ISL 2020-21: Top 5 things you may not know about the Kolkata Derby
The 370th Kolkata Derby will be played at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Goa with SC East Bengal taking on ATK Mohun Bagan. While there have been 369 Kolkata Derbies played so far, this will be the first one played in the Indian Super League (ISL). In addition, this is the first time the 'ATK' franchise will be involved in the Derby as well.
As well documented in recent times, the founding of East Bengal as a sporting entity came after Shailesh Bose was left out of the Mohun Bagan team sheet in the Cooch Behar final against Jora Bagan. A few others including Bose, therefore, formed the first team of East Bengal in August 1920.
In recent times, the fans have also had an important part to play in the Kolkata Derby as passion and emotions have reached heights. While many fans would know the lineage of the derby their club is a part of, here are a few things you probably did not know about the rivalry between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan.
Five things you probably didn't know about the Kolkata Derby
#1 The first official Derby
The first official Kolkata Derby was played on the 28th of May, 1925 at the Calcutta Ground (now known as Mohun Bagan ground) in the Calcutta Football League. Nepal Singh managed to score the only goal of the match as East Bengal went on to claim a 1-0 victory. This was also extensively covered in the newspapers circulated by the British Raj at the time.
#2 East Bengal with a slender lead in the rivalry
Since the first Kolkata Derby in 1925, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan have faced each other 369 times with 327 of those being competitive meetings. East Bengal have a slight upper hand having claimed 129 wins while Mohun Bagan have had 119 wins to their name. A total of 121 matches ended in a draw.
However, since 2014, Mohun Bagan have been making up the deficit with 7 wins in 20 matches played, with East Bengal winning 5 and drawing 7. There was a bit of controversy in a 2016 Calcutta Football League game where East Bengal were awarded a walkover when Bagan didn't take the field as a protest for not having enough time to prepare for the match. The game was awarded to East Bengal 3-0 without the kick of a ball.
#3 Players who have played for both clubs
Bhaichung Bhutia is perhaps the most notable of the handful of players who have played for both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. Renedy Singh, Goutam Sarkar, Dulal Biswas, and Prashanta Banerjee are the only four players to have captained both sides in the past. Renedy Singh currently serves as an assistant coach for SC East Bengal under Robbie Fowler.
Bhaichung Bhutia has the highest number of goals in a Kolkata Derby with a total of 19 goals to his name, 13 of which came for East Bengal. Nigerian Chima Okorie has 16 with 10 for East Bengal and 6 for Mohun Bagan. Mohammed Habib and Sisir Ghosh are among the others to have played in the Kolkata Derby.
Brazilian Jose Ramirez Barreto has the highest count of goals for a single club in the Kolkata Derby with 17 goals to his name for Mohun Bagan. The Brazilian played a total of 371 matches for Mohun Bagan in two separate spells, scoring a total of 308 goals. He also served as the assistant manager for ATK in the 2014-15 edition of the Indian Super League.
#4 Mohun Bagan lead the trophy count
When it comes to collecting silverware, Mohun Bagan have a lead wherein they have managed a total of 253 trophies as compared to East Bengal's 149. This count includes national, international, and minor domestic trophies.
In the major trophy count, Mohun Bagan have a slight edge over East Bengal with 73 trophies as opposed to the latter's 70 trophies.
#5 Extremely passionate fans
The Football Lovers' Day is something that is celebrated by Kolkata fans on August 16. However, this has a dark history as the Kolkata Derby on the 16th of August, 1980 claimed the lives of 16 young fans in a stampede.
The referee Sudhin Chatterjee showed red cards to defender Dilip Palit (East Bengal) and forward Bidesh Bose (Mohun Bagan), something that threw the passionate crowd into a rage. The stampede following the sending-offs stopped the game for a few minutes with the final score reading 0-0.
This had a massive impact on crowd turnouts in subsequent matches of the Kolkata Derby. A Federation Cup match in 1997 saw 1,31,000 people in attendance at the Salt Lake Stadium, breaking several records. East Bengal would go on to win the game 4-1.
Another instance of passionate fans of the club would be Mohun Bagan admirer Umakanto Palodhi taking his own life after his favorite club's defeat at the 1975 IFA Shield. Palodhi's suicide note read, "In my next birth, I will take the revenge by becoming a Mohun Bagan footballer.”
Mohun Bagan's 5-0 loss in the final of the 1975 IFA Shield remains the largest margin of a victory or loss so far in the Kolkata Derby.