Mohun Bagan Athletic Club | Glorious Past Vibrant Future
Mohun Bagan Athletic Club | Glorious Past Vibrant Future
The Kolkata Derby commonly known as a “Boro Match” is one of the most fiercely contested and best attended derbies in world football. The football loving mass of “City of Joy” get polarized on a derby day and pledge their allegiance to either Green & Maroon or Red & Gold. Kolkata derby is historically and culturally significant and attracts close to 100,000 people on a regular basis.
The first ever Derby match was played back in 1921 in Cooch Behar cup semi final. The match ended in 0-0 stalemate. The replay match was played on 10th August,1921 and dominant Mohun Bagan thrashed arch rivals East Bengal by 3-0 margin courtesy to goals from Rabi Ganguli, Paltu Das Gupta and Abhilash Ghosh
Given below are overall statistics of derbies played till date.
TOURNAMENT | MATCHES | WIN | LOSS | DRAW | GF | GA |
| NFL/I League | 45 | 15 | 17 | 13 | 42 | 50 |
| CFL | 154 | 44 | 50 | 60 | 125 | 128 |
| Federation Cup | 22 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 20 |
| IFA Shield | 40 | 7 | 20 | 13 | 19 | 42 |
| Durand Cup | 19 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 16 |
| Rovers Cup | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 11 |
| DCM | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Darjeeling Gold Cup | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Scissors Cup | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 |
| Mcdowell’s Cup | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| All Airlines Gold Cup | 10 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 15 |
| Bordoloi Trophy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Amritabazar Centenary Cup | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Peerless Trophy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| J C Guha Trophy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Harendra Mukherjee Memorial Shield | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Shibdas Bhaduri Memorial Tournament | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| SSS Trophy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Kalinga Cup | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mohun Bagan Centenary Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Nehru Centenary Cup | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| PNB Centenary Cup | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Md. Sporting Jubilee Cup | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Coochbehar Cup | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 4 |
| Raja Memorial Shield | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Gladstone Cup | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Darbhanga Shield | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| William Younger Cup | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 |
| Lady Hardinge Shield | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 |
| Trades Cup | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Khagendra Memorial Shield | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Exhibition Matches | 18 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 6 |
| Walkover | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 369 | 119 | 129 | 121 | 311 | 319 |
Mohun Bagan 5-3 East Bengal (2009 I-league) : Goals rained in this 2009 derby – eight goals in a single match is still a derby record. Edeh Chidi became the first foreigner to score a derby hattrick, second player to score 4 goals in a derby as well as the first Mohun Bagan player to get a derby hattrick post independence.
There were defensive mistakes & goalkeeping errors on both sides. Manish Maithani & Chidi (two goals), scored in first half as the half time scoreboard read 3-3, unheard of in a derby. In second half substitute Sangram Mukherjee gave assurance in Mohun Bagan goal while Chidi struck two times to ensure a revenge of the loss in 1975 IFA Shield finaI.
Mohun Bagan 1-0 East Bengal (1978 Calcutta League): Shyam Thapa’s back volley in this match is arguably the most famous goal ever scored in a Kolkata derby & one of the most famous goals in Indian football history. Renowned journalist & writer Moti Nandi this goal to crest to a tidal wave. The goal came on 41st minute of the match after a cross from Subhash Bhowmik.
In defence Subrata Bhattacharya was steadfast, snuffing out Shabbir Ali while Goutam Sarkar made a valiant last ditch tackle to deny a scoring chance for Surajit Sengupta. East Bengal had a few chances but couldn’t get past Shibaji Banerjee in goal.
Mohun Bagan 3-1 East Bengal (1969 IFA Shield final) : Amal Dutta brought a new revolution to Indian football in 1969 by introducing overlapping fullbacks. Bhabani Roy went on frequent overlaps to confuse opponents. As a result Mohun Bagan dished out perhaps the most dominant tournament performance in its history, scoring freely in all matches of 1969 IFA Shield.
In final the stylish Pranab Ganguly tore a young Sudhir Karmakar apart by getting two goals. Sukalyan Ghosh Dastidar scored the third goal with a typically booming shot. Such was Mohun Bagan’s dominance that 3-1 could have been 5-1 or 6-1.
Mohun Bagan 1-0 East Bengal (1976 Calcutta League) : Early 70s were a difficult time for Mohun Bagan especially in derbies. A long winless streak ended in 1974 but it was only in 1976 that Mohun Bagan ended a winless streak in Kolkata against East Bengal that stretched from 1969.
The match started with a bang as Narayanswami Ulaganathan sprinted past Sudhir Karmakar to cross towards Mohammed Akbar who headed Mohun Bagan ahead after just 16 seconds, still a derby record. Rest of the match became a slugfest between East Bengal’s forwards & Mohun Bagan defence. Pradip Chowdhury & Subrata Bhattacharya played the game of their lives to seal a hard fought victory.
Mohun Bagan 4-1 East Bengal (1934 Darbhanga Shield semi final) : Amiya Deb became the first footballer to score a hattrick in Kolkata derby during this match. He scored all four goals in this thrashing & remains the only Indian player to have bagged four goals in the derby.
Mohun Bagan 1-0 East Bengal (1947 IFA Shield final) : There’s a famous anecdote from Mohun Bagan’s 1911 IFA Shield victory. When the players were carried on shoulders of crowd after the match a priest pointed to the Union Jack & asked one of the players, “You have won on field but when will you bring down that flag?”. Legend has it, the reply came “When Mohun Bagan will win IFA Shield again”. In a curious twist of fate, Mohun Bagan’s second Shield triumph came in 1947.
Mohun Bagan had arguably the strongest team in India at that time, with several legends of Indian football in the squad. In 1948 many members of that team, like Sailen Manna, Dr T Ao, Mahabir Prasad were prominent players in India’s first Olympic football squad. Mohun Bagan won the 1947 Shield thanks to a goal by Salim. Sarat Das & Sailen Manna formed an impenetrable defensive wall to deny East Bengal’s strong forward line.
