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Football is strength, football is unity, football is power, and football is joy. Those who can blend all of these together can create magic on the pitch. More than a 100 years ago there was one such team: struggling for freedom and struggling to play their football. Despite this Mohun Bagan won their first IFA Shied on 29th july 1911. Today a century later we celebrate this day as Mohun Bagan day.
In a legendary campaign against the British clubs like St. Xaviers, Susex, Rangers, East Yorkshire; playing barefooted against the iron spikes of the Britishers; Mohan Bagan triumphed against all odds. However, it meant much more to the people, it was a win against their masters.
In those days, a football match was of 50 minutes duration, divided into 25 minutes each and a 5 minutes break. If a knock-out match ended in a draw, then the whole match would be replayed again as penalties were not introduced to football yet.
In the semi finals against St. Xaviers, the first game ended in a goalless draw. In the replay match, Bagan emerged victorious and won 3-0 to progress to the finals. The final was to be played against Yorkshire. It was a dream come true for captain Shibdas Bhaduri, who was given the responsibility to form a good team before the tournament.
It was recorded that almost 80,000 spectators came to witness the epic final against Yorkshire. The team initially went a goal down as Yorkshire captain, Jackson converted a freekick. Mohun Bagan equalised through Shibdas Bhaduri, who scored a fantastic goal. With just minutes left for full time, Abhilash Ghosh scored the winning goal and sent the huge crowd into a tizzy. Mohun Bagan won the match 2-1 and the players were paraded on the fans shoulders. When asked about when the British flag will be taken down, the Mohun Bagan captain, Bhaduri smiled and replied when we win the next shield. And ironically the next shield was won in the year 1947 (the year of independence).
Now we celebrate that golden day as Mohun Bagan day. It tells us about their hope, strength, unity, power and joy and also conveys the message that one day we will again defeat the European clubs. The “Sobuj Maroon sopno” is still alive. JAI HIND.
