Mohun Bagan Day celebrated

Mohun Bagan Day 2012 was celebrated in Netaji Indoor Stadium on 29th July 2012. The Guest In charge was World Cupper from the Orange country – Ruud Gullit. The Dutchman was honoured with the Green and Maroon uttario and later he honoured the Bagan colts and individual players.

It all started from 5PM wwhen members and fans of Mohun Bagan started flocking around the Netaji Indoor Stadium. Some incidents –

17:10 HRS – Chuni Goswami and  Arumoy Nigam entered the arena – and the team mates were found chatting with each other

17:21 HRS – Prasun Banerjee shows respect towards his elder brother PK

17:30 HRS – Min. Arup Roy joined in the party

17:50 HRS – Mohun Bagan players 2012 join in

18:00 HRS – Sovandev Chatterjee and Jagomohan Dalmia joins in

18:05 HRS – The crowd cheers as Ruud Gullit enters the arena

18:07 HRS – Babul supriyo – the "designer" of Bagan’s new jersey – comes up

18:18 HRS – Sports Minister Madan Mitra arrives

18:23 HRS – Crowd cheers up the Bagan boy Jose Barreto

The function starts at 18:30 HRS. Madhumanti Maitra was the announcer. Ruud was touched by the occassion – and was found aware of the historic win 101 year ago. He was found saying “I really did not expect such a grand reception. I have read a bit about the history of the club and found out that a football match became the symbol of struggle against oppression by the English. I can tell you football is not just sport, it is much more than that”

Ruud Gullit, who followed the likes of Pele, Maradona, Kahn, to name a few,  to be honoured by Mohun Bagan, was also honoured with a replica of the Mohun Bagan boat (sonar tori) and he unveiled the new jersey for Bagan. The team will play the Airlines Cup tournament in this new jersey.

Tolgay Ozbey was handed over the number 10 jersey by Ruud and Babul Supriyo. The aussi was found kissing the logo.

Jarnail Singh was honoured with the Mohun Bagan Ratna this year, posthumously. His daughters  Kulwinder Kaur, Jaswinder Kaur and Narinder Kaur collected the award.

Other awards for 2011-12 –

  • Felicitation of the Cricket team
  • Felicitation of the colts football team
  • Goalz Project (best performer)- Dilshan Rehmani
  • Dhiren Dey Memorial Award (best cricketer of the year)  – Debabrata Das
  • Sailen Manna Memorial Award (for best sports person) – Laxmi Ratan Shukla
  • Karuna Shankar Bhattacharjee Award (for Best Footballer of the Year) – Syed Rahim Nabi

 

 

Babul Supriyo sang a self- composed song for Mohun Bagan. Players and coach were found dancing a bit with his song.

 The function ended at 20:45 HRS. with a song from Usha Utthup – who was clad in a Green and Maroon saree.

About Jarnail singh –

Legendary Jarnail Singh Dhillon was nominated as the Mohun Bagan Ratna, highest Mohun Bagan award, for the year 2012.

 

Born in the year of 1936 at Panam, Hoshiarpur, Punjab, joined Mohun Bagan in 1958 and played till 1968. During this tenure not only he brought Bagan success, he had achievements at the International level as well. In 1962 Jakarta Asian Games he striked the Gold Medal winning goal from a header against Korea with 6 stitches in his head. He led the Indian football team from 1965 to 1967. He was selected as captain of the Asian All Start Football team in 1966 In 1964 his outstanding performance helped India win the silver medal in the Asia cup.

The stopper back’s domestic journey –

1952 – 1956 – Khalsa Colllege, Mahilpur of Punjab

1956 – 1957 – Khalsa Sporting Club

1957 – 1958 – Rajasthan Club, Calcutta

1958 – 1968 – Mohun Bagan

 

His awards –

1962 – Arjuna Award

2002 – Mohun Bagan Ratna

 

His achievements as coach –

1970, 1974 – Santosh Trophy

He passed away on the 13th of October 2000 at Vancouver, Canada.

(Jarnail Singh’s picture taken from Ex Bagan Player Dipu Das’ personal collection)

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Mohun Bagan day celebrated, Badru Banerjee gets Mohun Bagan Ratna

National Club of India, Mohun Bagan celebrates the 29th July every year as Mohun Bagan Day. It was on this day in the year 1911 that a team of brave Bengali youth outclassed a team of British soldiers on the football field and annexed the IFA Shield. They not only won the coveted trophy but sowed the seeds of the independence struggle.

To remember and honour the valor and determination of the Immortal XI, the Mohun Bagan Athletic Club observes this day as the Mohun Bagan Day. The Mohun Bagan Ratno is awarded to a senior player of yester year, whose services have brought glory and accolades to the Club and been remembered by the fans and officials alike. It is more or less an award bestowed on the individual for his lifetime achievement. This year it was Mr. Samar (Badru) Banerjee’s turn to be awarded this prestigious award.

The day is also celebrated as a get-together of the fans, supporters, officials, players – past and present. The joy of meeting each other overcomes the boundaries of language, religion and political belief.

On stepping inside the Club premises one is welcomed by the soft tune of the shehenai and the decently decorated Club tent and lawn. The football ground is also dressed up with “green and maroon” lights as is the big shamiana where the felicitation, musical program and the dinner took place.

The day started off early afternoon with junior teams from the Veterans Club and Mohun Bagan’s own, played a friendly match that had all the drama but ended goalless. Quite a few of these boys showed the potential to blossom into fine footballers in the days ahead.

Next there was an exhibition match played between two sets of veteran players of the Club, Shib Das Bhaduri (a member of the immortal team) XI and Bijoy Das Bhaduri (also a member of the immortal side and younger brother of Shib Das Bhaduri) XI which of course ended in favour of Bijoy Das Bhaduri XI winning 3-2. A lot of these veterans players still exhibited the magic in spells and reminded us all of the glory of Kolkata football of yesteryears. A total of 85 players were divided into two teams. They included Kannan, Naimuddin, Balai Dey, Shibaji Banerjee, Binay Panja, Jo Paul Ancheri, Pranab Ganguly, Abdul Khaleq, Achintya Belel, Sukhen Sengupta, Gouranga Banerjee, Sudip Chakraborty, Uttam Mukherjee, Hemanta Dora, Pradip Talukdar, Krishnagopal Chowdhury, Gunabir Singh, Amit Das, Saumitra Chakraborty and many others.

Thereafter, another football match between the Artist XI and the Sports Journalist XI was played. The Artist XI comprised of TV artists from Kolkata. This match was keenly contested and also showed that these artists of the small screen had associated themselves with this beautiful game of football in their school and college days as they did a lot of splendid running and passing. This match ended 1-1.

During play, the other legendary football stars trooped in, Sailen Manna, P. K. Banerjee, Chuni Goswami, Tarun Bose, Shibaji Banerjee, Biswajit Bhattacharya, Samar (Badru) Banerjee came along as did Utpal Ganguly, the IFA Secretary. Coach Karim was seen discussing with both Shibaji and P. K. Banerjee and Shyamal Banerjee.

The focus next moved towards the temporary dias constructed under the huge shamiana. Popular vocalists rendered songs both Rabindra Sangeet and modern. Two giant screens showed the history of the Club, the memorable goals scored and the visits and associations with Pele, Milla, Kahn and Maradona.

The trio of yesteryears, Sailen Manna, P. K. Banerjee & Chuni Goswami rose to hand over the Mohun Bagan Ratno to Samar (Badru) Banerjee with the Hony. General Secretary of the Club, Sri Anjan Mitra lending a hand. The crowd roared to cheer the felicitation as they did again when the Club Officials introduced each of the players and the coaching staff for the current season to the fans and members.

The members thereafter were treated to a lavish dinner with fireworks display in the backdrop.

REPORT: RANA BOSE

PICTURES FROM YESTERDAY’S EVENT (PICTURE: TRIDIP SHEET AND SUMANTA MISHRA)

 

 

 

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