Ghati‐Bangal on the Maidan: subregionalism, club rivalry and fan culture in Indian football

Abstract

Indian football’s premier club rivalry between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal mirrors the oppositional identities, social differences and emotional commonalities inherent in Indian society and culture. This paper seeks to suggest that while the roots of the origin and consolidation of this football rivalry lie in social and sub‐regional differences of contemporary Indian society, its playing out in the last 25 years can only be meaningfully explained in terms of club loyalty, fan culture and commercial transformation. It was an unimportant match between East Bengal and a local team in the late 1970s. The match was just about to start. A small crowd was chatting near the main entrance of the ground. Suddenly a middle‐aged man with messy hair, red eyes and a worn out look appeared at the gate. While entering the ground he anxiously asked the gatekeeper whether the match had begun. The gateman replied in the negative. A few other members who knew the man came to him and asked why he was so late in arriving on that day. The man hesitantly replied: ‘My younger son passed away in the morning. I am coming straight from the crematorium.’1 In a League match in the late 1970s, Mohun Bagan won by a big margin. After the match the jubilant crowd rushed towards Esplanade to board buses and trams on the way home. A few bare‐bodied young lads were standing on the rod of the tram’s wheel, hanging on to the windows with one hand. They were waiving their shirts like Mohun Bagan flags. As the tram suddenly stopped at a road signal, one of the lads got thrown onto the street. His feet appeared to be run over by the wheels of the tram. However, as the tram started to move, the lad ran and jumped onto the rod to catch the tram. After the tram left the place, a severed toe was found amidst a few drops of blood while a thin red line stretched along the tramline. The pain got lost in the euphoria of victory.2