East Bengal Club

The East Bengal Club is an Indian football club. This club is based in Kolkata and as of 2004 had recently won top honors in its National Football League two years running. They were the first Indian club in over 40 years to win a continental trophy when they beat BEC Tero Sasano in the final of the 2003 ASEAN cup championship. They currently have the player widely regarded as India's best, Baichung Bhutia, at the club.

History

Birth of East Bengal Club in 1920 was as dramatic as its rollercoaster ride for the last eight decades.

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In the early part of twentieth century, football had been a popular sport among the Bengali youth - even more after Mohun Bagan's historic success in the 1911 I.F.A. Shield final. But "natives", as the Indians were hailed in those days, did not have the same privilege of the British and I.F.A. Governing body rules permitted only two Indian clubs in the First Divisions of the League. Indian clubs like Kumartuli (1917, 1918 and 1919) and Town were denied promotion in spite of topping the Second Division. Natives had to appease their appetite by playing in Coochbehar Cup and Trades Cup and it was the former tourney, which played a significant role in the formation of East Bengal Club.

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On a humid afternoon on July 28, 1920 Mohun Bagan was scheduled to clash with Jorabagan in a Coochbehar Cup tie. The later took the field minus their star halfback Sailesh Bose, dropped for some unknown reason. Jora bagan's Club's Vice- President and Industrialist Suresh Chandra Chaudhuri pleaded for Bose's inclusion with the club authorities but it fell on deaf ears. A visibly annoyed Chaudhuri immediately severed all connections with his old club and formed a new one along with Raja Manmatha Nath Chaudhuri, Bose, Ramesh Chandra (Nasha) Sen and Aurobinda Ghosh. The new club established on 1st August 1920 was christened East Bengal as the founders hailed from that region of Bengal. Still today East Bengal fans are the migrant who came from the eastern part of Bengal which has been included in Pakistan during the partition of India. East Bengal is proud to be carrying the culture and heritage of a land which was once part of India.

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Incidentally Manmatha Nath Chaudhuri was the Maharaja of Santosh, now in Bangladesh, after whom the Santosh trophy is titled.

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Thereafter the founders debated intensely over the choice of colours for the club jersey. After a long search they opted for a red and golden colour shirt hanging impressively at the Whiteway Ladel Department Store at Chowringhee. These colours became permanently associated with the club.

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Nothing came on a platter for East Bengal Club which only steeled their character and made them even more determined to stand out among the many. East Bengal Club got the affiliation of Indian Football Association (then run by the British) in face of some grim opposition, sadly though, from other Indian Clubs of Calcutta --Mohun Bagan and Aryans. Gradually by dint of their performance, East Bengal Club came into limelight and ultimately got the first flavor of the Calcutta I.F.A. Shield by winning in the year 1943. The Club again won the I.F.A. Shield, Calcutta 1st Division league in the year 1945.

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The club played its maiden tournament in the same month of its establishment i.e. August 1920. The tourney was Hercules Cup, a seven-a-side competition that the club won without any Herculean effort. The club set up its first managing committee with Prof. S. Roy, Principal of Vidyasagar College who assumed the post of the President.

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East Bengal never looked back after that. It did not believe in rising like a meteor, but dazzled like a sun in a blaze of glory, rewriting soccer history in the country over and over again.

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Winning the ASEAN Cup in Jakarta in 2003, remaining undefeated for eight international games at a stretch and being the first team to win the coveted National Football League in back-to-back years (2000-2001 & 2002-2003) are just some of the moments to savour.

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East Bengal Club is the only club in India who was invited by Romania Youth Festival Committee to participate in their football tournament at Bucharest in the year 1953. The club was recommended the best football club of India by the then President of India, Late Dr. Rajendra Prasad. East Bengal was the first club in India to represent the country in the Asian Club Cup football tournament.

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It has represented India in Asian Club tournaments eight times. Masood Fakri, a player of East Bengal Club was the first Asian footballer to play professional football in England. After that Bhaichung Bhutia of the same club played professional football in England as the first Indian footballer. Apart from winning ASEAN Club Cup in 2003 the club also won the Wai Wai Cup at Nepal in 1993.

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Great Indian footballers like Ahmed Khan, Byomkesh Bose, Appa Rao, Salleh, P. Venkatesh, Taj Mohammed, Balaram, Sanat Sett, Prasanta Sinha, Arun Ghosh, Md. Habib, Syed Nayeemuddin, Subhas Bhowmick, Sudhir Karmakar, Manoranjan Bhattacharya, Bhaskar Ganguly, Krishanu Dey and many others who represented the country in Olympic and in other International Football Tournaments played for the club for years.

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East Bengal club defeated Pas Club of Iran in 1970, Piyong Young Club of Korea in 1973 in the I.F.A. Shield final, Dok-Ro-Gang Club of Korea in the final D.C.M. football tournament held at New Delhi in 1973 and Port Authority Club of Thailand in the final of Bordoloi Trophy in Guwahati (Assam) in the year 1978. The club has a very good track record of defeating foreign teams.

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Mr. Kapil Dev, Mr. Sachin Tendulkar, Mr. Ajay Jadeja, Mr. Navjot Suingh Sidhu, and last but not the least Captain of India Cricket India Team, Mr. Sourav Ganguly played for the club for a couple of years. Mr. Inam-ur-Rahaman, Mr. Gurbux Singh, Mr. Joginder Singh, Mr. Shibaji Power, Mr. Govinda and Mr. Mohammed Sayeed. Ex-Hockey Stars of our country donned the colour of our club as well.

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