History of Mohun Bagan – Presented by MohunBaganClub.com
Creation of History – 1910 to 1919 | |
From 1910 to 1912,Mohun Bagan consecutively triumphed Bengal Jimkhana Shield. Obviously Mohun Bagan earned the highest position among all the Indian teams. 1.Hiralal Mukherjee(Goal) Newspapers throughout the world, like London Daily, Manchester Guardian, Singapore Times, local newspapers like Empire, Weekly Mussalman, Comrade etc published the news of victory of Mohun Bagan appreciating and complimenting its skill and courage.“For the first time in the history of Indian Football, a core Bengali team, Mohun Bagan, won IFA Shield by defeating a competent White team. Though 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.” Reuter, London.Manchester Guardian commented ‘The team comprising of the Bengalis won the IFA Shield by defeating three top military teams. 80,000 Indians will remain witness to this event. There is nothing to be surprised at. The team that is physically more fit, has sharp surveillance and intelligence, wins.’ ‘The members of the Moslem Sporting Club were almost mad…rolling on the ground…on the victory of their Hindu brethren.’ –The Mussalman, Calcutta. ‘The Bengali’ published a poem on 30th of July in honour of Mohun Bagan. It said, At the beginning of the 1913,Shibdas Bhaduri handed over the charge of captainship to Habul Sarkar.But unfortunately no victory added to Mohun Bagan’s credit this year. It was this year when Gostho Pal, better known as the Chinese wall, joined the Club as back. His first match was against Dalhousie F C at the age of 16 only. He continued to play for 22 years thereafter as successful back. He also took responsibility of captainship from 1921 to 1926. In 1914,for the first time, Mohun Bagan was given the opportunity to take part in Calcutta Football League’s Second Division, as a national team. First year 91 Highlanders won the League. Mohun Bagan and Messerers shared the second position. As 91 Highlanders was a military team, it was eliminated from the League, as per IFA rules. For the first Division League, Mohun Bagan confronted Messerers on the Caledonian Ground. First day resulted in a draw, but Mohun Bagan lost on the second day by 2 goals to 1. But fortunately, Mohun Bagan got the opportunity to compete in the First Division, since RGA team emptied a position by withdrawing from the League. Meanwhile, Subedar-Major Sailen Basu had to leave Calcutta for his commitments in the Military Service for the first world war.The responsibility of Club Secretaryship was handed over to Dwijendranath Basu., nephew of Bhupendranath Basu. Dwijen was only 15,when he started playing, and he was the then best center forward . Dwijen served for Mohun Bagan,as a member of the Working Committee from 1912 to 1915,as the honorary Secretary from 1915 to 1923,as Asst.-Secretary in 1924,as honorary general Secretary from 1925 to 1932.During this time the association of ‘Gaice Babu’ – D N Guin (Deben) is worth mentioning. He was the ground Secretary of the Club in 1911-12,Asst.-Secretary from 1913 to 1923,and a member of the Working Committee in 1924.In 1914 and thereafter, Mohun Bagan participated in many charity matches to raise fund for different social reforms. This year Mohun Bagan celebrated Silver Jubilee. From 1915, Mohun Bagan started playing in the First Division League.On 15th May 1915, the first match was against Calcutta Club. The match resulted in draw. Participants of this match were In 1916, Mohun Bagan finished the Calcutta League in second position just behind Calcutta FC and won Cooch Behar Cup and Chandannagar Cup. In 1917, Mohun Bagan lost to Middlesex team in the IFA shield. In 1918 and 1919 Mohun Bagan finished third and fourth respectively in Calcutta Football League. |