When an animal species is declared extinct, there’s no getting it back. When an historic building is knocked down for shiny new skyscraper, there’s no getting it back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when a football club as rich in history as Mohun Bagan, one of the oldest football clubs in the world, let alone India, is sold and re-branded, there is no coming back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The architects of this merger, which will officially take place on 1 June 2020 and see the new entity participate in the 2020\/21 Indian Super League, will tell you this is preserving the legacy of Mohun Bagan, a club founded in 1889. That, in any case, without this intervention the club, which has been floundering and struggling for a few years now – ironically since the introduction of the ISL – may not have survived much longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But make no mistake, regardless of what the corporate spin on this merger is, this is the death of Mohun Bagan as we know it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As much as we want the romance of the Maroon and Green jersey and it\u2019s 130-year-old tradition to continue, there comes a time when romance almost invariably requires a partner named practicality,” said Mohun Bagan secretary Swapan Sadhan Bose in announcing the deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like when Wimbledon was sold, moved and re-branded as MK Dons, it may technically have been the same club, the same entity, but the spirit and heart of the club were gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it is for Mohun Bagan, without the relocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mohun Bagan name may continue in a bastardised version, with the new club to be known as ATK-Mohun Bagan, but the new owners haven’t yet committed to keeping the club’s historic logo and colours – two iconic features that are so fundamental to the identity of Mohun Bagan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Welcome to the capitalist world of modern football, where history and tradition have a price and can be sold to the highest bidder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n