Is the soccer story from Bengal over?

Talk to any Bengali about sports and the first word to come out his mouth would be 'football'. Like in Brazil or in Argentina, a Bengali takes to football like fish to water.

They're known for their extreme passion for the game and it's the same passion that bought to the fore teams like Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting. It's also the same passion that gave the country players like Chuni Goswami, Subhash Bhowmick, Manoranjan Bhattacharya, Krishanu Dey, Atanu Bhattacharya and the likes.

This intense passion has also given way to vicious club rivalries so much so that a family supporting Mohun Bagan will never give their daughter's hand in marriage to a family that supports East Bengal.

It's quite difficult to imagine that these legendary teams which have won more events that any other club in the past century have not won a single, National (I-League) title since the past 6 years.
East Bengal last won it in 2003-04. Mohun Bagan last won the National title ten years back.

  

Is the story over??    

While football from Bengal is on the decline, a new force in the form of Goan football has emerged since the past decade. Dempo FC, Salgaoncar and the Churchill Brothers are the new flag bearers of Indian soccer. In the last 6 years, Dempo FC has won the title 4 times while Churchill Brothers won it once. Even this year, Dempo is favored to win it again. These statistics are good enough to prove that there's been a significant change in the equilibrium and Goa is the new parallel force.

What could be the reason of this steady decline over the past decade?
Quite difficult to point out one reason.

Pressure

The passion that runs over football in Bengal rubs off the wrong way as well. The staff and players are under tremendous pressure to perform or perish. Under this pressure it becomes quite difficult for the team to maintain a winning streak. 3-4 losses on the trot and an underperforming player could be benched for an entire season or losing to rival clubs many also sound a death knell for the coach. Comparatively, Goan teams are not under such pressure and also the fact that they've managed to retain the same team for the last 3-4 years has helped a lot. This has also helped in building good team spirit amongst the players.

Money

In earlier times, players joined only out of pure passion for the clubs and took pride wearing the Mohun Bagan or the East Bengal colors. With pay cheques getting fatter by the day it's become a norm to quit allegiance and change. Can't find fault with that as the life for a soccer player is quite limited. Also, the fact that Goan teams spend a lot more on their squad as compared to clubs in Bengal.

Foreign Players

Odafe Okolie

The Goan teams have a good mix of Indian and foreign players. Also it has helped for a fact that these teams have managed to retain their foreign recruits for the past 2-3 years. For instance, Odafe Onyeka Okolie (of Nigeria) playing for Churchill Brothers has been the top league scorer for the last 3 years and is the top scorer for this year as well. Corporates too are spreading their resources evenly (which earlier used to be restricted only to Bengal teams) and this has helped retention.

No Indian player has come close to being the top scorer hence having good quality foreign players in the squad helps locals get a good perspective on how to play the game

What lies ahead?

It all boils down to one word - Patience.

The fans and the powers that be have to let the coach and the players settle down, get into a rhythm and the end result would be there for all to see.

Building a champion team requires a good 2-3 years as is very evident with the way Dempo and Churchill Brothers have fared.

The only way is up from here on for these iconic teams from Bengal.

With new coaches in Subhas Bhowmick (Mohun Bagan) and Trevor James Morgan (East Bengal) they can only hope and play accordingly to turn around fortunes and regain their past glory.