the Goddess of time and change. Although sometimes presented as dark and violent, her earliest incarnation as a figure of annihilation still has some influence. In Bengal, Kali is venerated in the festival Kali Puja – observed on the new moon day in the month of Ashwin (October-November). It coincides with Diwali, the festival of lights which is celebrated across India by people bursting firecrackers and illuminating their houses with ‘diyas’ (small clay lamps) to signify the triumph of good over evil.
 

It is with such belief that Kali Puja is held every year by the masses. This year, Ashwin’s new moon was on October 26, and over 1,000 pujas were organised in Kolkata itself. However, perhaps the only one that had football as its theme was EPNS. The members’ enthusiasm has survived the onslaught of cricket. If one visits the area any evening, one will find groups of residents in animated discussion, and the subject is always football. Access to live international matches on TV at the clubhouse has helped a lot, not just in keeping enthusiasm alive but also in providing scope to compare Indian football with European or South American. And it was this enthusiasm the neighbourhood wanted to share and spread with the Kali Puja pandal-hopping crowds.
 
How did they go about it? A founding member of the club explained that the decision was taken about two months prior to the Puja. The design, the add-ons and the costs involved were all discussed and finalised. Then came the implementation, with division of labour being executed among the members of the club and residents of the area, both young and old. The concept was visualised by Joyjit, who proposed that the idol of the Goddess, about three feet tall, would be placed in a large ‘football’, which would have an opening outside of which the priest would perform the Puja rituals. The football structure would be three dimensional, made with cardboard panels stuck to a round frame. Three members of the club took five days to construct the football. This was suspended on a stage from rafters above, enabling the structure to sway a bit, even as the pratima (idol) inside remained fixed.
 
Along with the pandal construction, the decorations and frills surrounding it were made as well. Two huge flags, one of Mohun Bagan, the other of East Bengal, the two most popular football clubs in Kolkata, were put up alongside the ‘ball’. Charts were pasted on each flag, on which were written the complete history of all the trophies won by the respective clubs. The entries had ‘which trophy’, ‘which year’ and ‘where the match took place’. The members gathered these details from websites on the internet and then got it verified by officials of the two clubs, the founding member explained.
 
Also put up were the names and pictures of 10 legendary players of each team, as well as two replicas of the IFA shield. “We managed to get hold of prints of rare pictures, which were enlarged and put up on boards at the sides of the pandal. Two important watershed moments of both the clubs were there in pictures. One was Mohun Bagan defeating the British East York regiment in 1911, the first time an Indian club won the IFA Shield, and the second was East Bengal winning the ASEAN Cup in Malaysia in 2003, the first time that an Indian club won the title by defeating Thailand’s BEC Tero Sasana Club 3-1,” Joyjit said, his enthusiasm matching the pride in having been able to procure and display such pictures.
 
The three days of the Puja were filled with football-related songs, like East Bengal’s “Machher Raja Ilish” (the king of fish is hilsa – which is the mascot adopted by East Bengal supporters as opposed to the lobster adopted by Mohan Bagan) and Mohan Bagan’s anthem song depicting the 1911 win. They also played the popular song from the Bengali film Dhanni Meye (Exceptional girl), “Sab Khelar sera, Bangalir tumi Football” (The best of all games for Bengalis is you, football). The evenings were taken up by animated debates, called “Elopatari” (Jumbles), in which the pros and cons of the two teams were discussed threadbare on the public address system.

(Clockwise from Top Left ) 1. Simon Storey, Mohan Bagan player, and his friend at the Puja pandal 2. Simon Storey 3. Flags of East Bengal club / Mohan Bagan club 4. The Puja organisers outside the pandal 5. The Puja pandal with the image of Goddess Kali seen inside the football

A large number of people visited the pandal during the three days, especially after hearing that football had been made the Puja theme. Many admitted that the theme was quite unique. Players like Simon Storey and Nemai Goswami from Mohan Bagan, and Mehtab Hussein from East Bengal, came and saw and congratulated the effort. The number of queries and encouraging messages from the hundreds of visitors over the three days that the Puja was held was ample proof that the objective of rekindling the love for the game had been achieved, not just in Eastern Park but the whole of south Kolkata as well. The spread, the get-up all combined to convey the message that football was still very much alive and kicking!

The Darby Stor(e)y

Crash Without Trace

Mohun Bagan AC, the national club of India, has recently crashed out of the Federation Cup at the preliminary stages. The competition is the 2nd most important tournament in India, after the I-league, with the winner going on to play in the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Champions League. The most successful team in the history of the Federation Cup – 17 final appearances with 12 winner’s glory – crashed out of it after losing two and drawing the last insignificant game of its group matches.

The Prelude

Things were shaping up nicely during the transfer window. Odafa Okoli, the Nigerian goal machine, the most prolific goal scorer in Indian club football, was snatched up. Sunil Chhetry, the gen-X poster boy of Indian football was also roped in. Add Jose Ramirej Barreto – the evergreen Brazilian who has made the club his second home – to the mix, and the Bagan fans would have been elated to have a dream front three. Amidst all these gung-ho approach in the attacking third, the team was lacking in solid defenders big time. More on that later. Steve Darby, the well known face in the ESPN & Star Sports expert panel, was appointed the coach of the team in late July. This is quite normal in this part of the world where the coach is handed over a team built by the officials and is then expected to create magic on the field. The poor Englishman has lost his job barely within 3 month of taking charge of the team. Agreed, he has a lopsided team, but he has done enough to expose its wafer thin defense.

Let’s Try Out

Steve Darby did not have much time to tinker with the team. He could not have known the comfort level of his players, but he surely knew his own. So, the once-an-assistant-to-Bob-Robson opted for a strategy he is most comfortable with. Welcome back 3-5-2, a formation once immortalized by Carlos Billardo in the 1986 World Cup, but since then discarded by modern coaches due to its obvious drawback. So, Mohun Bagan lined up as below:

3-5-2- As confused as it can get

Indian players are used to play in a traditional 4-4-2 (and its flatter, diamond and other variations). They know very little of this unique system. The system deploys 3 centre halfs, 2 central midfielders, one advanced playmaker, 2 wing-backs and 2 forwards. Now, the wing-backs should ideally be the quickest and fastest in the team, as they have to cover the entire length of the pitch constantly. They would drop back while defending and will provide width going forward. Asking for such a stamina from Indian players – and the wing-backs are not actually young kids here – is a bit too much. Then again, the centre halfs require strong understanding among themselves. One of them, Rakesh Masih, was excellent at a midfield position for the last 2 seasons. Suddenly, he has been drafted into another role and he seems all at sea. All is at sea for another man too – Simon Storey, a foreign recruit, who is rapidly getting popular among the fans….of the rival teams. Conceding 8 goals in 3 matches proves a point.

The Killer Blow

The Englishman was not going to bow down. Once an apprentice at the Liverpool academy, he was quite adamant in his approach. In face of increasing pressure from the fans and supporters, the club officials appointed a 3-man technical committee to hawk his movements. Darby thought enough was enough and openly criticised the club officials. There was no turning back from that point. He was released of his services, err…sacked, soon after.

The Road Ahead

A system works well only if it suits the players. A 3-5-2 formation is most likely to help teams who play counter attacking football, drawing opposition into their own half, like Napoli in Serie A last season. Mohun Bagan, a team always expected to win and dominate matches, is well off not using it. Playing against a lone striker will further complicate things for them. They will have a redundant centre half and voids to fill in the midfield area. So, it seems Mohun Bagan will soon revert to a more familiar 4-4-2 (or its near variant 4-4-1-1) formation, more so since the captain of the ship has been discarded. Clubs in India have a sick mindset: “Since I cannot change the players in the middle of a season, let’s change the Coach.” Chopping and changing coaches won’t do any good.  Darby deserved the time to settle in. He has made some mistakes in assessing the ability and flexibility of his squad, but that is natural. Coming into a new country, new club is a tricky affair and he did not have the opportunity to build a squad either. If persisted with, who knows, he might have emerged as the man to end the trophy drought at one of Asia’s oldest clubs!

                                                                                                                                                            

Debojyoti Chakraborty is a hardcore Manchester United & East Bengal fan. You can reach him at debojyoti.chakraborty@gmail.com

1911 – A Seminal Win

Many of the readers here who are not from India, or those in India, may not be aware of an incident that happened on 29th July 1911, just over a 100 years ago. A group of barefoot Indians beat their then political masters, the British, in a game of football. This does not sound earth-shattering, or something that changed the course of history of Indian sports, let alone India in general.

For those of you, however, who have heard about the exploits of Dynamo Kiev against the German jailors during World War II which inspired the movie “Escape to Victory” or seen Bhuvan of “Lagaan” (a Bollywood movie that was nominated and just lost out for Best Foreign Language Oscar in 2002) inspire a rag-tag team to victory against the British, I can only tell this achievement was no less. To my British friends and readers, I must apologize for some rhetoric that can accompany this article, but such was the truth of those times.

The Mohun Bagan players with the IFA Shield 1911

The British had introduced, among other sports, football in India, mostly as a recreational activity. As part of this activity, they had started some tournaments where the teams participated, not because the remuneration was high, but because those were a way to stay competitive and fit. One of those tournaments was the IFA shield, India’s premier domestic tournament and fourth oldest club cup tournaments in the world.

Now, among the sports the British had introduced (cricket, hockey, badminton, tennis etc), Indians had developed the skill to play football faster than the others. The local Bengali businessmen and landlords patronized clubs to take up football. One such club was Mohun Bagan, who had inculcated a system of developing local talent to play football. Most of the Indian clubs played barefoot, which may sound absurd now, but mostly religious connotations and comfort levels ensured they did not wear shoes.

In the lead up to the 1911 IFA Shield, Mohun Bagan had won several smaller tournaments beating their Indian rivals. However, it was the first time they had reached the final, beating a clutch of British teams like St. Xavier’s. In the final, they came up against the team from East Yorkshire regiment. The match had attained legendary proportions keeping in mind the anti-establishment sentiments brewing in the minds of many revolutionary Indians.

East Bengal Club, which is said to represent the sentiments of people from East Bengal (now Bangladesh), was formed much later. In that sense, Mohun Bagan represented the Bengalis, who in 1911 were very much the embodiment of the common Indian man who was subjugated under the rule of the empire. No wonder the match was well publicized even in those days and people came from the far east of undivided Bengal to watch it.

What followed was something memorable as Mohun Bagan came back from a goal down to win the match 2-1. It was a momentous occasion. As the captain of the side Shibdas Bhaduri said to his main striker, Abhilash Ghosh – “football perhaps is the only place where we can kick and injure without fear of retribution”. That summed it up – ‘Sports’, is the greatest leveller of all.

However, this article is not just about the build-up to the game, or the results – they are well documented in several movies, documentaries and write-ups. This is about the after-effects of the match. And the after-effects were not just in sports, but spread to other fields as well. It is said that a number of young boys who watched that match became footballers themselves, most prominent among them being the great Gostha Pal, who was given the sobriquet, “The Chinese Wall” for his great defending, by the British.

As the captain of the side Shibdas Bhaduri said to his main striker, Abhilash Ghosh – “football perhaps is the only place where we can kick and injure without fear of retribution”. That summed it up – ‘Sports’, is the greatest leveller of all.

The Bengali landlords and businessmen, some of whom were forced to live under the thumb of the local collectors, started to express interest and patronize local youth so that they would take up the sport seriously. This was perhaps their way to show their patriotism. Origins of several clubs, most prominent of them being Mohun Bagan’s arch-rivals East Bengal, can be traced thus. Also, the fact that India became a significant force in the world of football in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s can be, in a way, attributed to this. Yes, we have thrown it all away over the years, but nobody can deny the existence of greats like Sailen Manna and Neville D’Souza. For the fact that FIFA didn’t allow barefoot football in the 1950 World Cup, denied India a chance to become the second Asian country to take part in the World Cup.

The Mohun Bagan captain Shindas Bhaduri(left) with a club patron

Culturally too, the result had a great impact. A number of plays, some even outside Bengal, were centred around this match; even in “jatra” and “nautanki” – both styles of theatre, prevalent in different parts of the country. Folk singers and painters from Bengal who moved around from one place to another, used to weave their songs and paintings based on this victory, spreading the news to different corners of the country. Poems were written, eulogizing the players as beacons of hope for a beleaguered nation.

The underground “swadeshi”(indigenous) movements carried out by youths in various parts of the country got a moral boost with the news of this victory. It is said that Binoy Bose, a prominent leader of the Bengal Volunteers, an organization founded by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, one of the greatest leaders the country has seen, used to quote this match result to inspire the youth he led.

The farmers, the boatmen, the fishermen, all of whom were subjugated under the imperial rule in one way or the other and had lost the spine to hit back, were all invigorated with the result. The players became a part of folklore, often exaggerated to giants of men who had carried out a heroic deed. 4 months after that victory on July 29, the British shifted their capital from Calcutta to Delhi on 12 December. Coincidentally the struggle for independence was gathering pace all over the land and the proud Union Jack had to be moved from the skies of Calcutta to a more secure Delhi.

However, here comes the twist in the tale. As the years passed, the sands of time covered and gradually wiped out the traces of the great victory. It didn’t even become a footnote in the history of Indian sports. The players who played and won that match, went back to their daily lives. Gradually, the country moved on, football moved backwards from 1970’s onwards while 1983 onwards, cricket as a sport, completely engulfed the nation’s collective mindset. 100 years on, the match almost found no mention in the national media. Yes, there was some song and dance in the local media, and the players cardboard cut-outs were taken out in a procession in Kolkata (which had changed its name from Calcutta), but that was just about it.

Yes, we pride over a couple of our brilliantly made sports movies, ask umpteen questions about the occasion when Pele and Stallone acted together, but we have been guilty of having this wonderful result shift out of our minds – a result significant not just for its nationalistic undertones, but also for the fact that it is one of the greatest underdog-victory stories in sports, an occasion when the barefoot David slew the Goliath. It’s not too late; let us cherish it once more in its centenary year.

I do, and I am a die-hard East Bengal fan.

The Immortal Eleven on that day

Hiralal Mukherjee (GK)

Bhuti Sukul         Sudhir Kumar Chatterjee

Manmohon Mukherjee                   Rajendranath SenGupta                            Nilmadhab Bhattacharya

Srischanda Sarkar                                                      Bijaydas Bhaduri

Jitendranath Roy                                  Abhilas Ghosh                                             Shibdas Bhaduri

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