West Bengal: Sports
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Decline
As in 2021
Amid 'Khela Hobe' frenzy, sports has retired hurt in Bengal
Yudhajit Shankar Das
TNN
Apr 20, 2021, 14:12 IST
April 20, 2021: The Times of India
“Once sportspersons from Bengal made up a substantial part of India’s Olympic contingent, but in recent times the participation of athletes from the state at the
Games has become abysmally low,” says veteran sports journalist and writer Rupak Saha.
In the 1948 London Olympics, India had 79 participants in 10 disciplines. Of them at least 18 Olympians were from Bengal representing the country in hockey,
football, water polo, swimming, boxing and wrestling among other disciplines. Even in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, the state had substantial representations in football, boxing, cycling, shooting, water polo and wrestling. In the 2016 Olympics, India had 117 participants in 15 sports. But only five belonged to Bengal — tennis player Leander Paes, TT players Soumyajit Ghosh and Mouma Das, archer Atanu Das and Debashree Majumdar, a reserve in the relay team.
“In the past there was joy for Bengal journalists covering the National Games as athletes from the state made it to the podium in almost every event. The sentiments are exactly the opposite for those reporting on the Games now,” says Saha who has covered the Olympics, World Cups and other major sporting events since the 1970s.
Saha’s dejection isn’t misplaced. Fourth in terms of population, West Bengal ranked 15 in the last National Games that was held in 2015. It had slipped to 18 in the 2011 National Games from the 13th spot in 2007. In 2007, it had bagged 12 golds but managed to win just half that number in 2015. “It used to be among the top five in the National Games at least till two decades after Independence,” says Saha.
Bengal has won the Santosh Trophy, the national inter-state football tournament, 32 times in 74 years. But only thrice in the last 15 years [2006-21]. What led to such a downfall and is there any hope of resurgence?
The British Association
West Bengal has always been a sports-crazy state and the Maidan at the heart of Kolkata is one of its defining identities. And be it the 'parar matth' (the neighbourhood playground) or the paddy fields of rural Bengal, the rite of passage always came via them. So, it is not difficult to understand why a slogan with 'khela' or sports became an instant hit.
Bengal got an early impetus in both education and sports because of the Britishers who made the state their base. They organised football tournaments and the state had various sports associations — like the ones for football, tennis, badminton and boxing — much before their national chapters. These professionally managed associations, created good sporting infrastructure and gave Bengal the edge for a long time.
“The downfall of sports in Bengal started with the Left Front government coming to office in 1977. An entire generation of youngsters stayed off the field, sloganeering and taking out rallies… the situation has worsened in the times of the Trinamool government,” says Saha. Over the past several decades, political appointees and internal strife ruined the associations that were once the backbone of sports in the state.
The Eden Gardens tragedy also left the Bengal middle class too scared to send their children back to stadiums and football grounds for a considerable time, he says. What Saha is referring to is the death of 16 youths in rioting and the ensuing stampede at the Eden Gardens on August 16, 1980, during a derby between arch rivals East Bengal and Mohun Bagan.
A political game
The term 'Khela Hobe' was coined by Bangladesh's Awami League politician Shamim Osman in 2016. The rap-style song that has now become popular was written by TMC worker Debangshu Bhattacharya. The phrase has now been adopted not only by several TMC leaders but also by rivals BJP and CPM.
