THE ANGER THAT HAS STEADILY BEEN BUILDING UP against the legacy officials of SC East Bengal over their refusal to sign the final agreement that would officially transfer operational and executive power to the 100-year-old club’s investor Shree Cement unravelled into open confrontation on Wednesday.
What needs stressing here is that what is likely predominantly in play among the club’s fan base is more worry that with the team building process yet to kick off, there is a growing apprehension about the team dropping out of this season’s Indian Super League and other tournaments.
On the ground, that worry manifested itself Wednesday with hundreds of East Bengal supporters representing scores of fan clubs taking to the streets. Supporters sporting banners of several East Bengal fan clubs displayed banners and shouted slogans urging the club officials to sign the final agreement.
The protest march later took a violent turn as another group supporting the incumbent administration clashed with the opposing group forcing police to resort to lathi-charge and disperse the warring factions. The police rounded up 50 people from the scene of the clash which also left five supporters injured, Sportstar reports.
For the record, the legacy officials of East Bengal had signed the term-sheet with Shree Cement in September 2020, which secured the funds for the club to play in the ISL. The deal happened with the intervention of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
After playing its first season of ISL, East Bengal club officials had a change of heart and refused to sign the final or the binding agreement claiming that there were discrepancies with the initial term-sheet. Following this change in stance, Shree Cement had then declared that it will not nake any further investments until the final agreement was signed.
As for the reaction of the “face” of the legacy administration – East Bengal executive committee member and the club’s most influential name Debabrata Sarkar – to the unsavory incidents, his reaction was on expected lines. “The sporting rights of the club is with the investor (read SC East Bengal Foundation) and they can easily form the team for the season. We can sort out the differences by discussing the issue at a later date,” Sarkar told Sportstar.
Shree Cement’s management was having none of that however. While condemning the attack on the fans, a top company official indicated to Goal.com that the investors’ position remained unchanged. With a further caveat though. If there is any difference between the final agreement and term sheet signed in September 2020 (as claimed by the East Bengal executive committee), the officials must point that out in writing (emphasis ours) to them. With next to no chance of that happening from the side of the legacy officials, East Bengal’s representation in the upcoming season of the ISL remains in limbo.
