“The City of Joy” as referred to by some who visit this part of India. Kolkata for a football fanatic does fulfill the name which has been given to it. How did this all start? Did Kolkata always have so much love for football?
In 1877 when Calcutta was still capital of British India, a 10 year old boy named Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari was fascinated by a ball game which was being played between a group of Europeans in the heart of Kolkata at those times. Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari started watching this game more often with his mom, one day the football came towards him and he happily kicked it back into play. That my friends was the first ever Indian who did ever kick a football and Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari was a Bengali.
This gave Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari the name of father of Indian Football who did later on set up several football clubs in Kolkata. After setting up his clubs Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari did challenge the English with a game of football, there were many triumphs that Nagendra had in this point of time when Sovabazar Club defeated East Surrey Regiment 2-1 in the 1892 Trades Cup this was an absolutely humongous result for Sovabazar. We saw something quite similar a year later when Fort William Arsenal which was a team made from Indian workers won the Coochbehar Cup. The fairy-tale continued when Mohan Bagan which was established in 1889 won the Gladstone Cup in 1905. From 1906-1908 Mohan Bagan started to win the British-instituted Trades Cup. This did create a love affair and strong bond between the Bengalis and football. With these triumphs Mohan Bagan had the Bengalis started believing that they could outplay the English. Therefore the stage was set for an ultimate assault when Mohan Bagan lifted the 1911 IFA Shield defeating Yorkshire Regiment in the final and 4 other English Clubs in the competitions previous rounds. This victory completely changed Footballs status in Kolkata.
With this we can draw how big a change football did bring to the Bengali mentality, and with the love and passion with the beautiful game coming to Bengal and moreover Kolkata. With this love we could see the affection for the sport for a city like Kolkata if you do visit a classic Kolkata Derby which is famously held between Mohan Bagan and East Bengal the setting and mood inside the stadium is absolutely electrifying to say the least the crowds go wild, Mexican waves all around is a total party occasion. This isn’t just a match of recent history it is the oldest match played in Asia and FIFA has it listed in the most attended matches in the world.
So one can say Kolkata is among the top footballing cities around the world. As the whole of North-London is jammed when there is the North-London Derby, Madrid and Barcelona with all their security for the el clasico similarly is Kolkata with the Mohan Bagan VS East Bengal. Kolkata isn’t just a city with a great past but also great potential for the forcible future.