Sourav Ganguly on Saturday was seen in an advertisement by ISL which created quite a havoc in the social media. The Mohun Bagan fans didn’t take it lightly and wants justice as they believe the advertisement disrespected their mother club.
The very first chapter of this story began in the month of January when both the powerhouse of Indian football, ATK FC & Mohun Bagan Athletic Club decided to merge their footballing entity and to form a new club, ATK Mohun Bagan FC.
Mohun Bagan fans didn’t take this very well and protested against this merger right from the beginning but eventually accepted it when Sanjiv Goenka gave clarity that the logo and the colours of Mohun Bagan will remain intact with the newly formed club.
Everything was going in the right direction until few days back when ATK Mohun Bagan was seen wearing 3stars on their practice kit depicting ATK’s three ISL trophies. Mohun Bagan fans lost their calm as it was then known by everyone that ATK FC is no more a football entity as they dissolved their club in the IFA office. The fans raised a valid question that if ATK FC is dissolved then why will they accept 3 stars on their kit as they strongly believe that ATK Mohun Bagan is the continuation of Mohun Bagan 131 years of legacy and ATK FC or their previous achievements have nothing to do with it. Fans started revolting on social media but it wasn’t a disciplined one.
Things quickly went out of the hands when the fans on Saturday saw an advertisement for the upcoming ISL featuring ATK Mohun Bagan’s one of the directors, Sourav Ganguly. In this short advertisement, it is seen that both Mohun Bagan’s and ATK FC’s jerseys are dumped in a washing machine and then both the set of fans wearing the Green and Meroon jersey. The fans believe that it’s a disrespect to their mother club and the advertisement makers should have been sensible in making such an advertisement. Fans on social media are also questioning that how come one of their directors agree to do such an advertisement which eventually disrespects their club!
Debashis Dutta, the director of ATK Mohun Bagan FC later issued a statement saying, “Our senior management has taken up all the issues very strongly with ISL who in turn have assured us that they will resolve them at the earliest”.
Will the voice of the fans be heard? If so, how long will it take? The questions are all floating in the internet. Until then Mohun Bagan fans demand to boycott ATK and everything associated with them.