Kolkata: What makes a derby? Two clubs in the same city, but rivals on the field? I wish it were just that. I wish it were just football and once the whistle blows for full time, supporters shake hands and walk back home.
There is one important factor that vindicates the true feel of a derby, in India’s case, the eternal clash between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. It’s the craze, it’s the excitement that bring supporters to the ground to cheer for their teams. And the aura surrounding a derby is unparalleled. Yes, the derby yesterday at the Kanchenjunga Stadium in Siliguri was a boring affair ending in a dull draw, but that was a one-off case. A derby is a derby and it has its high intensity flavour that enters the household of a football crazy family.
A derby, as mentioned before is not about shaking hands once the match is over. Never was it, never will it be. Derbies need more at stake. They need to have a socio-economic impact. They need to be eternally divisive. Ask anyone about his top choice derbies and I can assure you that the clubs involved will resemble something beyond football.
FIFA has a well-documented list of the Top 50 derbies, but there is no way any of us can rank any derby ahead of another. For a country like India (ranked 130 by FIFA) with no significant footprint in international football, to have a derby making that list is an achievement. For example, the Mohun Bagan versus East Bengal derby – a rivalry borne out of so many factors, so vicious and competitive that despite India’s crumbling stadiums, dwindling crowds and the bureaucratic mess that is Indian football administration, it still manages to make the list. It is part of the the list just based on how much it divides the city of Kolkata, how despite being denied the basic amenities by the administration, thousands make their way to the grounds and how passionately they wear their colours. The passion was perhaps on display more than ever on days like yesterday, when close to 35,000 people travelled nearly 600 km to Siliguri to watch their teams play.
The question is: What makes this derby so special? In my eyes, it is a bizarre mix. It is important to understand what makes these fans identify themselves with these clubs, to start off. Mohun Bagan and their historic IFA Shield triumph of 1911 resonated across a colony and their fight for independence. It had everything for a true David and Goliath story. Well-fed, boot wearing Englishmen against the bare feet scrawny boys from Bengal – a nationalist dream against ruthless colonial powers.
East Bengal with their iconic flaming torch representing their protest of the biased ‘one Indian club’ rule of the British led IFA. Post-independence the scenario changed. Partition in 1947 and the Muktijuddho of 1971 led to a big influx of refugees from Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan) into West Bengal. Both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal were already established as rivals in Indian football by then, but these political events changed the landscape immensely.
Suddenly, it was the suave and urban Bagan fan (Ghoti) against the homeless yokel (Bangal) supporting East Bengal. The fish eating Bengali even claimed his stake to his favourite fish. The Bangal’s ilish (hilsa) made him remember his beloved Padma river in Bangladesh. The Ghoti’s chingri (prawn) was available in abundance in the traditional Kolkata (then Calcutta) fish markets.
What make this rivalry very special are the underlying currents of this rivalry. Take any great rivalry in world football and you will find East Bengal and Mohun Bagan in it. Consider Red Star versus Partizan in Belgrade, Serbia (or Yugoslavia for that matter). The Serb nationalism of Red Star up against the pro-Yugoslav Partizan – the craving of millions of Bengali refugees for their homeland against a local populace trying to maintain its status quo. Look at the silk wearing Olympique Lyonnais versus the miners of AS Saint-Étienne. Or, the Argentinian Superclasico where the immigrant Italian community evolved into the ‘Xeneizes’ or Boca Juniors supporters and the originals of River Plate came to be called as ‘Los Millionaires’.
Similarly, you have the affluent north of Kolkata, a bastion of Mohun Bagan against the colonies of the homeless in the south, supporting East Bengal in Calcutta now Kolkata. With time, these stark social boundaries have been erased in every one of these clubs. What has remained is the identity which they were built upon. Mohun Bagan have the identity of the original Bengal nationalism and the urge to be the flag bearer forever. East Bengal have become the umbrella of a lost population.
Indian football will remain plagued with hundreds of problems in the coming days and among them, a political stronghold on all important positions, selling itself to IMG-Reliance and the ever-present shambolic infrastructure. What will not change is this Boro Match (Big Match). The utopian Bengali looks to break free of the everyday hassles by travelling 600 km to support his favourite team. The supporters fill in 131,000 people in a 120,000-capacity Yuva Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata. It’s all done to preserve their eternal identity and fulfill the criteria of a true derby.