century of celebration
1950s : The Celebration Continues

In 1950, Club's another ex-associate, B.K.Ghosh (Gagan Babu)left us. Gagan Babu was the Asst. General Secretary in 1939, the year when the Clubwon the Football League for the first time. This year, Dr.S.K.Gupta was electedthe Vice President of the Club and Gagan Babu was nominated as the Trustee.Dr.Gupta was the General Secretary of the Club from 1944 to 1950. Later,Chandrashekhar Sen took charge.

In 1951, Mohun Bagan reached the finals of Durand Cup. Onthe first day of finals, Mohun Bagan was leading throughout the match butduring the last few minutes, the goalkeeper was seriously injured and left theground. Dr. Talimeren Aao replaced him.Hyderabad Police, later, equaled the scoreboard with 2-2 goals. The match endedin a draw. On the second day, Club lost by two goals to nil. In the same year,Mohun Bagan lost to East Bengal on the second day of the finals of IFA Shieldafter the first day draw. But, alongside were some achievements such as LeagueChampionship and the Asian Games Football Championship - won for the firsttime. That year, Asian Games took place at Delhi, where four players from MohunBagan were selected for the Indian Football Team, namely, Sailen Manna, T.Aao,Abhay Ghosh and Runu Guhathakurta. The team was captained by Manna. Indiadefeated Iran by 2-0 goals. After Asian Games, the Indian football teamtravelled to Far East Asia, again under the captaincy of Sailen Manna.M.A.Sattar and Runu Guhathakurata were also selected.

In 1951-52, Maharaja Srish Chandra Nandi passed away, so didGeneral Secretary, Mr. Chandrasekhar Sen. Eminent Solicitor Sourendra MohanBasu became the Secretary of the club. At the same time, Sourendra Nath Kar waselected the Vice President of the Club. Here a point must be noted thatMr.S.N.Banerjee, Mr.B.C.Ghosh, Mr.S.K.Gupta and Mr.S.M Gupta - all the foursecretaries of Mohun Bagan Athletic Club - got the honour to become thesecretary of IFA. At the Helsinki Olympics of 1952, 3 Mohun Bagan players wereselected. They were Sailen Manna (Captain), M.A.Sattar and Runu Guhathakurta.For both the Olympics of 1948 and 1952, Mohun Bagan's players captained the IndianTeam. After two days of drawing with Rajasthan Club, that year, the IFA ShieldFinal was absconded.

Mohun Bagan won their first ever Durand Cup in 1953. In thefinal match at Delhi, Mohun Bagan beat the National Defence Academy of Dehradunby 4 goals to nil. His Excellency, Honorable President of India Babu RajendraPrasad was the Chief Guest of the prize distribution ceremony. He said, "MohunBagan was my favorite team from my childhood. I was a regular visitor of allMohun Bagan matches, when I was a student at Kolkata. Sometimes, when I didn'thave money to buy the ticket, I could not stop myself. I watched the match fromoutside. I was always kept myself updated with the news of the club". In thesame year, Club lost another trustee Mr.Hriday Ghosh.

Club won the double crown for the first time in 1954 bywinning the League Championship and IFA Shield by beating Hyderabad XI. Anotherglorious moment was when Mohun Bagan beat the Gresers Club from Austria by 2goals to 1. In the same year, Mohun Bagan beat the visiting Afghan NationalTeam by 3 goals to nil. In 1954, Indian Team visited Soviet Union under thecaptaincy of Sailen Manna. Ratan Sen of Mohun Bagan accompanied Manna. Butafter the Soviet tour, during the IFA Shield, Sailen Manna was seriouslyinjured. S.Dutta of Mohun Bagan became the top scorer of the year, while theyoungest player of the squad, Subimal Goswami, better known as Chuni, becamethe second highest scorer. During the 2nd Asian Games at Manila, Philippines,Sailen Manna (Captain), M.A. Sattar, P.Venkatesh, S.Dutta and Samar Banerjee(Badru) - all ace Mohun Bagan footballers - were included in the Indian Squad.

1955 witnessed Mohun Bagan again as the League Champions. Inthe same year, Mohun Bagan got the opportunity to play with the visiting Sovietand Swedish teams. But Mohun Bagan was defeated by three goals to nil in boththe matches.

1956 was a memorable year for the Club. In this year, MohunBagan lifted the Rovers Cup for the first time. Later, the Mariners took partin a match with the visiting football team from Austria. After a strugglingfight, they were defeated by 2 goals to nil. Then Mohun Bagan lifted both theCalcutta crowns by becoming League and IFA Shield champions. Including thisyear's victory, Club won League for 3 consecutive times. Existing ClubSecretary was veteran Mohun Bagan player Karuna Bhattacharya. Since Mohun Bagangot the invitation to visit Far East again, so the team did not participate forthe Durand Cup that year. Club's Asst. General Secretary Dhiren Dey took allthe responsibility to arrange the tour for Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore andMalaysia. Karuna Bhattacharya and Sailen Dey were appointed as JointSecretaries for this tour. The team included Sailen Manna (Captain), M.A.Sattar (Vice Captain), Ratan Sen, Sushil Guha, D.Mukherjee, S.Chatterjee,P.Barua, Subhasish Guha, M.B.Narsia, Chandan Singh, Chuni Goswami, K.Pal, BadruBanerjee, S.Raman, Parimal Majumdar and R.Guha. That tour of Mohun Bagan earnedhigh esteem for the Indian Football.

In 1956, in Melbourne Olympics, Samar Banerjee(Badru)captained the Indian team. Kesto Pal was also selected in the team. ChuniGoswami, S.Chatterjee and Sushil Guha were selected as reserve players. Thatyear, an ex-Club Official associated with the Club, Salil Mitra (Matal Babu)passed away. Salil Mitra provided a lot of assistance to the Club throughouthis life. From 1934-36, he served as the Asst. General Secretary, from 1937-41,as the Treasurer, and from 1945-56, as the Trustee of the Club.

In 1957, Mohun Bagan lost to Mohammedan Sporting Club in thefinals of Rovers Cup by three goals to nil. Once again Samar Banerjee (Badru)was given the responsibility of leading the Indian Team for the East tour. Inaddition, S.Chatterjee, Sushil Guha, Kempia, Kesto Pal and Chuni Goswami wereselected. But Chuni had to stay back as he was elected the Captain of theCalcutta University Team in the International University Football Tournament.Chuni led the Calcutta Team to a Championship win. In 1957-58, the Club did notdo well in Rovers Cup and Durand Cup Tournaments. In the First Division League,the Club was left as runners. In the IFA Shield finals, Mohun Bagan had tocompete with East Bengal. The first day ended in a draw. But the IFA failed to organize the match on the second day forthat year.

In 1958, for the Tokyo Asian Games, Chuni Goswami, AmedHossain and M.Kempia were nominated for the Indian Team. But once again Chunihad to refuse, to accept the captaincy of the Calcutta University Team. In1958-59, Mohun Bagan had to quit the Tournament at the Semifinals. On the otherhand, the Club won the Calcutta Football League and reached the finals of IFAShield Championship against East Bengal. IFA failed to organize the final matchin September. Afterwards, the final washeld in January 1959 and East Bengal won the match by 1-0 goals.

Later, the Club participated in a charity match at therequest of Delhi Football Association for the aid of the Prime Minister'sRelief Fund. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru himself was present at the ground.He told Dr.Bidhan Roy that he was a Mohun Bagan admirer. In Kabul'sPre-Olympics Football Tournament, Mohun Bagan's Sushil Guha, Kempia, JarnailSingh and Chuni Goswami were selected for the Indian team. And in Kwala Lumpur'sMerdeka Football Tournament, Mohun Bagan's T.A.Rehman and Kempia were electedfor the Indian Team. Another Mariner Arun Ghosh played for the CalcuttaUniversity Team in the International University Football Tournament.

At the commencement of 1959-60 football period, Club won theDurand Cup by defeating Mohammedan Sporting Club by 3-1 goals. At the prizedistribution ceremony, President Rajendra Prasad praised the sporting spirit ofMohun Bagan Club. Soon after this accomplishment, the first Division LeagueChampionship and the IFA Shield Championship were added to Club's glory. TheClub defeated Indian Navy at the IFA Shield finals. This year the Club alsoplayed another Charity Match with Indonesia's National Team for the PrimeMinister's Relief Fund. At the end of the game, the football used in this matchwas auctioned by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, which was bought bydistinguished industrialist and Mohun Bagan's senior member M.L.Khaitan with Rs.14,000.

In 1959-60, total number of matches played by Mohun Baganwas 42, among which the Club won in 36 matches, made a draw in 5 matches andlost in only 1 match against Eastern Railways. The credit for thisextraordinary achievement goes to Club Secretary Sailen Manna and Asst. GeneralSecretary Dhiren Dey and Balai Das Chattopadhyay. Though Sailen Manna was agedat that time, he did not turn down when Jarnail Singh was absent and played ashis substitute in 12 matches. He also played in the charity match of PrimeMinister's Relief Fund.

That year the Club adopted the three-back system and ArunSingh became the Coach. Within a very short time, he established himself as asuccessful coach of the Indian national team.

Trophies won
Kolkata Premier League 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1959
IFA Shield 1952, 1954, 1956
Durand Cup 1953, 1959
Rovers Cup 1955
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