Kolkata: In a week’s time, the much-awaited Indian Super League will start in Goa from November 20 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike the previous six seasons, this time India's top division football league starts anew. For the first time, century-old Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan and East Bengal will be seen locking horns with ISL hotshots.
Seven years back when the ISL kicked off amid much fanfare, it was held aloft as the lifeline for the ever drowning Indian football. It was widely believed that only ISL can restore the golden days of Indian football with the I-League, started in 2007 as a replacement of the commercially decaying National Football League, seemingly failing to be a sustainable national league of the country, even though clubs from across India were vying for the crown in it. Partially for the poor quality of football and mainly for hobbling marketing strategy, I-League failed.
AIFF, being in a deep financial crisis for which they have only themselves to blame, went for a complete overhaul of the system in 2010, signing a 15-year private deal with Football Sports Development Limited, a joint venture of IMG-Reliance, valued Rs 700 crore. It was a very confidential deal which took the media almost a decade to expose.
Started in 2014 at a renovated Salt Lake Stadium in presence of Reliance Foundation and FSDL chairperson Nita Ambani, ISL within a couple of years found it at the same place which was the main reason for I-League's decline, quality of football. Stadiums, which were once packed with capacity crowds, slowly became empty. Except for a few matches, the initial buzz around ISL was missing in most of the encounters.
A big boost was required to make sure Rs. 4.58 billion worth ISL's relevance in Indian football stays afloat. In 2017, AIFF, the biggest beneficiary of ISL in terms of money, took up the task in hand to help ISL get the top-tier tag from Asian Football Confederation (AFC), replacing I-League. In 2019, privately owned ISL replaced I-League as India's premier football league under the gaze of AFC and FIFA, while the AIFF run I-League was put down as second division. However, the promotion-relegation system, a fundamental feature of professional football leagues, was given a pass till 2024-2025.
This unjustified system saw many I-League clubs from the first division and second division coming to inexistence. This system saw an already struggling Indian football coming to relics, with smalls clubs struggling to survive. And their struggle eventually resulted in the abolishment of state leagues and prestigious knock out tournaments across India. Even Durand Cup, the oldest existing football tournament in Asia, IFA Shield, the fourth oldest competition in the history, Calcutta Football League, oldest football league in the continent, Federation Cup and the Santosh Trophy, the most important tournament of India before NFL started in 1996, fell prey to AIFF's stepmotherly treatment.
In the meantime, the boon of Indian football - prestigious regional tournaments like DCM Trophy (Delhi), Rovers Cup (Mumbai), Nizam Gold Cup (Hyderabad), Bordoloi Trophy (Assam) and Sait Nagjee Trophy (Kozhikode) - coming to nullity not only inflicted another jolt to the game's popularity at pan India level but also broke the supply chain of young talent. It was indeed a blow to the wellbeing of Indian football.
Since ISL saw fans lacking enthusiasm and the I-League was made India's second division, an effort was made to bring up historic Mohun Bagan and East Bengal in the fold of ISL. It is clear that except for Bengaluru FC, Kerala Blasters and NortEast United, no other club has been able to form its own fan base. But their fan following is not as big as the Kolkata giants.
While crores of fans of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan were unhappy of not seeing their clubs in the ISL, FSDL was facing the brunt of poor attendance. So, Nita Ambani, AIFF and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took initiative to complete the process of Mohun Bagan and East Bengal's arrival in ISL. 131-year-old Mohun Bagan merged with six-year-old ATK, while East Bengal joined the league as SC East Bengal. For FSDL, it is an opportunity to monetize the system riding on these two immensely popular clubs.
Asked how this will help Mohun Bagan and East Bengal going forward, former India Football Team captain Victor Amalraj, who spent valuable 14 years of his life in Kolkata playing for East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting Club, said, "ATK wants to align with Mohun Bagan because they want to capitalise on the name - Mohun Bagan and its fame. Nobody knows who ATK is. As for both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, it was unavoidable. These are century-old clubs, they have huge fan bases, still, their management failed to capitalise on that, and struggled to find sponsors."
"You can't stick to the old concept forever. You have to embrace modernity and technology, and the trend. But I am fine with this because you have to align with new things. It is a welcome change. It will help Mohun Bagan and East Bengal to carry forward their legacy in Indian football," Amalraj said.
But what next followed is ridiculous. ISL authorities couldn't fathom fans' emotions for their favourite clubs. Mohun Bagan became ATK-MB, while East Bengal Football Club was named SC East Bengal. In both cases, the logo was tweaked and their foundation years were erased. Objections were raised but FSDL just overlooked it.
With this single move, Mohun Bagan Athletic Club's 131 years old football history was doomed and East Bengal, which completed its centenary in 2020, saw their much-loved logo wearing a changed look. In both cases, history was ruined. As this change was not vehemently protested, ISL got a respite from it.
However, ISL authorities had committed a blunder by taking fans of both clubs for granted and they thought of giving a pass to the history. Just after archrivals Mohun Bagan and East Bengal joined ISL, FSDL came up with an ad posted on its social media page featuring BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, who is also a co-owner of ATK. It was meant to woo Bengali speaking football fans. But the ad turned out to be highly controversial and it faced the wrath of Bengali football fans.
The moment the video was aired, Mohun Bagan fans vehemently objected to its content. They raised objections on a part where a Mohun Bagan jersey is dipped into a washing machine along with an ATK jersey. The script of the ad also spoke of a "six-year-old emotion" that fans found to be offensive since Mohun Bagan have an illustrious 131 years of history.
Just days before this ad premiered, it was revealed that the team would wear 3 stars on the left sleeve of their jersey under the ISL logo, with the words 'Champions 2019-20' written under them. This branding, along with the advertisement, created an impression that this team was a continuation of ATK FC and an attempt to put an end to Mohun Bagan, which directly contradicts the official club registration and licensing policy which shows that ATK Mohun Bagan FC are using the credentials of Mohun Bagan, while ATK's affiliation has been dissolved.
This incident made FSDL realize that any attempt to play with Bengali fans' emotions would be a bite on their own legs. Both ISL, ATK-MB and Mohun Bagan Athletic Club management had to issue an apology on their social media pages. The Mohun Bagan fanbase perceived the mishandling of the branding and advertising of their team as an attempt to undermine their club's legacy and heritage. They expressed their disagreement with these branding efforts online and at one point multiple fan groups were planning to organize public gatherings to hold protests.
These incidents forced club officials to consult with FSDL and official broadcaster Star Sports, and they eventually removed the '3 Stars'. On November 12, ATK-MB released a new 'Maroon and Green' shirt, the iconic Mohun Bagan jersey, with '3 Stars' removed and the 'Champions' embossed below the team logo. "It is in honour of the two victorious clubs and their triumphs last season in their respective leagues," ATKMB posted a statement on their official Twitter handle.
It was only made possible by the protests by passionate fans.
This unwanted development not only caused a furore among football fans in West Bengal but also put Bengal's once-famous football culture in a grim light.
Both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, which were founded by a group of notable Bengalis for the physical development of Bengali youths, are now owned by companies whose ownerships belong to non-Bengali residents of Kolkata. So, what led to this situation today? What effect will this change in control of football operations in Mohun Bagan and East Bengal have?
Sports historian Dr. Subhransu Roy, a professor of history at Sonarpur Mahavidyalaya, said, "At present football is a highly corporatised field. It is a business and an employment opportunity for many. In a nutshell, it is a huge industry. Everywhere in the world, if you see, clubs are now registered as 'Limited Company' as per FIFA rule. The club culture is no more existent. Clubs are now limited companies. In Europe, traditional clubs manage to capitalise on their fan bases and become a company on their own. Such is their strong position that they get the option to pick sponsors for their club. However, they don't comprise their brand name for the sake of sponsors. But in Kolkata, this culture didn't develop."
"Moreover, those who run the club here didn't adapt to the modern culture, as a result; they couldn't develop their clubs into brands. At the same time, there are not many big Bengali businessmen. Now, for non-Bengali businessmen, it is difficult to understand the emotion of Bengali fans for the clubs. So, it was imminent. If Mohun Bagan and East Bengal had been successful in branding themselves, today they didn't have to sell their clubs because all you need to join ISL is money, a stadium, that they have, and an academy, that both clubs failed to build over the century," he added.
Though the hullabaloo died down, and all are now waiting for the 2020-21 season, one question, which is going unanswered, have to be asked- If IMG-Reliance, decides to close the tournament after a few years in the light of losses or less profit, what will happen to Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, and the Indian football? Will AIFF be able to buy ISL from them to run the national football league of India?
--- By Sudipta Biswas
