C T Online Desk: Passion for the beautiful game in Bangladesh comes to the fore during the Fifa World Cup, but the much-talked about fan craze that shows up every four years is not a wonder anymore.
The fan base here is largely divided into two groups – Argentina and Brazil – but this time the stories of enthusiasm for Argentina’s football team in this part of the world spread beyond its borders unlike ever before.
Lionel Messi and Co winning the Qatar World Cup has taken the mania to a new height, and one may get curious as to why the Bangalees are so mad for football, as well as the Argentina team.
Football in colonial era
Bengalis have a football tradition that traces back to more than a century ago.
It started in the second half of the 19th century through the hands of the British rulers soon after they originated the modern game.
Football in Argentina also began around the same time.
Bengal, now comprising whole of Bangladesh and West Bengal in India, was the main hub of football activities in South Asia and its center was Kolkata.
In 1893, the fourth oldest club cup competition in the world, IFA Shield, started its journey here and five years later, the city introduced Calcutta Football League, the oldest league in Asia.
The first major breakthrough came in the year 1911 when Mohun Bagan became the first native team to win the IFA Shield, beating all the British teams along the way.
Some eight players from East Bengal, now Bangladesh, played for Bagan in the final.
Clinching a major domestic trophy with ten barefooted players against the booted British was a turning point that led to a larger socio-political impact in terms of Bangalees’ struggle for freedom, and football became a symbol around which anti-colonial consciousness developed.
Around 80,000 people gathered at the Maidan ground to see the final, but only a few thousand could watch the match properly.
The victory was celebrated by the flying of kites.
Football became one of the central components of popular culture and clubs started growing in large numbers.
In Bangladesh, some clubs like Wari were established before the turn of the century, then there were East End Club and Victoria Club.
Five years after Dhaka League kicked off, famous East Bengal Club were formed in 1920 to compete in Kolkata.
When Islington Corinthians, a British team that traveled around four continents to play 95 matches from 1932-39, came to India, they played 32 games against different opposition, winning 27 ties, drawing four times, losing only once and that was against Dhaka XI, formed mostly by college and university-going players.
Some 77,000 fans were present in another Corinthians match in Chittagong and it was said the spectators were “mad about the game”.
Before, during, after Liberation War
The end of colonial era brought partition that divided the top Bengali footballers into two separate nations – India and Pakistan.
Majority of the Hindu Bangalee footballers settled permanently in West Bengal and continued to lead Indian national sides for decades afterwards.
The league in Dhaka was most attractive and popular in all over Pakistan.
It was sheer competitive.
But many Bengali players were deprived from playing for the national team despite having qualities.
Aga Khan Gold Cup held here in Dhaka in the 1950s and 60s was a prestigious tournament that attracted top clubs from leading football nations of Asia.
Then came the liberation war of 1971 that gave the birth of famous Swadhin Bangla team as they played 16 friendly matches in different places of India to spread awareness, as well as raise funds for the war.
Dhaka League became more popular than ever after independence.
Top two clubs – Abahani and Mohammedan – engrossed football fans across the country.
When these two sides faced off in the Dhaka Derby, it created a huge buzz everywhere.
The stadium filled up at least four hours before kick-off.
The city was adorned with Sky Blue colors of Abahani and Black and White of Mohammedan.
Security forces were aligned around the venue but they couldn’t stop the clashes, which often happened among supporters groups.
Sometimes the roads of Gulistan and Paltan became a battleground after the game, street lights and vehicles vandalized, and sometimes people were left dead too.
Interest among the common people was massive.
There were flags and banners in the streets, houses, shops and markets.
The wall was decorated with graffiti work also.
The key talks in offices, schools, drawing rooms and kitchens included debates on Abahani and Mohammedan.
Most of these occurrences were common before the turn of the millennium that showed how people were crazy about the game before cricket gradually took football’s place as major sport of the country.
Love for the Argentines
The complicated affair between one of Bengal’s greatest poets Rabindranath Tagore and Argentine author Victoria Ocampo during the colonial era has still been a curious topic of discussion in cultural arena.
An Argentine feature film was also made recently to explore their relationship.
Then there was Rosario-born Che Guevara whose revolutionary character won the hearts of Bangalees before Diego Maradona appeared on TV screens.
In 1986, Maradona not only mesmerized the world but also threw a love arrow to the millions of people of Bangladesh when domestic football was at its peak.
Bengalis already lived in anti-colonial mindset and those two massively talked about goals against England, their former rulers, in the quarter-final blew their minds away, and winning the cup confirmed the fans’ choice of support for the future.
With the popularity of local football diminishing rapidly, Lionel Messi arrived on the scene and the Argentine fans wholeheartedly welcomed the new wonder kid because of whom new football followers also started joining the Sky Blue and White army.
This fan base perhaps outnumbered the Brazil group, because of Messi, in recent decades and the magician’s potential last dance at Qatar World Cup made it a more special occasion this time.
It runs in the blood
The passion for the game has been part of the tradition for a long time but it is only during the World Cup when fans find the right occasion to show their true colors.
“Football was injected in the blood of people of this country long time ago,” Dulal Mahmud, the editor of country’s oldest sports magazine Krira Jagat, told Dhaka Tribune.
“It was the only way to tackle the British. Since then until the 1990s, it was the main source of entertainment and it spread everywhere.
“There were huge flags on the streets during the Abahani-Mohammedan games in the 1970s and 80s and those sizes aren’t seen these days.
“The World Cup craze began after 1986 and it only gradually increased over time. The enthusiasm we see today during the World Cup is just outcry of the glorious past.”
