By Sayantan Maitra
I-LEAGUE Media Team
NEW DELHI: The Institute of Statisticians based in FIFA has referred to the Kolkata derby as the sixth biggest football rivalry in the world, featuring among the likes of El Clasico, De Klassieker, the Milan Derby, and so on. Needless to say, the match between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal has also featured in FIFA’s Classic derby list.
The Kolkata derby has been covered in the Indian media and the foreign media with equal intensity. There is possibly no Indian newspaper which has not covered this fierce rivalry. Be it the Kolkata dailies like the Anandabazar Patrika, The Telegraph, Ei Shomoy, Protidin, Bartaman, Ganashakti, Yugantar, or national dailies like the Times of India, The Indian Express, The Asian Age, the Statesman, the Hindustan Times, the Pioneer, and many more. The list is endless.
The foreign media including the likes of the Daily Guardian, BBC, CNN, and even the official FIFA Website, along with a plethora of sports websites, both domestic and international, have given footage to this scintillating football derby in India.
Journalists from Malaysia, France, Germany, Middle East, South-East Asia, the UK, etc. are sent to cover this intense rivalry, as there is a huge fan following all over the world for this game.
The Kolkata derby also has the distinction of being mentioned in the UK’s Footballers Associations Annual.
The atmosphere and excitement in the social media about the game have increased with every passing year. Tweets with the hashtag #KolkataDerby have flowed days prior to the match, and during the match, every football fan in India have taken charge of commentating the game through LIVE texts.
The tweets and posts are equally divided in support for the the ‘Lal-Holud Brigade‘ (East Bengal) and the ‘Shobuj-Maroon Brigade‘ (Mohun Bagan), with the fans fighting to take the bragging rights for their favourite team.
“All these years, the fans have come in large numbers – be it through processions or massive pomp and pompery – during the match. However, the digital medium – facebook, twitter, etc. – have given them the platform to express more by joining forums and take part and engage in various online discussions about the game,” says veteran football journalist Jaydeep Basu.
“The same thing happened with the mainstream media. From the time I started, the newspapers have increased manifold and there has been an introduction of a plethora of TV channels. The media have lapped up this particular game and they are doing everything through their coverage to restore the sentiment, the tradition, that was once attached with a Mohun Bagan-East Bengal game.
“For us, the Kolkata Derby is not just a football match, but an integral part of our Bengali culture, and something more than that.”
