Durand Cup, Emami East Bengal vs ATK Mohun Bagan: ‘Band of Misfit Toys’ up Against ‘Galaxy of Stars’ in Kolkata Derby

All roads in Kolkata lead to the mecca of Indian football as the grandest of clashes takes centre stage at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan.

ATK Mohun Bagan and Emami East Bengal are slated to face off in the fiercest of derbies in the oldest tournament in Asia.

A galaxy of stars of the ‘green and maroon’ up against the band of misfit toys of the ‘red and yellow’ with neither team having had a good run up until now in the 131st edition of the Durand Cup.

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The two sides are the most successful clubs in the 131-year-old tournament, having won it a record number of 16 times.

The build-up though has not been ideal.

ATK Mohun Bagan suffered a shock loss to Rajasthan United FC 3-2 and then drew Mumbai City FC 1-1, whereas Emami East Bengal played out goalless draws with Indian Air Force and Rajasthan.

ATKMB are a settled side with arguably the best of Indian talent along with big names from European football. EB, on the other hand, have banded together a team at the last minute, having had to wait for an investor to finalise matters. They have loaned in players from other teams to form a squad that hasn’t had time to gel as former India coach Stephen Constantine at the helm asking repeatedly for patience.

History of Kolkata Derby

The Kolkata derby, also known as the ‘Boro Match’, or the ‘big match’ in Bengali – is often compared to the ‘Old Firm Derby’ between Rangers and Celtic in Scotland, and likewise, the roots of the rivalry lie in the nuanced cultural differences in the supporters of either clubs.

Mohun Bagan Sporting Club was born on 15 August 1889, out of a need to provide the youth of Kolkata the chance to better their physical and athletic prowess at a meeting of the intelligentsia of the aristocratic class at Mohun Bagan Villa. East Bengal’s inception, on the other hand, was out of a much more dire situation, akin to Everton’s birth out of Liverpool in England.

At the fateful 1920 Cooch Behar Cup semi-final match, Jorabagan FC decided not to field their star player, who hailed from Dhaka (which is now the capital of Bangladesh), against Mohun Bagan. Jorabagan’s then vice-president Suresh Chandra Chaudhuri wanted his inclusion but his appeals were ignored. Spited, he decided to resign from his position at the club and formed ‘East Bengal’, owing to the founding members’ origins, on August 1 of the same year.

The administrators of the club alleged an inherent bias from people in Kolkata towards Eastern Bengalis, with most parts coming under Bangladesh since the inception of the club. The dialect was mocked and the people were referred to as ‘Bangals’ and in response, they named the residents ‘Ghoti’.

The feeling of unease between the two sets of people intensified more, due to large sections of people migrating during the partition, which was based on religious identities. The influx of people from Eastern Bengal to Kolkata and the surrounding suburbs intensified the growing divide.

Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal – Record

The first-ever meeting between the two great sides came on 28 May 1925 in a Calcutta Football League encounter as East Bengal defeated Mohun Bagan 1-0 thanks to a first-half goal from Nepal Chakravarty. Newspaper reports have contradicted this claim that the first meeting of the eternal rivals actually happened back in the Cooch Behar Cup on August 8, 1921, with the game ending goalless and the replay on August 10, 1921, resulted in Mohun Bagan beating East Bengal 3-0.

The first time the ‘Derby’ was held first outside Kolkata was on December 28 in 1957 at New Delhi in the semi-final of the Durand Cup, as MB and EB played out a goalless draw and in the replay, two days later, East Bengal won 3-2.

The last four meetings between EB and MB were held behind closed doors in Goa in the Indian Super League with ATK Mohun Bagan winning all the encounters. With fans in attendance, however, the teams meet in 2020 as Mohun Bagan defeated East Bengal 2-1 in the I-League. The reverse fixture was slated to be played on March 15 of the same year but had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Fans will be back, although not in record numbers, as the two biggest clubs in India go at it again, in an unrivalled derby.

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