Mohun Bagan Super Giant

Mohun Bagan Super Giant (commonly referred to as Mohun Bagan) is an Indian association football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, it is one of the oldest football clubs in Asia. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of Indian football league system. The club is most notable for its victory over the East Yorkshire Regiment in the 1911 IFA Shield final. This victory made Mohun Bagan the first all-Indian club to win a championship over a British club and was a major moment during India's push for independence.

The club is commonly referred to as Mohun Bagan, and had several sponsored names. In 2020, the company that owned ATK, took an 80% stake in the football division of Mohun Bagan. The footballing division of Mohun Bagan was merged with ATK and was renamed as ATK Mohun Bagan FC. In 2023, the team was rebranded as Mohun Bagan Super Giant after continuous protest from the fans.

Till now the club has won the top-flight football league a record six times National Football League thrice, I-League twice and Indian Super League once. They are one of the most successful Indian clubs in the history of the Federation Cup, having won the championship a record 14 times. The club had also won several other trophies, including the Durand Cup (17 times), the IFA Shield (22 times), the Rovers Cup (14 times) and the Calcutta Football League (30 times).

The club annually contests in Asia's oldest rivalry, the Kolkata Derby, against its long-time local rival East Bengal FC, with the first derby match being played on 8 August 1921. Mohun Bagan was one of the founding members of National Football League in 1996, and has never been relegated from the top-tier league of the country. In its 130th year of existence, the club was inducted into the "Club of Pioneers", a network of the oldest existing football clubs around the world, on 29 July 2019.

History

Early years (1889–99)

Mohun Bagan was established on 15th August 1889. Bhupendra Nath Bose became the first president of the newly founded club and Jyotindra Nath Bose was the first secretary of it. Mohun Bagan played their first match in 1889 against the team of Eden Hindu Hostel students, and lost 1–0. The initial players to play for the club were Girin Basu, Pramatha Nath Chattopadhyay, Sachin Bandhyopadhyay, Ram Goswami, Sarat Mitra, Hem Nath Sen, Nalin Basu, Upen Ghosh, Manindra Nath Basu, Manomoham Pandey, Probhas Mitra, and the captain Manilal Sen. The first tournament that the club participated in was the 1893 Coochbehar Cup, where the team suffered to perform against the British Indian Army teams and the clubs like Aryan, National, Town Club, Kumurtuli, Fort William's Arsenal and the famed Sovabazar, which was founded by the ''Father of Indian football'' Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari himself.

Administrative and tactical overhaul under Subedar-major Sailen Basu (1900s)

The early exits from major tournaments suffered in the 1900s evoked ridicule from its local rivals, including Sovabazar. Soon after the appointment of Subedar-major Sailen Basu as the secretary, the club adopted European playing methods and players underwent rigorous physical training and followed austere fitness regime similar to what Subedar-major Basu had experienced during his service in the army. The club also began recruiting players from other clubs, especially from National, where footballers played in boots rather than barefoot. Rev. Sudhir Chatterjee was one of the notable recruitment from National, who was also the only player in the club to play in boots at that time. As a result of such incredible changes made, the club achieved its first success by winning the 1904 Coochbehar Cup.

The following year Mohun Bagan won the Coochbehar Cup once again and reached the Gladstone Cup final, held in Chinsurah, where they defeated the reigning IFA Shield champions Dalhousie 6–1, with Shibdas Bhaduri scoring four goals. Maharaja Rajendra Bhup Bahadur of Coochbehar, impressed by the team, would become a chief patron of the club. In 1906, Mohun Bagan also won the Minto Fort tournament by defeating one of the major English clubs in India, Calcutta. But they missed the chance of participating for the 1906 IFA Shield because P.K. Biswas, who had played for National but also played for Mohun Bagan in the same year, which was considered illegal by the Indian Football Association, the then ''de facto'' governing body of Indian football. Therefore Mohun Bagan was disqualified.

Apart from team building, Subedar-major Basu had a remarkable contribution in arranging a new club tent and ground after the demolition of Mohun Bagan Villa in 1891. The club did not have a permanent club tent and had an increasing number of club members through a minimal membership fee of 8 annas, half for students. During this period, a major meeting was held among the club officials, including Jyotindra Nath Basu, Subedar-major Sailen Basu, Dwijendra Nath Basu, Sir Bhupendra Nath Mitra and Dr. Girish Ghosh. The meeting was regarding the construction of a club tent at Maidan, which was financially not feasible. A few days later, a club tent within Mohun Bagan's premises in Maidan was constructed and is still in use. To date, there is no evidence of this in the financial records of the club, and the donors remain unknown. Mohun Bagan also won the Trades Cup four consecutive times between 1906 and 1909, which was the second most prestigious tournament in India after IFA Shield. Mohun Bagan won Coochbehar Cup in 1907 and 1908, and then both the Laxmibilas Cup and the Gladstone Cup in 1909 and 1910.

The historic year of 1911

In 1909 and 1910, among only a few other native clubs, the team had the honor to play in the IFA Shield for its consistent performances over the recent years. However, they would struggle to match the regiment teams of British and British Indian armies in the first two years. In 1911, Mohun Bagan formed a dominant side for the IFA Shield, which included Hiralal Mukherjee, Bhuti Sukul, Rev. Sudhir Chatterjee, Monmohun Mukherjee, Rajen Sengupta, Nil Madhav Bhattacharya, Kanu Roy, Habul Sarkar, Abhilash Ghosh, Bijoydas Bhaduri and captained by Shibdas Bhaduri. They battled out against the professionally equipped teams of St. Xavier's College, Calcutta Rangers Club, Rifle Brigade and Middlesex Regiment to reach the IFA Shield final without conceding a goal. The enthusiasm for the final on 29 July 1911 (which is now known as "Mohun Bagan Day") was such that people came from other districts of Bengal as well as from neighboring provinces of Bihar and Assam. The East Indian Railway Company ran a special train and additional steamer services were pressed into service to ferry spectators to Calcutta from the ''mofussil'' areas. Tickets for the match, originally priced at and , were sold at due to its immense demand in the country. After trailing by a goal from Sgt. Jackson of East Yorkshire Regiment team within the first 15 minutes of the 50 minutes of the match, Shibdas Bhaduri soon scored an equalizer in the first half and then set up Abhilash Ghosh to score the winner with just two minutes remaining of the match. The club became the first native team to lift the IFA Shield, that too in front of an estimated crowd of 80,000, although the referee, H.G. Pooler, estimated approximately 20,000 to be the number. Reuters in its cablegram to English newspapers mentioned: "For the first time in the history of Indian football an Indian team, the Mohun Bagan, consisting purely of Bengalees, has won the Indian Football Association Shield beating crack teams of English regiments. About 80,000 spectators were present on the ground, but most of them could not see the match. By noticing the flying of kites, they were following the actions of the match. And when they came to know about the win of their team, they started tearing off their shirts, waving them, tearing their hairs." The mood can be gauged by what Achintya Kumar Sengupta wrote in Kallol Jug: "Mohun Bagan is not a football team. It is a tortured country, rolling in the dust, which has just started to raise its head." Mohun Bagan supporters and the public at large went berserk, even supporters of Muslim representative clubs like Moslem and Mohammedan went to the streets to celebrate and the Muslims from Dharmatala joined the victory procession of Hindus near the Thanthania Kalibari. On 31 July 1911, The Englishman wrote, "What the Congress failed to achieve, Mohun Bagan has. In other words, they have succeeded in degrading the English." The performance was appreciated by Manchester Guardian saying, "The team the Bengalis won the IFA Shield by defeating three top military teams. 80,000 Indians will remain witnesses to this event. There is nothing to be surprised at. The team that is physically more fit, has sharp surveillance and intelligence, wins.". On 30 July 1911, India Mirror reported, "The Japanese victory over the Russians did not stir the East half as much as did the match between Mohun Bagan and East York." After the match ended, a Brahmin, pointing to the Union Jack fluttering atop Fort William, asked Rev. Chatterjee, "When will that come down?" and according to popular legend, it was predicted that the flag would come down only when Mohun Bagan regained the shield, which would later come true.

Nation-wide exposure of the club (1912–30)

After a comparatively disappointing year in 1912, Shibdas Bhaduri handed the captaincy to Habul Sarkar the following year, but they failed to win any trophy that year. The same year Gostha Pal joined the club as a defender at the young age of 16 and continued to play for 22 years, also leading the team from 1921 to 1926, soon became known as the ''"Chinese Wall".'' In 1914, Mohun Bagan for the first time played in CFL 2nd Division and finished third with only the top non-military team be promoted to CFL 1st Division but after a team from the 1st Division withdrew, Mohun Bagan got promoted. Mohun Bagan played their first match on 15 May 1915 against Calcutta, which was drawn. Meanwhile, Subedar-major Sailen Basu had to leave for his commitments in the military service for the World War I. Dwijendra Nath Basu, nephew of Bhupendra Nath Basu and brother of Subedar-major Basu, replaced him as the club's secretary. Mohun Bagan finished fourth in their league debut, while a junior team of the club made the semi-finals of the Trades Cup and Coochbehar Cup. The next year, Mohun Bagan reached the second position in the league and the following year, narrowly lost the IFA Shield final to Middlesex Regiment.

On 8 August 1921, the club played its first match against East Bengal Club in the Coochbehar Cup semi-final, which ended in a goalless draw, but Mohun Bagn went on to beat them in the replay by 1–0 and gave rise to the Kolkata Derby. In 1922, Mohun Bagan played exhibition matches of cricket and football against a team of Indians from South Africa. The following year, Mohun Bagan was invited to Rovers Cup in Bombay, where they lost to Durham Light Infantry by 4–1. After 35 years of long association of Bhupendra Nath Basu with Mohun Bagan came to an end with his demise in 1924. After his death, Sir Rajendranath Mukherjee became the club's new president. The next year, Mohun Bagan became the first civilian Indian team to be invited to the oldest football tournament in Asia, Durand Cup, where they lost to Sherwood Foresters in the semi-finals. That year Mohun Bagan also failed to win the league and finished second. During this period, the club attended as well as hosted numerous charity-matches all over the country for fundraising as the earnings from memberships weren't enough to run the club over a long period. On 28 May 1925, the club played its first official Derby against East Bengal and lost by 1–0. That year club played a charity match against Cheshire Regiment in 1927 to raise relief funds for the floods in Gujarat. In 1929, due to a clash during the match of Mohun Bagan and Dalhousie, all the native teams withdrew their names from the IFA registration. Later, it was negotiated on the condition that there would be equal number of European and Indian clubs in the association.

Significant contributions to the national team (1931–47)

Renowned Barrister Shailendra Nath Banerjee became the secretary of the club with the turn of the decade. In 1931 the club acquired the services of highly skilled players like, Karuna 'Habla' Bhattacharya and Syed Abdus Samad. In 1933, Gostho Pal got selected as the captain of IFA XI representing India for an away match against Ceylon, but the following year, due to injury, his defence partner Dr. Sanmatha Dutta led the tour to South Africa for a series of matches. 1935 saw a great change in Mohun Bagan's tradition of playing with bare-feet when on the behest of Abdul Hamid, a renowned player who joined from Quetta, the club decided to use boots for the first time. In 1937, Mohun Bagan for the first time faced off against a foreign team – an English amateur club Islington Corinthians, who were on a world tour; but narrowly lost by 1–0. In 1938 the tradition of Mohun Bagan players leading IFA teams continued with Karuna Bhattacharya captaining a side to Australia, where he also scored against Australia as well as Football Queensland team during the tour. Mohun Bagan also broke a 29-year-old barren run in Trades Cup, in 1938. In second half 1930s both Umapati Kumar and Gostha Pal had retired, but the squad got competent reinforcements – Anil Dey in half back position and Satyen 'Mana' Guin in attack, who a right winger was nicknamed ''"Racing Deer"'' for his speed along the flanks. Captained by Bimal Mukherjee, son of Manmohan Mukherjee, and a host of quality players, Mohun Bagan broke their long wait for a major trophy in 1939 when they won their first ever Calcutta Football League title. Significantly, Mohun Bagan also celebrated its golden jubilee the same year, which was marked with celebrations across the city, match organized featuring renowned former players and medals and jerseys were distributed to the players. From 1933 to 1939 the club won 29 trophies, also out of 23 Derbies, they beat East Bengal 12 times, including 1 walkover win, drew 10 matches and lost only once to their arch-rival.

In 1941, the secretaryship was given to another famed barrister, B.C. Ghosh replaced Sailen Banerjee, who was elected as the club's vice-president. In 1942, for the first time, an insurance policy was implemented for the medical aid of the injured players during matches, and a medical board composed of reputed doctors was formed to oversee the medical issues. A trusty board was also formed on the initiative of a Solicitor B.K.Ghosh and Barrister S.K.Gupta for the monetary support of the club. In 1943 and 1944, Mohun Bagan won CFL in succession. In 1944, B.C. Ghosh became the club's vice-president, and Dr. S.K. Gupta took charge of the general secretary's office. Meanwhile, a junior football team was formed under the guidance of a former Mohun Bagan player, Balaidas Chattopadhyay, and also made efforts to introduce sports like rugby and baseball among the youth. In 1945, former vice-president and first captain of Mohun Bagan Manilal Sen expired. The same year, George Curtis, who was an Arsenal player stationed in India as a part of Royal Air Force in the World War II, took charge of the team as a coach for a brief stint. In 1947, Mohun Bagan got invitation to Madurai Cup but was beaten by Hyderabad Police in the final. This year the team once again participated in Rover's Cup. Still, the tournament was called off due to the collapse of the Cooperage Ground during the quarter-final match against 1st Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment. This year Mohun Bagan won its second IFA Shield on 15 November by defeating its arch-rival East Bengal, thus fulfilling the prophecy of the club winning its second Shield only in the year of India's independence, and becoming the first club to win the Shield in post-independent India.

Struggle with consistency (1948–1950s)

In the first year after the independence, the club handed the captaincy for two years to Talimeren Ao, who had been a part of the club since 1943 after leaving Maharana Club in Guwahati. Ao went on to lead the national team in 1948 Summer Olympics in London, and along with him Mahabir Prasad and Sailen Manna. The club's secretary, Balai Das Chattopadhyay too had to leave for London as the team's head coach and trainer, therefore Gostho Pal took charge of his duties in club temporarily. Anil Dey was selected for the team as well but stayed behind. Dhanadaranjan' Bokai' Sen carried out the captain's duties in the absence of Ao. In the same year, the Kingdom of Afghanistan invited Mohun Bagan on the occasion of their independence celebrations. Still, the club couldn't attend because of its preplanned agenda. That year, Mohun Bagan successfully defended the IFA Shield against Bhawanipore in the final. After the Olympics, Ao played for the club until 1953 and retired to pursue a career in medicine after completing MBBS. His excellence on-field caught the eyes of many foreign clubs, including Arsenal, who offered a one-year contract to Ao, but he famously refused to carry on with his studies.

The year 1949 was the club's diamond jubilee. On this occasion, a vivid procession was organized on 11 December, from the club's birthplace, Balaram Ghosh Street. On the occasion West Bengal's Chief Minister Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy commented, ''"I am proud and delighted that, fortunately, I have witnessed the IFA Shield tournament of 1911. During the freedom struggle, Mohun Bagan's existence inspired the youth. In the sports world of Bengal, Mohun Bagan has still maintained its excellence. Even after 60 years, Mohun Bagan has kept its youth unaffected. I pray that on our beloved Motherland, Mohun Bagan's sporting spirit may survive forever,"'' and attended the ceremonies and exhibitions hosted by the club. Mohun Bagan also invited Swedish club Helsingborgs to play three friendlies, along with many other exhibition matches of cricket, hockey and football. Runu Guha Thakurta, a renowned forward, was acquired by the club that year. In 1950, India had received a direct qualification to the FIFA World Cup, with Manna being the captain of the team, but All India Football Federation refused to play, failing to realize its importance. Despite acquiring the services of some of the famed players, the club failed to dominate in major tournaments, where they were regularly outshined by the Pancha Pandavas led East Bengal and Syed Abdul Rahim's Hyderabad City Police team.

S Manna, T Aao, Abhay Ghosh, and R Guhathakurta got their call for the national team to play the Asian Games, and Manna led the team to the gold medal. In 1952 Summer Olympics three Mohun Bagan players including Manna as the captain and Mohammad Abdus Sattar, who joined the club from Mohammedan in 1950. Mohun Bagan won the CFL in 1951 after a wait of seven years, the IFA Shield in 1952, and its first Durand Cup in 1953 by 4–0 against National Defence Academy team. During the prize distribution of Durand Cup, the President of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad said, ''"Mohun Bagan was my favorite team from my childhood. I was a regular visitor of all Mohun Bagan matches when I was a student at Kolkata. Sometimes, when I didn't have money to buy the ticket, I could not stop myself. I watched the match from the outside. I was always aware of the up-to-date news of the club."'' That year Samar 'Badru' Banerjee joined the team and formed an important attacking duo with Md. Sattar. During Manna's spell as the captain, he was named among the top 10 captains around the world by The Football Association in 1953, becoming the first Asian to have the honor. In 1954 Mohun Bagan became the first club ever to clinch the double crown of Kolkata — CFL and IFA Shield, courtesy to Badru's solitary goal against the formidable side of Hyderabad City Police. That year Mohun Bagan beat the Austrian club Grazer by 2–1 and beat the visiting Afghanistan by 3–0. That year Subimal 'Chuni' Goswami joined the senior team from the club's youth ranks. Mohun Bagan defended the CFL title successfully till 1956 and won the IFA Shield and its first Rover's Cup in 1956. In December 1954, Mohun Bagan lost a match against AIK, featuring Kurt Hamrin, by 3–1 and in March 1955, played against the visiting Soviet Union featuring Lev Yashin and lost by 3–0. The following year Mohun Bagan also played against Austria but lost by 2–0. The following year Mohun Bagan, as a representative from India, toured Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaya, which was organized solely by the assistant secretary of the club Dhiren Dey. Mariappa Kempaiah, a versatile footballer playing in the offense as well as defense, joined Mohun Bagan in 1957. For the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Badru captained the national team. While Krishnachandra 'Kesto' Pal was included in the main squad, Chuni, S Chatterjee, and Sushil Guha were selected as reserved players . The following years were mostly unsuccessful as the club failed to win several major trophies, but during this time, Mohun Bagan obtained the services of a tough and tackling defender Jarnail Singh Dhillon from Rajasthan Club. The arrival of Thazhatheri Abdul Rahman at the back partnering Singh with Sanath Sett in goal, enhanced the team. With an immediate impact, Mohun Bagan won CFL and Durand Cup in 1959.

The Golden era (1960s)

Mohun Bagan in 1960, captured CFL, IFA Shield, and Durand Cup, losing just once in 42 matches played in these three tournaments. Based on their dominative performance, They were invited to a number of matches in East Africa travelling to Uganda, Kenya, Zanzibar and Tanganyika. During the tour, out of nineteen matches 15 were won, 3 were drawn and only 1 was lost. Mohun Bagan won the Shield consecutively in 1961 and 1962. Under Dhiren Dey, a strict regime was reinstated in the club and under the coaching of Arun Sinha, scrapped the archaic 2–3–5 formation and began using 3-defenders system. Sinha was primarily responsible for properly grooming the likes of Chuni and Singh. On the recommendations of Chuni and Kempiah, Isaiyah Arumayinayigam had joined the team before the tour and proved his talents during the tour, earning the nickname ''"Baby Taxi"''. On 27 April 1962 Gostho Pal received the Padma Shri, becoming the first footballer to do so. The club won its tenth CFL title and IFA Shield that year. Chuni was selected to lead the national team in 1962 Asian Games and won the gold medal, with Jarnail Singh playing a pivotal part in the campaign. Ashok Chatterjee