Ruud Gulit unveils McDowell Mohun Bagan Jersey during MB Day Celebration

Dutch Legend Ruud Gullit, the Chief Guest in today's Mohun Bagan Day celebration held at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, unveiled McDowell Mohun Bagan jersey for the season 2012-13. This jersey has been designed by singer Babul Supriyo who is also a die-hard fan of Mohun Bagan.

29th July will and always be an iconic day for McDowell Mohun Bagan and its countless supporters. Decades ago in 1911, it was on this eventful day that Mohun Bagan changed the course of history by defeating a British Club - East Yorkshire Regiment - to lift the IFA Shield.

As a mark of tribute, 29th July is celebrated as Mohun Bagan Day every year.

Today's Mohun Bagan Day celebration started at sharp 5.30 p.m. with Rabindra Sangeet by Ms. Jayati Chakraborty.

Other than Ruud Gullit, Mr. Swapan Sadhan Bose, Mr. Anjan Mitra, Mr. Srinjoy Bose, Mr. Debashis Dutta, Mr. Madan Mitra, Mr. Subrata Mukherjee, Padma Shri Chuni Goswami, Padma Shri P. K. Banerjee, and Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya were present in the dias to honour the recipients of various awards.

After Ruud Gullit was felicitated, he said, "I have read the history of the club where I found how the game of football helped in revolt against the English rulers. Indeed, football is not just a sport." said Gullit. He also said that this day will always remain as a special day in his life and that he did not expect this kind of response.

Gullit also recollected how he had dedicated his footballer of the year award in 1987 to Nelson Mandela though he said he did not realize the impact of this decision at that time.

Dilshad Rahmani, trainee of McDowell Mohun Bagan Kolkata Goalz, a joint venture Project of McDowell Mohun Bagan, British Council, Kolkata Police, Kolkata Municipal Corporation, and Premier League, received an award for the highest attendance in Kolkata Goalz. Ex-Mohun Bagan Captain Jose Barreto presented the award to Dilshad Rahmani. Earlier, when Barreto entered the stadium, unbelievably, the fans started cheering Barreto and it showed that though he had left Mohun Bagan this year, he is still so much popular among the supporters and members of the club.

This was followed by felicitation of McDowell Mohun Bagan Nursery Football Team and the Mohun Bagan Cricket team for winning the IFA Nursery League and winning 4 trophies this year respectively. The 4 trophies won by the Mohun Bagan Cricket team are J. C. Mukherjee 20/20 Trophy, A. N. Ghosh Trophy, P. Sen Trophy and CAB Knockout Tournament.

Debabrata Das received the Dhiren Dey Memorial award, for Best Cricketer of the Year for scoring 926 runs during the season 2011-12, from ex-Captain Chuni Goswami.

Syed Rahim Nabi got the Karuna Shankar Bhattacharya award for Best Footballer of the Year for the season 2011-12 and he received the award from ex-Mohun Bagan Captain Prasun Banerjee.

The Sailen Manna Memorial Award for Best Sportsperson of the season 2011-12 was given to Laxmi Ratan Shukla for his brilliant performance while playing for Bengal, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Mohun Bagan, and he got the award from Ruud Gullit.

The Sponsors were then felicitated. Since Mr. Anant Aiyer of UB Group could not make it to the event, Mr. Rajeev Mundle collected the award on his behalf.

Late Jarnail Singh was then conferred posthumously the Mohun Bagan Ratna. His 3 daughters recieved the honour from Club President Swapan Sadhan Bose. When the audio visual of Late Jarnail Singh was being shown on the screen, there was huge cheer from the crowd.

This was followed by unveiling of McDowell Mohun Bagan Jersey for the season 2012-13 by Ruud Gullit. Babul Supriyo who has designed the jersey presented it to Ruud Gullit who gave it to Rahim Nabi and Tolgay Ozbey. The 10,000 odd supporters present at the venue cheered the most when Tolgay wore the jersey and kissed at the logo.

President Tutu Bose also gave one jersey to Babul Supriyo who later gave a scintillating performance wearing that green and maroon jersey. Coach Santosh Kashyap, footballers Anyiche Echezona, Stanley Okoroigwe, Tolgay Ozbey, Shilton Paul, Arindam Bhattacharya were seen shaking their legs along with Babul Supriyo.

The final act saw Usha Uthup enthralling the audience with her songs and the crowd was enjoying so much that they started dancing in the gallery. Even Vice President Radheshyam Agarwal seemed to have put on his dancing shoes as he went to the dias and showed some nice steps.

The program ended at 9 pm with the National Anthem being sung by Usha Uthup.