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It was year
1889. The Indian independence movement against the
British rule was spreading rapidly after the uprising of
1857. It was a period of growing political
awareness, manifestation of Indian public opinion, and
emergence of Indian leadership at national and
provincial levels. The spontaneous and widespread
rebellion fired the imagination of the Indian
nationalists throughout the country. Under these
circumstances, the birth of Mohun Bagan club on 15th
august 1889 is not only organizing a football club but a
step forward towards promoting a patriotic feeling, an
awakening spirit in Bengali hearts. Mohun Bagan is not
only a club, it is a national institution.
The pioneer of Mohun Bagan Sporting Club, as it was
named, was the then eminent lawyer Bhupendranath Basu,
who later on became the president of Indian National
Congress. The Basu family, the Mitra family, and the Sen
family bestowed equal efforts towards the foundation of
the club. The first meeting of the club presided by Basu
himself, was held at his residence at 14,Balaram Ghosh
Street of North Kolkata .The Secretary was Jatindranath
Basu. That historical day witnessed the presence of many
distinguished persons who were involved in many social
reforms. Among them were -
Bhupendra Nath Basu
- The first president of the Club
1.Bhupendra Nath Basu
2.Jyotindra Nath Basu
3.Maharaja Durga Charan Laha (Maharaja of Shyam Pukur)
4.Maharaja Rajendra Bhup Bahadur (Maharaja of Coochbehar)
5.Monilal Sen
6.Jyotindra Nath Mitra
7.Sir Bhupendra Nath Mitra
8.C.C Dutta (I.C.S)
9.Ram Goswami
10.Hem Nath Sen (better known as Fonbabu)
11.Girin Basu
12.Roybahadur Chunilal Basu
13.Upen Ghosh
14.Manomohan Pandey
15.Dr.Manindra Nath Basu
16.C.K Sarkar (Architect)
17.Pramatha Nath Chattopadhyay
18.Sir Brajendralal Mitra
19.Satish Chandra Mitra
20.Susheel Chandra Mitra
21.Sarat Chandra Mitra
22.Sir Nripendra Nath Sarkar
23.Sir Prabhash Mitra
24.Dr.Ganendra Nath Mitra
25.Prafulla Basu
26.Prabhash Basu
27.Hriday Krishna Ghosh
28.Sir Rajendra Nath Mukhopadhyay
29.Major S.K Ghosh (I.C.S)
The first ground of the Club was inside the famous
marble palace, owned by Kirti Mitra of the Mitra family,
known as Mohun Bagan Villa. It was situated at
Fariapukur street of north Kolkata. But as a football
ground this was not sufficiently large. It is believed
that Mohun Bagan played the first match on this very
ground against the students of Eden Hindu hostel. The
players of the initial team included
1.Girin Basu
2.Pramatha Nath Chattopadhyay
3.Sachin Bandhyopadhyay
4.Ram Goswami
5.Sarat Mitra
6.Hem Nath Sen (Fonbabu)
7.Nalin Basu
8.Upen Ghosh
9.Manindra Nath Basu
10.Manilal Sen
11.Manomoham Pandey
12.Probhas Mitra
About providing new membership for the club, the
management preferred students with due permission from
their respective parents. Jatindranath Basu took special
attention towards etiquette and education.On the eve of
first birthday of the club, some students of Presidency
College, who were also the members of Mohun Bagan,
invited their Professor, the famous Grammatologist Prof.
F.J. Rhow. Professor asked whether the club organizes
any kind of Riffle shooting or angling activities
Knowing that there are no such activities of the club,
he suggested that instead of ‘Sporting’, the word
‘Athletic’ will be more appropriate . The members agreed
and changed the name to “Mohun Bagan Athletic Club”. The
2nd anniversary assembly was presided by Sir Thomas
Holland who later on was appointed as the member of
Governor General Council.In 1891, with the help of the
Maharaja of Shyampukur, Durga Charan Laha, club ground
was relocated to his ground at Shyampukur. That place is
now known as Shyampukur Laha Colony. Later, with the
help of Mr. Harry Lee, the chairman of Kolkata
Corporation, the ground was again shifted to Shyam
Square. The ground was shared with the Aryans Club and
Bagbazar Club. The first tournament of Mohun Bagan was
Coochbehar Cup, which was held in 1893. Mohun Bagan’s
first opponent team was the European team, the ‘C’
Company of Sussex Regiment. At that time, the opponents
of Mohun Bagan were National AC, Town Club, Aryans,
Calcutta Medical College, Shibpur B.E College. St.
Josephs College, Kumartuli, Ft. William’s Arsenal and
the famous Sovabazar Club, founded by the father of
Indian Football Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari. In 1895
and 1898, Jatindranath Mitra and Bhupendranath Mitra
became secretary of the club respectively.
From 1890 onwards, sufficient information regarding
Club’s works is not available for some years.In 1900,
Subadar Major Sailen Basu took the charge of the
secretary of the club. He paid highest attention for the
physical training and fitness of the players of which he
had earned experience during his service at the Army.
And that showed great results. 100 years ago Mohun Bagan
won Coochbehar Cup, in the year 1904, which was its
first trophy. The year 1905 witnessed Mohun Bagan as the
winner of Coochbehar Cup as well as Gladstone Cup . At
the final of Gladstone Cup,Mohun Bagan defeated
Dalhousie (winner of that year’s IFA Shield) by 6 goals
to 1 .From 1906 to 1908 Mohun Bagan set a new record by
winning the Trades Cup for consecutive 3 times. At that
time, Trades Cup was the next prestigious tournament
after IFA Shield. In 1906,Mohun Bagan also won in the
Minto Fort Competition by defeating Calcutta Football
Club.That year Mohun Bagan missed the chance of
participating for the IFA Shield because P K Biswas, who
had played for National also played for Mohun Bagan in
the same year.This was considered as illegal by IFA and
Mohun Bagan was declared disqualified for that year.In
1907 and 1908 Mohun Bagan also won the Gladstone Cup and
Coochbehar Cup. In 1909 Mohun Bagan won the Laxmibilash
Cup for the first time.
1908 - Mohun Bagan
lifted the Trades Cup for the third time in a row. From
left at the ground : G.Ghosh, Dwijen Basu, Bijaydas
Bhaduri and H.Mitra. At chair from left Neelmadhav
Bhattacharya, Prafulla Roy and K.Sinha. Standing from
the left Baidyanath Dakshi, H.Mukherjee and Sudheer
Chatterjee.
Club Secretary Subedar Major Sailen Basu was the First
and Highest Ranking Indian Officer of the 49th Bengal
Regiment. Basu’s role for the club and team making is
remarkable. Such as the arrangement for a new club tent,
a new ground, making a good football team and increase
the number of Club members. In 1900, Mohun Bagan became
the partner of Presidency College and shared the same
ground at Kolkata Maidan (Ground). Mohun Bagan continued
to play here for 15 years. Then in 1915, Mohun Bagan got
the ground of National AC. On this ground, Mohun Bagan
played till 1963. In 1915, that ground was stretched
east–west. But afterwards, it became north–south like
the other club grounds in Kolkata Maidan. Presently,
that ground is occupied by one of the oldest clubs of
Kolkata, the Aryans Club, who shares the ground with the
East Bengal Club. Membership fee for ordinary members
was 8 Annas (Anna - unit of Indian currency at that
time. 16 Anna = 1 Rupee), and 4 Annas for the students.
There was no discrimination regarding collection of
membership fee from the rich to the poor. But the fund
was not sufficient to build club premises on the Ground.
It is known that a meeting was held among the Officials
of the club. Jyotindra Nath Basu, Sailen Basu, Dwijen
Basu, Sir Bhupendra Nath Mitra and Dr. Girish Ghosh were
present. The meeting was regarding the construction of
Clubhouse. Surprisingly, after some days, one fine
morning people noticed a clubhouse inside the Mohun
Bagan Maidan premises . There is no evidence of this in
the financial records of the club.The donors remains
unknown to us till date.
The first opportunity to participate in IFA Shield came
in 1909.At that time,the participation in IFA shield
itself was an honour because not all teams were allowed
to avail the opportunity. The other lucky four teams
were Shovabazar, Townclub, Heir Sporting and Chinsurah
Sporting.But Mohun Bagan was eliminated in the 2nd round
after being defeated by Gordon Highlanders by 3 goals to
nil.In the next year,after winning Laxmibilash Cup and
the Asanulla Cup, Mohun Bagan lost to Rifle Brigade in
the 2nd round of IFA Shield.
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