Defending champion Mohun Bagan will play against Kalighat Club on 21st October 2009, Wednesday at Mohun Bagan Ground in their first match in Kolkata premier League’09.

This is the first time when I League and local league will be running simultaneously. So Coach Kareem Bencherifa is deeply concerned about the situation. Team management has already decided to play the local league with local boys mainly. There is a lot of  practice matches are scheduled between the league matches, so that all the players get in touch of  match play situation. If any foreigner they will include in the team for Kolkata League, that will be Chiddi. Marcos and Barreto will be thought only for I League matches. However Barreto is still not fit and uncertain for 25^th October I League derby as well. Mariners have registered Souvik and Parminder from MohunBaganAcademy for Kolkata league matches.

 We hope Mariners will make a hat-trick of winning Kolkata Premier League this year in style.

The match will start from 2.30 pm. The live update will be available in this website.

 

Olympiad and Mohun Bagan’s star player Kesto Pal passed away this morning. Kesta Pal was selected for the Olympic team in 1956. In 1956 Mohun Bagan lifted the Rovers Cup for the first time. Then Mohun Bagan lifted both the Calcutta crowns by becoming League and IFA Shield champions. Including this year’s victory, Club won League for 3 consecutive times. Kesto Pal was a key contributor for Mohun Bagan that year.
1956 – Mohun Bagan.

 He was among the  nine surviving members of Indian football squad that made into semifinals of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games who have decided to return the grant of Rs 25,000 sent to them by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) recently.

AIFF’s decision was strongly criticised by the football fraternity. Pal felt that they were treated as  beggars, as the amount given by them is nothing as compared to their achievement.

 

Standing from the left: Subhasish Guha, Samar Banerjee, Kesta Paul, Chandan Singh, Susheel Guha, Sailen Manna. At the ground from left: Raman, S.Sen, Robin Guha, Narsia and Chuni Goswami.

 

You doubtlessly have heard by now of AIFF`s decision to charge Deepak for his clear slide in the JCT match. The charge leads to a two match suspension and fine of Rs. 10000. People can argue about semantics and make excuses all they like, but the fact is the referee violated the spirit of the game to provide an unfair advantage to some clubs.

However, AIFF have now given themselves an enormous problem with this action- the lid has been jimmied off the tin and the worms are crawling everywhere. One can only hope that the Nehru Cup was not rigged, and so is the iLeague. The case, arising from a marching order shown to Deepak Mandal in a match between Mohun Bagan and JCT in the iLeague, is rapidly becoming the talk of the town, since it has wider implications for the professional game. The video footage confirmed that the referee, Arumughan Rowan, was wrong in showing Deepak the second yellow card. Perhaps he was determined to make sure Deepak misses the match against Kingfisher East Bengal. His match report confirms that.

For the first time in Indian football history a refereeing error could have led to a successful appeal for a review. But perhaps AIFF wanted to avoid the dispute at the cost of Deepak Mandal and Mohun Bagan.

The implications are wide-ranging. Strictly speaking, any referee who does not qualify to the take proper decisions and vindictively reports wrongly such that a key player misses an important match, and the team could become the victim, was not even criticised by AIFF. Was that intentional ? Was AIFF worried that the said referee, whose decisions in Nehru Cup made sure an able team does not qualify in the final that India won, might open up his mouth! If this is the way football is heading, very soon the football house will all that we will be left with.

We would like to know on what basis Deepak was fined and suspended. First, the video footage shows clearly it was a normal clearance, no infringement was caused. Second, the charges of kicking and spitting on the refree is absurd and childish. There is absolutely no evidence of it either.

 If this is the way AIFF controls football and refrees and its players, excuse me while I fall down laughing.