KOLKATA: If the Barcelona-Madrid or the Internazionale-Milan rivalries are football folklores worldwide, Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan and East Bengal can claim that honour back home in India. Certain stands are earmarked at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium for the two football clubs in order to avert clashes between supporters.
It was, thus, a sporting moment when supporters of the two arch-rivals came together to crowd-fund the surgery of an East Bengal fan injured in the aftermath of a football match.
Anirban Kangshabanik, 19, a resident of Belgharia, was injured by a stone hurled allegedly by a fanatic Mohun Bagan supporter at the Barasat railway station when he was returning home after watching an Under-19 IFA Shield match on July 19.
Soon, supporters of the two clubs reached out to their comrades via social media to crowd-fund the treatment of Anirban as his father could not afford the expenses of a surgery. An amount of Rs1.5 lakh was raised of which Mohun Bagan supporters contributed about Rs 50,000. Anirban underwent surgery on Wednesday and is now recovering.
“The appeal for help received a tremendous response and Rs1.5 lakh was collected within 12 hours, both from East Bengal and Mohun Bagan supporters,” says East Bengal fan Rabi Shankar Sen, who put up the appeal on the club’s official fan page.
Moved by the response, the East Bengal management took over the financial responsibilities and paid the remaining `1 lakh needed for the surgery.
“Football has triumphed. We are moved by the gesture of both teams. Our family expresses gratitude to both the teams who forgot their rivalries on humanitarian grounds,” Anirban’s father Dwijen says.
For now, Anirban is hoping to watch the Calcutta Football League derby in September.