Action at a recent East Bengal-Mohammedan Sporting match

Mohun Bagan club secretary Anjan Mitra believes that the names of football clubs East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting are communal and anachronistic. Reacting to the clashes between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan fans recently at the Salt Lake stadium, Mitra said names like East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting, which emphasise specific regional origins or religious beliefs, were to be done away with. He added the Indian Football Association (IFA) could think of renaming such clubs to help purge acts of “hooliganism” and encourage “clean football”.

Then why did Manchester United write to its supporters before a Champions League game with AS Roma in 2007 to avoid Rome’s tourist spots as they were in “real danger of being attacked by the ‘ultra’ fans of AS Roma”? Which club was communal or anachronistic in its name? And despite that, the violence happened. Fans of Manchester United clashed with the Italian police. Man U fans claimed that they were attacked by the police.

But Mitra could be right about the origin of East Bengal’s and Mohammedan’s names.

Community pride

East Bengal Club was born in a fit of anger, which has left a permanent mark on the club’s character. Mohammedan Sporting was born to represent Muslims.

East Bengal was formed in 1920 when Jorabagan Club official Suresh Chandra Chaudhuri stormed out of the club, because its star half-back Sailesh Bose was dropped from the June 28 Jorabagan-Mohun Bagan match in the Coochbehar Cup. Chaudhuri pressed for Bose’s inclusion, but apparently the fact that Bose was from “East Bengal” was held against him. The phrase was bandied about a couple of times in the heated exchange between Chaudhuri and the rest. Chaudhuri broke off (Bangaler raag — the temper of a man from East Bengal — is a legend in Bengali culture).

He was joined by Bose, Maharaja of Santosh Manmatha Nath Chaudhuri (after whom the Santosh Trophy is named), Ramesh Chandra (Nasha) Sen and Aurobinda Ghosh and they established the new club on August 1, 1920. It was proudly, if predictably, christened “East Bengal”, as all the founders hailed from that region of Bengal.

“There was a divide between Bangals (from East Bengal) and Ghotis (from West Bengal) even in the 1920s because of sub-regional lifestyle variations,” says Somen Mitra, author of In Search of an Identity: the History of Football in Colonial Calcutta. But with the inauguration of the new club, the divide found a permanent register and changed Bengali life forever, which is one good reason East Bengal’s name should stay, feel many.

Football in Bengal would be no fun without the East Bengal vs Mohun Bagan debate. “Bangali howar moja ta chole jaabe (the fun of being a Bengali will be gone),” says Manojit Das, a former India footballer who has played for all three clubs (East Bengal, Mohammedan Sporting and Mohun Bagan) and now coaches the East Bengal junior team. “I know this advocate at the high court from my locality who is a Mohun Bagan fan. He returns from the court around 4pm and looks around for people to have an East Bengal-Mohun Bagan discussion. His life revolves around the club,” he says.

“This Ghoti-Bangal rivalry was at its peak during the late 1940’s, just around Independence, and in the 70’s during the Bangladesh war. A lot of refugees were coming into India from East Bengal (or East Pakistan). For the refugees, East Bengal, the club, symbolised hope. East Bengal’s game was something to take pride in,” says Gautam Roy, a football statistician and historian.

Mohammedan Sporting Club was known by other names first. Nawab Aminul Islam, with other Muslims, had founded the Jubilee Club in 1887, two years before Mohun Bagan was established. The name was changed to Crescent Club and Hamidia Club. Finally, it became Mohammedan Club in 1891.

“It’s older than Fifa!” Fifa chief Sepp Blatter had exclaimed when he came to the city last year.

The club was very poor as another club, Muslim Institute, hogged the patronage of elite Muslims. It was only after the team started to perform well that funds started to flow. Mohammedan Sporting went on to become the first Indian team in the 1930s to don studded boots in the second half of a rain-hit derby against East Bengal.

Local pull

Thus Mohammedan Sporting was born to consolidate a community’s pride and East Bengal Club was born of hurt regional pride. Plus East Bengal, the geographical entity, doesn’t exist any more. “After all there is no East Bengal province anymore. And we are all Bengalis, not Ghoti and Bangal. And Mohammedan Sporting is not biased against any religion. So why keep the names?” asks Mitra.

True, but does that call for a name change?

The idea provokes violent reaction in those who believe that the clubs are sacred. Describing East Bengal club as a “temple”, the club’s current football secretary Swapan Bal says: “How can we change the name of the place where we come to pray every day?”

Mohammedan Club secretary Sultan Ahmed says he was upset with Mitra. “Mohammedan Sporting Club is a slice of Calcutta’s heritage. Would we change the name of Victoria Memorial? It’s blasphemy,” he fumes.

And which football club worth its salt, except Arsenal, is not attached to a place name, which implies a community?

Shubho Sarkar, a media professional who never misses any East Bengal match, says: “Globally almost every club is named after a place. From Juventus in Italy to Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain to Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea in England. Barcelona supporters think of themselves as Barcelona supporters first and Spanish second.”

The violence, of course, is more inside the heads of the fans, than in the names. Violence and clashes are de rigueur in football matches. In May this year, following a 2-0 defeat in the UEFA Cup final by Russian side Zenit St Petersburg in Manchester, 100,000 frustrated fans of Scottish club Glasgow Rangers took to the city’s streets, some hurling bottles and cans. A Russian fan was stabbed. Thirty men were arrested.

But changing the names of the clubs did not figure on the agenda of corrective measures, for those who will commit violence carry it inside their heads, which they will unleash, football or no football, regional allegiance or not.

“You cannot change a club’s name because of such a statement (by Mitra). That would be very silly. East Bengal is a brand and you can’t change a name like that,” says midfielder Alvito D’Cunha of the club. “Most people have grown up watching and supporting the game with their families. Changing the name will mean that the tie is lost,” says Manojit Das.

Changing always

Though Calcuttans — and Indians in general — are quite prone to doing it, many feel that changing names of any entity is stupid and in many cases, futile.

“It’s as if we are constantly trying to escape history. Changing the name of the city or its streets or the clubs is well-intentioned but pointless, since the sentiments which cause the problem remain and don’t go away with the name,” says Rimi B. Chatterjee, who teaches English at Jadavpur University and is the author of the novel The City of Love.

“It’s so pointless to change the names of the streets. Who owns these names? It’s the people who use them. Who calls Ballygunge Circular Road Pramathesh Barua Sarani or Camac Street Abanindranath Thakur Sarani? And with our multitude of Banerjees, Chatterjees, Ghoshs, Boses… how is one ever supposed to find one’s way across the city?” she asks.

“We don’t use these names and when foreigners come to visit they can’t find their way since the taxi driver’s don’t know the names and neither do we. It’s unwelcoming, annoying and just plain unfriendly,” says Chatterjee.

“The very idea of changing Calcutta to Kolkata and Bombay to Mumbai is communal. As if we are trying to imply that Calcutta is only for Bangalis by calling it Kolkata and Bombay only for Marathis by calling it Mumbai,” says content writer Pallavi Banerjee.

“It’s like saying that if my father’s name is Gobardhan, he should change it because it’s unfashionable. That’s preposterous,” stresses advertising professional and an East Bengal fan Satinath Chatterjee.

“Or change the names of the IPL teams and clubs like the Parsi Club, Rajasthan Club and Bombay Gymkhana,” adds Gautam Roy.

And when Mohun Bagan won the IFA shield famously in 1911, the year of King George V’s coronation and his assumption of the title of the emperor of India, playing barefoot against a host of booted and brawny British teams, there were seven men from East Bengal, one from Uttar Pradesh and three from West Bengal in the team.

That could shake the foundations of Mohun Bagan-East Bengal rivalry.

Anjan Mitra, though, is still “respectfully” adamant. “I had no intention of hurting any club’s feelings, but the violence that breaks out among the fans is scaring other viewers away. People think it’s unsafe to watch a match from the grounds. Changing the names may be a step in the right direction.”

The correct brigade

Perhaps he would be happy to note that some Calcutta clubs here have already changed their names.

Some, indeed, for political correctness, to rise above narrow parochial identity. North Calcutta Club, a Dum Dum-based club formed in 1932, changed its name to Aikya Sammalani to propagate the “united we stand” mantra around after Independence, says Mukul Das, an official of the club. It is struggling to fight its way back into first division football, but is doing well in cricket.

India Club, founded by Nitish Ganguly, changed its name in the mid-1950s from Bhawanipore Vijayi Sangha at the insistence of historian Jadunath Sarkar. India Club plays soccer in the fifth division of the Calcutta league currently.

Rajasthan Club, formerly called the Marwari club, also changed its name for the same reason.

And Tollygunge Agragami was called Manaksia Tollygunge Agragami in the late 1960s, DTDC Tollygunge Agragami in 2002-03, Desire Tollygunge Agragami last year and is currently known as Jain Group Tollygunge Agragami.

But when small clubs change their names, especially for reasons of money, no one bothers.

So what should East Bengal be called? West Bengal?

But Anjan Mitra must be happy remembering that East Bengal and Mohun Bagan have both changed their names. They are Kingfisher East Bengal and McDowell Mohun Bagan respectively.

timeless wonders

East Bengal and Mohammedan are not the only anachronistic names in Calcutta football, going by Mohun Bagan secretary Anjan Mitra’s standards.

Wari Athletic Club is a fit candidate. It was formed in Dhaka in 1898 and named after the locality where the city’s airport later came up. The Calcutta club of the same name was formed after Partition by five members of the Dhaka club who settled here.

George Telegraph was named after George V, who was on the throne in England when the training institute was formed in Calcutta in 1925. Five years later, the football team was started. It is now referred to as Camellia, after its sponsors.

“There are demands at All India Football Federation (AIFF) meetings to change the name of the Indian Football Association (IFA), which is actually the state football association. Thankfully, such moves have been thwarted as a lot of history and sentiments are attached with the name,” says Subrata Dutta, the general secretary of the club and vice-president of AIFF.