A demotion to the second division, a backbreaking struggle to land a telecast partner, a never-ending battle to allure sponsors \u2013 the I-League has faced quite a few challenges this past year, ever since the AIFF recognised the Indian Super League as India\u2019s premier division of league football. But nothing has been as hard-hitting to thousands of football fans in the Mecca of Indian football than the news of Mohun Bagan opting to sell eighty per cent of its stakes to the RPG Group which runs the ATK franchise in the Indian Super League, paving the path towards the first-ever merger of an I-League and ISL club.<\/p>\n
The architects of this merger, which will officially take place on 1 June 2020 and see the new entity participate in the 2020\/21 Indian Super League, will tell you this is preserving the legacy of Mohun Bagan, a club founded in 1889. That, in any case, without this intervention the club, which has been floundering and struggling for a few years now \u2013 ironically since the introduction of the ISL \u2013 may not have survived much longer.<\/p>\n
But make no mistake, regardless of what the corporate spin on this merger is, this is the death of Mohun Bagan as we know it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much as we want the romance of the Maroon and Green jersey and it\u2019s 130-year-old tradition to continue, there comes a time when romance almost invariably requires a partner named practicality,\u201d said Mohun Bagan secretary Swapan Sadhan Bose in announcing the deal.<\/p>\n
Like when Wimbledon was sold, moved and re-branded as MK Dons, it may technically have been the same club, the same entity, but the spirit and heart of the club were gone.<\/p>\n
So it is for Mohun Bagan, without the relocation.<\/p>\n
The Mohun Bagan name may continue in a bastardised version, with the new club to be known as ATK-Mohun Bagan, but the new owners haven\u2019t yet committed to keeping the club\u2019s historic logo and colours \u2013 two iconic features that are so fundamental to the identity of Mohun Bagan.<\/p>\n
Welcome to the capitalist world of modern football, where history and tradition have a price and can be sold to the highest bidder.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe jersey, logo and name is yet to be decided. As we said in the statement, the new football club will have\u00a0brand names of ATK and Mohun Bagan,\u201d a top ATK official was reported to have said.<\/p>\n
Bhaichung Bhutia is a former captain of both Mohun Bagan and the Indian national team and is regarded by many as perhaps the finest Indian player ever produced.<\/p>\n
While he is pragmatic about the decision to merge the two clubs, he admits it would be a huge mistake if the new majority owners \u2013 RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group (RPSG) \u2013 don\u2019t keep the Mohun Bagan name, colours and logo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat branding has to be done properly. The deal was all about buying the identity and history. With that history, you will have millions of fans across the world. That you will have to keep in mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cATK are just five-six years\u2019 old. It\u2019s not a very old club. I don\u2019t think ATK really have that identity. It started with Atletico de Kolkata, now it has become Amar Tomar Kolkata (ATK). I don\u2019t think it will be a big loss for them if they lose that identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat (Mohun Bagan\u2019s) identity should not go. I don\u2019t think Sanjiv Goenka will do that mistake because for him buying Mohun Bagan is buying an identity. If he makes that mistake of losing that identity, that will be the biggest ever loss,\u201d the former India captain said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that they use Mohun Bagan\u2019s colour, logo, and the name. They should not use ATK\u2019s colour, they should use green and maroon. They should use Mohun Bagan\u2019s logo and name. Because it has got a rich history and heritage. I hope they can utilise that.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he has reservations about the aesthetics of the club, he believes this merge is ultimately the best thing for the club and Indian football.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, when I was ATK\u2019s advisor I had actually first advised Sanjiv Goenka to buy out Mohun Bagan,\u201d the 43-year-old said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe the budget did not work out then. They were looking for investors. We had initiated the move then.I think Mohun Bagan have got a good owner. ATK is one of the best-managed teams of the ISL right now. Sanjiv Goenka is one of the most visionary, successful corporates in India. They have got a very good corporate takeover. They are the best-managed club in ISL right now. I think it\u2019s a great move for Indian football.\u201d<\/p>\n
India has long been grappling with how to bridge the divide between the traditional I-League and the flashy, new ISL. In fact, Mohun Bagan was one of the most vocal critics against the monopoly of the corporatised ISL and the plan to give it top league status.<\/p>\n
They were one of the six I-League clubs that wrote to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi last year asking him to \u201cintervene and save the sport\u201d.<\/p>\n
The letter said, in part:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ISL is a purely commercial venture played by franchise-based clubs owned by the clubs. It has no relevance. More importantly, players invariably are in the 35-plus age bracket. Players who have no takers abroad are roped, leading to a decline in the standard of Indian football.<\/p>\n
\u201cISL is just like the IPL of football and so the question that arises is how can a purely commercial league be made into the senior-most league of the country which has no international recognition or standing. It is a close which has no promotion or relegation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Further, less than 12 months ago Mohun Bagan secretary Swapan Sadhan Bose was emphatic that the club deserved to play in the top tier and would do nothing to jeapordise their history and status within Indian football.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndian football is at a critical crossroad,\u201d he said in a press release. \u201cIt is a fight. For the good of Indian football, we have to fight this together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will not allow anything that would tarnish the heritage or threaten the existence of our beloved club.<\/p>\n
Mohun Bagan is a club which is registered under the society act (West Bengal Societies Act). Anyone who wishes to get associated with our club must agree and respect its heritage. Therefore we are not in favour of taking any step hurriedly.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s true the I-League clubs didn\u2019t do enough to modernise themselves and their operations, leaving a hole the ISL was only too happy to fill.<\/p>\n
Mohun Bagan has suffered badly from poor administration for many years, with a lack of sponsorship hindering their operations, which also repeatedly saw players not paid their salaries on time.<\/p>\n
That they are in the position they are, where they need a buy out from an ISL franchise, is largely of their own making. But that doesn\u2019t make the loss of Mohun Bagan any less significant.<\/p>\n
Why was there not more of an effort to save one of India\u2019s oldest and most admired clubs? Why was a merger, which will ultimately water down the history of Mohun Bagan, considered the best and only option to save the club?<\/p>\n
To understand the significance of this, one needs to understand a little of the history of Mohun Bagan and Kolkata.<\/p>\n
India might traditionally be known as a \u2018cricket country\u2019, but Kolkata is a hot-bed for football and the rivalry that exists between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal is one of the most fierce anywhere in Asia. The Kolkata Derby is a bucket list occasion for many football fans, myself included.<\/p>\n
Passion runs deep on both sides of the city divide, but when the ISL was formed, with a new club in Kolkata (then known as Atletico de Kolkata after linking up with Spain\u2019s Atletico Madrid), fans from both clubs largely dropped their club rivalries to come together in support of the new club.<\/p>\n
For a while, the club was one of the biggest in India, winning the inaugural ISL title in 2014 and averaging 50,000 fans.<\/p>\n
But the harmony ended when, in 2016, Goenka claimed ATK was now the city\u2019s biggest football club.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you ever seen this much frenzy for any other team in Kolkata? We are now much more popular than any other club in Kolkata,\u201d Goenka said, stoking the fire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A demotion to the second division, a backbreaking struggle to land a telecast partner, a never-ending battle to allure sponsors \u2013 the I-League has faced quite a few challenges this past year, ever since the AIFF recognised the Indian Super League as India\u2019s premier division of league football. But nothing has been as hard-hitting to thousands of football fans in the Mecca of Indian football than the news of Mohun Bagan opting to sell eighty per cent of its stakes to the RPG Group which runs the ATK franchise in the Indian Super League, paving the path towards the first-ever merger of an I-League and ISL club. The architects of … Continue reading “Fans apprehensive as legacy laced Mohun Bagan merges with cash rich ATK in a landmark deal”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":1529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[400,691,688,89,689,43,690],"class_list":["post-1528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-i-league","category-india","tag-atk","tag-atk-mohun-bagan","tag-heri-i-league","tag-isl","tag-mb-atk-merger","tag-mohun-bagan","tag-mohun-bagan-atk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1530,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions\/1530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}