The three century-plus old football clubs of Kolkata -- Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting -- came together for the first time on Tuesday to demand justice for the R G Kar Hospital rape and murder victim and also made an appeal to bring back the Durand Cup tournament to the city. (More Football News)
Sunday's Durand Cup derby between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal at Salt Lake Stadium was cancell♐ed fearing "security concerns" in the wake of the widespread protests against the allegꦬed rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Despite the "abandonment", ꦏthousands of fans from the three clubs came together for the first time as violent protests erupted outside the Salt Lake Stadium, forcing the police to resort to lathicharge before detaining several supporters.
Two days after the incident, the three clubs' secretaries -- Debasish Dutta (Mohun Bagan), Rupak Saha (East Bengal) and Ishtiaq Ahmed (Mohammedan Sporting) -- addressed a joint media conference and hoped that the Durand semifinals and final would be held in Kolkata as per the original sched🦹ule.
"It's indee💧d a historical day for Kolkata Maidan, the Big Three clubs are speaking together for the first time.
"The derby is past now. We are now requesting the administration that the Durand Cup semifinals and final should be held in Kolkata,𓆉" Saha read out the statement that had the signs🔯 of the three top officials.
"We will request our all fans to fully cooperate with the 🎃admi🐭nistration so that the match is conducted peacefully.
"In t🅺his fight, we are together without any political influence🥀," it added.
WE WANT CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: MD SP
Mohammedan 🐼Sporting's Ishtiah Ahmed said, "Not only justice, we want ca🎃pital punishment for the culprit."
The postgraduate trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered while on duty at the RG Kar MCH on August 9. The inc🌳ident has since snowballed into a national movement.
Despite widespread protests by fans on Sunday, officials from the three clubs were notably absent, fuelling accusations of ♊bias towards the state government, which provides them financial support.
"We were not sleeping on that day. I had given my statements to the media and wﷺere in talks (with the authorities) so that the match returns to Kolkꦜata," said Dutta on the allegations.
"First and forem🌞ost, we al💞l want justice. Durand Cup was shifted from here, but we want to say that you cannot abolish sport from Kolkata.
"We have conveyed the same to the sports꧅ minister (Arup Biswas). We all want to see the match and our fans will peacefully watch the match," he added.
"We tried our best so that Durand returns to Kolkata. Our matches have been shifted to Jamshedpur and Shillong. We have put this to the Durand organising committee. We are 🥂hopeful that this will return," Dutta said.
India defender and Mohun Bagan captain Subhasish Bose, accompanied by his wife Kasturi Chetri, and All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey were also part of the♐ protest march.
East Bengal official Debabrata 'Nitu' Sarkar said: "Lathichꦑarge on our 🐭fans should not have happened. We will always stand by our fans.
"We are not here to judge the state administration. The clu𓆉b is our identity. The AIFF ♔is our mother organisation and the head (Kalyan Chaubey) was there at the protest, representing all of us," Sarkar added.
Mohun Bagan and East Bengal were awarded𓄧 one point each and as per the revised quarterfinal fixtures, the two teams will play their knockout matches in Jamshedpur and Shillong respectively.
Mohun Bagan and East Bengal are on the opposite end of the drওaw and could meet in the final.
