Sunday derby takes ugly turn

The Salt Lake Stadium and the one Manchester City call home were united and separated by a bizarre tale of two football derbies on Sunday. But while the one in England didn't stop for a minute, the one in Kolkata never resumed after the first half. Dhiman Sarkar reports.

The Salt Lake Stadium and the one Manchester City call home were united and separated by a bizarre tale of two football derbies on Sunday. Both had a player bleeding from a missile thrown from the stands but while the one in England didn't stop for a minute, the one in Kolkata never resumed after the first half.

With almost 100,000 people watching, Asia's oldest club, Mohun Bagan, cited security concerns, preferring the possibility of a three-season ban from the I-League, India's biggest football competition, to playing the second half against East Bengal."Had we resumed, who would have guaranteed that there wouldn't have been a repeat of August 16," asked Anjan Mitra, the Mohun Bagan general secretary. He was referring to a match between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal in 1980 when 16 people died at the Eden Gardens. "And the security of the away team, its players, officials and fans rest with the home team," said Mitra. This was East Bengal's home match. A red card on Mohun Bagan skipper Okolie Odafa for intimidating referee Vishnu Chauhan in first half stoppage time turned the carnival into a cauldron of chaos. Missiles rained from the lower tier of the Mohun Bagan section of the stands. They were possibly intended for the referee but hit Mohun Bagan's Syed Rahim Nabi in the face.

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Mohun Bagan hope AIFF won't be that drastic and have promised to appeal to upper authorities, said Mitra. He didn't specify but it could mean Fifa or the AFC.