Mohun Bagan Day 2021: The award winners and everything you need to know

The Mohun Bagan Day 2021 was celebrated at the club tent on Thursday, along with the felicitation ceremony conducted under COVID-19 guidelines.

The function, in the presence of the club's general secretary Srinjoy Bose, finance secretary Debashis Dutta and other excecutive committee members, had a limited attendance wherein the prestigious Mohun Bagan Ratna award among other awards were conferred.

A replica jersey, as the one that was worn by the 1911 IFA Shield winning team, was also launched at the event.

What is Mohun Bagan Day?

110 years ago, on this day, Mohun Bagan created history by beating British regimental side East Yorkshire to become the first Indian club to clinch the IFA Shield. The barefooted Indian unit fought fearlessly against the British side to etch themselves into the Indian football history books.

Thus, every year, Mohun Bagan celebrate July 29 to remember the heroics of their club legends.

Who are the Mohun Bagan Day 2021 award winners in football?

Mohun Bagan Ratna: Late Shibaji Banerjee (Posthumously)

Best Football Player (Senior): Roy Krishna

What does Mohun Bagan Day signify?

It was a glorious moment in the history of Bengal as well as Indian football as the Green and Maroons became the first ever Indian club to win the prestigious shield by beating British clubs.

The victory not only enriched Mohun Bagan’s history but it also invoked a great sense nationalism among the native Indians against the British regime at that time.

The Kolkata club started their campaign in the IFA Shield by beating St. Xavier’s 3-0 and followed it up by going past Rangers and Rifle Brigade 2-1 and 1-0 in the pre-quarter and quarter-final respectively. The semifinal tie against Middlesex ended initially ended in a 1-1 draw but Bagan managed to beat them 3-0 in the replay.

The final generated a lot of attention, given that an Indian side was vying for the title. Locals irrespective of their caste and religion and flocked the stadium in the hope of history being made. According to historians nearly 100,000 people had turned up in the Maidan on July 29 to cheer for the local club.

The East Yorkshire side turned up in their Black and White jersey while Mohun Bagan had donned their iconic Green and Maroon shirt. The match started in an anticlimactic manner for the local team as the regimental side took the lead in the first half.

It wasn’t an easy task for the Kolkata club as 10 out of 11 Bagan players were playing barefoot. Only Reverend Sudhir Chatterjee wore a pair of boots.

Nonetheless, Mohun Bagan came back in style in the second half when skipper Shibdas Bhaduri restored parity. Centre forward Avilash Ghosh scored the winning goal in the dying moments of the match to script history in favour of Mohun Bagan.

What happens on this day every year?

1911 IFA Shield winning Mohun Bagan team, the ‘Amor Ekadosh’ or the ‘Immortal Eleven’ will forever remain etched in the history books of Indian football as well as Mohun Bagan. Generally, Mohun Bagan celebrate this day in a grand manner. They organise cultural programmes and also conduct their annual awards night were the best performers from all sports are felicitated.

The Mohun Bagan Ratna awards are also handed out on this day.

What is Mohun Bagan Ratna and when was it awarded for the first time?

The 'Mohun Bagan Ratna' is the club's highest honour, an award which was started by the club in 2001 to honour their yesteryear legends. The very first recipient of the honour was legendary Indian footballer and former Mohun Bagan skipper Sailen Manna.