IndiaPosted at: Sep 18 2026 7:46PM


From Maradona to Mohun Bagan, Bengal’s football heart could give a new poll symbol a life of its own

Shahid K Abbas
New Delhi, Sep 18 (UNI) The decision of the Mamata Banerjee faction of the Trinamool Congress to opt for “Football Player” as its election symbol carries a significance in West Bengal that reaches well beyond the mechanics of electoral politics. In a state where football is not simply a sport but an inherited emotion, a language of community and, for generations, a source of collective pride, the image of a footballer could evoke memories that few conventional political symbols can match.
The political circumstances that necessitate a new election symbol may be complex, but the choice of an image rooted in Bengal’s sporting culture gives the development an unusual emotional dimension. An election symbol is more than a graphic appearing on a ballot or electronic voting machine. It becomes the visual shorthand through which voters recognise a political organisation, particularly in a state with a long tradition of intense electoral participation. When an organisation moves away from a familiar symbol, the new emblem has to be communicated, recognised and remembered. A symbol drawn from an experience already deeply embedded in everyday life can provide an immediate point of cultural recognition.
For Bengal, few experiences are more deeply embedded than football. The All India Football Federation describes Kolkata as the “Mecca of Indian Football”, with Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting forming the historic three pillars of the city’s football culture. The sport has flourished in Bengal for more than a century, repeatedly crossing boundaries of class, community, neighbourhood and generation.
The roots of that emotional connection reach back to the colonial era. In 1911, Mohun Bagan defeated the East Yorkshire Regiment to win the IFA Shield, becoming the first Indian team to lift a tournament previously dominated by British sides. The victory became one of the defining moments of Indian football history, with the team subsequently remembered as the “Immortal Eleven”.
But the significance of that victory was never confined to a football field. It became part of Bengal’s collective memory — a story passed from one generation to another, carrying with it the extraordinary feeling of an Indian team defeating a British regiment at a time when colonial rule shaped every aspect of public life.
That history helps explain why football in Bengal has never been merely about 90 minutes.
It is about fathers taking their sons to matches. It is about neighbourhoods divided into green-and-maroon, red-and-gold and black-and-white loyalties. It is about arguments at tea stalls, family rivalries, friendships forged through club allegiance and the Kolkata Derby turning an ordinary afternoon into an emotional event.
It is also about the players whose names became inseparable from Bengal’s sporting imagination.
Gostha Pal emerged as one of the earliest icons of Indian football. Chuni Goswami came to symbolise elegance and attacking flair. P K Banerjee became one of India’s most celebrated forwards, while Sailen Manna acquired an enduring reputation for leadership and defensive excellence. Mohammed Habib, popularly known as “Bade Miya”, became an iconic forward of Indian club football during the 1960s and 1970s. Gautam Sarkar earned legendary status as one of India’s finest midfielders, while Shyam Thapa became celebrated for his striking ability.
Syed Naimuddin occupies a particularly distinctive place in Indian football history, having won both the Arjuna Award and the Dronacharya Award for football. Mohammed Salim’s association with Celtic in the 1930s remains another remarkable chapter in the story of Indian footballers making their mark abroad.
These are not merely names in old sporting records. They form part of a living memory in Bengal.
During Durga Puja in 2020, the Indian Football Association put up large hoardings commemorating Chuni Goswami, P K Banerjee and Sailen Manna, reflecting the extraordinary place football occupies in Bengal’s cultural landscape. The sport has repeatedly acquired the character of a festival, with its heroes remembered almost as cultural figures.
And then came the global gods of football.
Pele, Diego Maradona, Paolo Rossi, Zinedine Zidane, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo have, across different generations, acquired extraordinary followings in Bengal. For countless Bengali football enthusiasts, they were never merely distant international celebrities. Their victories were celebrated, their defeats mourned and their moments of brilliance discussed as though they belonged to the neighbourhood.
Maradona’s place in Kolkata’s football imagination was particularly profound. When the Argentine great died in 2020, the city witnessed tributes, prayers and public commemorations. Fan clubs garlanded his portraits and football lovers mourned him with an intensity normally reserved for someone much closer to home. For an entire generation, Argentina became more than a national team; it became an emotional extension of their own football identity.
Messi inherited much of that affection. World Cups have repeatedly transformed Kolkata’s neighbourhoods into seas of Brazilian yellow and Argentine blue and white, with giant cut-outs, murals, jerseys, flags, LED screens and community screenings turning football into a shared public celebration.
There is something deeply touching about this devotion. A worker who may never have the opportunity to meet his favourite footballer can spend an entire night watching him on a small television and feel that he has witnessed something extraordinary. A child can inherit Argentina or Brazil from a father with the same naturalness with which a family name is inherited. A modest neighbourhood wall can become a giant canvas for Maradona, Messi or Neymar. A tea stall can turn into a football studio where tactics, goals and refereeing decisions are debated with the seriousness of a parliamentary proceeding.
This is the cultural landscape into which the “Football Player” symbol would enter.
The political circumstances surrounding the adoption of a new symbol may be complicated, but the image itself would arrive in a state where its basic language needs no translation. A footballer is already familiar. The image can immediately summon a stadium, a club, a World Cup, a childhood memory or a player whose name has been carried across generations.
Yet familiarity should not be confused with electoral recognition. A new election symbol must ultimately be distinguished from existing political identities and consistently associated with the organisation contesting the election.
Candidates, campaign material and voter outreach would have to repeatedly establish the connection between the footballer and the political faction seeking votes under that symbol. Cultural familiarity may attract attention and make an image memorable, but its electoral meaning has to be built through sustained political communication.
There is also a fascinating paradox at the heart of Bengal’s football culture. Football loyalties are intensely passionate, but they are rarely uniform. A Mohun Bagan supporter does not automatically support East Bengal. An East Bengal supporter does not automatically support Mohammedan Sporting. An Argentina fan does not necessarily share the loyalties of a Brazil fan.
Yet beneath these rivalries lies a larger, shared love of the game. That may be the deepest cultural strength of a footballer as an electoral image. The player belongs to the game even when supporters belong to different teams. The symbol does not inherently carry the colours of one historic club or the identity of one particular footballing camp. It evokes the sport itself.
And Bengal’s relationship with that sport has survived political eras, economic transformations and technological revolutions. Football has moved from muddy grounds to packed stadiums, from black-and-white radio commentary to giant LED screens, from local legends to global superstars. Yet the emotion has remained remarkably constant. Perhaps that is why a footballer could become more than a new mark on a ballot.
For a state that has long treated football as a festival, a memory, a family inheritance and, at times, almost a faith, the silhouette of a football player can evoke an entire world — the roar of a stadium, the colours of a beloved club, a father’s favourite player, a childhood World Cup night, a Maradona mural, a Messi jersey, a Mohun Bagan triumph, an East Bengal celebration and the timeless argument over which team truly plays the beautiful game.
In Bengal, football has never been merely about choosing a side. It has been about belonging. And that is what gives the “Football Player” symbol a cultural resonance that goes far beyond its appearance on a ballot paper. For people who have carried football in their hearts across generations, a footballer may not simply be an electoral emblem. It may be a silhouette filled with memories.
UNI SKA RSA
Tags: #From Maradona to Mohun Bagan# Bengal’s football heart could give a new poll symbol a life of its own
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Shahid K Abbas
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