Kolkata Maidan’s (an iconic ground similar to London’s Hyde Park) century-old legacy of the friendly enmity between the SC East Bengal and Mohun Bagan AC symbolises the essence of being a true Bengali, even amongst the diaspora. Therefore, the football-crazy community, to mark India’s Independence Day as well as commemorate the 100th year of Kolkata Derby, is planning to recreate a similar excitement with a unique football tournament viz. Indian Fans Alliance (IFA) Shield UK at the Arbour Park Stadium in Slough.
The IFA Shield 2021 will have teams named after the famous Kolkata clubs and has a theme song sung by renowned Bollywood singer Shaan, with music by upcoming Bollywood Music Director Sunjoy Bose and lyrics by Abhra Malakar from Kent, UK.
A brainchild of Anirban Mukhopadhyay, a die-hard East Bengal fan, the idea was conceived to revive the traditional football rivalry between the two clubs on the banks of Thames.
This year, the organiser Heritage Bengal Global (an all-women not-for-profit organisation in the UK) under the presidentship of Milly Basu, has specifically decided to hold the event on 15 August, to celebrate India’s 75th Independence Day. This is the first time, the organisation will have women’s teams participating in the tournament.
The alumni business group of South Point School (a famous school in Kolkata) viz. Pointers Business Forum has partnered with the organisers to offer free stalls at the venue, especially to promote small and medium businesses in the UK.
Bhaskar Bhattacharyya, who has been instrumental in getting the Football Association (FA) accreditation said, “The FA accreditation gives us a different status and set of rules to follow, as a tournament- we are thankful to FA to recognise our efforts."
Speaking at the launch event on 1 August which coincided with the foundation day of East Bengal and commemorating the 100th year of Kolkata Derby, Anirban reiterated the basic objective of organising this event. “During the unprecedented Covid pandemic for last one and half years, everybody has gone through difficult times and this event is basically a symbol of surviving against all odds and getting back to life in a healthy way.”
Incidentally, the launch event also paid tribute to the Mohun Bagan Day, (which is on 29 August) to celebrate the 1911 victory of the club over the Yorkshire regiment.
This year’s star attraction will be football legend Chima Okerie and will be joined by Virendra Sharma MP and Dr Partha Kar OBE.
