ATK no more, Mohun Bagan Super Giants – a pragmatic settlement for ‘The Mariners’ fans

Just
after
the
thrilling
victory
over
Bengaluru
FC
in
the
Final,
Sanjeev
Goenka
announced
that
the
name
ATK
will
be
erased
from
the
prefix
of
Mohun
Bagan
come
next
season.
Hence,
the
next
time
the
Mariners
take
to
the
field,
there
won’t
be
any
ATK
before
their
name,
rather
than
the
club
will
now
be
known
as
Mohun
Bagan
Super
Giants.

The
fight
of
the
Mohun
Bagan
supporters
to
remove
ATK
from
their
name
has
been
a
long-time
battle.
The
Kolkata
giants
have
millions
of
supporters
who
just
don’t
think
of
the
club
as
a
football
club,
but
they
call
Mohun
Bagan
as
their

‘Maa’
(Mother),
such
is
the
deep
connection
between
the
club
and
the
supporters.

After
the
change
in
ownership
and
the
merger
with
ATK,
the
fans
were
naturally
exasperated
and
the
renaming
to
ATK
Mohun
Bagan
kind
of
was
the
final
straw
of
their
frustration.
We
witnessed
the
#RemoveATK
campaign
throughout
the
last
year
or
so,
intense
protest
of
supporters
in
front
of
the
club
and
an
almost
empty
gallery
in
Mohun
Bagan
matches
–
the
relationship
was
fragile.

But
the
rechristening
to
Mohun
Bagan
Super
Giants
is
much
more
acceptable
for
the
Mariners
fans.
The
general
feeling
graph
of
the
Mohun
Bagan
supporters
have
taken
a
record
high
since
the
past
15
hours
or
so,
and
more
so
after
Goenka’s
announcement.

It
won’t
be
like
the
old
Mohun
Bagan
Athletic
Club,
but
Mohun
Bagan
Super
Giants
is
something
the
fans
have
accepted.
ATK
was
a
complete
different
club
before
their
merger
with
Mohun
Bagan.
But
the
RPSG
group’s
Super
Giants
tag
is
kind
of
synonymous
with
all
of
their
franchises
–
in
IPL
Lucknow
Super
Giants,
in
SA20
Durban
Super
Giants.
With
this
ever-changing
sports
business
where
franchises
are
taking
over,
the
showcasing
of
the
brand
of
an
owner
can’t
be
denied
and
supporters
will
have
to
live
with
that.

“We
all
wanted
to
remove
the
ATK
tag
for
a
long
time,
had
it
been
a
sponsor’s
name,
no
one
would
have
protested.
But
as
it
was
a
name
of
a
completely
different
club,
the
feeling
was
not
good.
Now
the
change
to
Super
Giants
is
something
we
have
to
accept
in
this
changed
scenario.
We
are
happy
that
our
demand
was
fulfilled
and
I
can
certainly
say
all
the
fans
who
stopped
visiting
the
stadium
in
protest
will
return
to
support
the
club
from
next
season,”
Arkadeep
Mitra,
a
Professor
of
an
eminent
college
in
Kolkata
and
an
ardent
Mohun
Bagan
supporter
said
to

MyKhel.

The
pragmatic
settlement
of
the
fans
and
the
officials
of
the
club
is
definitely
a
breeze
of
fresh
air
for
this
century-old
club.
Mohun
Bagan
have
endured
a
lot
of
topsy-turvy
moment
in
its
history,
but
the
tumultuous
wave
of
the
recent
few
years
have
probably
been
their
biggest
low,
especially
for
off-field
reasons.
It
was
a
laudable
decision
from
their
new
owners
to
give
back
the
fans
their
right,
because
to
be
very
honest,
the
merging
of
ATK
and
Mohun
Bagan
resulting
in
ATK
Mohun
Bagan
was
a
slap
in
the
face
of
the
supporters,
and
a
gigantic
sporting
mishap.

Analysing
the
timeline
of
this
long
battle
to
remove
ATK
can
yield
only
a
single
viewpoint
–
it
was
simply
wrong.
The
baffling
decision
to
keep
ATK
despite
fan
unrest
was
a
strange
one
and
some
questionable
series
of
decisions
took
this
unpleasant
matter
this
far.

But
all
well
that
ends
well.
Hopefully,
the
supporters
will
be
back
supporting
their
club
from
next
season
onwards.
The
harmony
between
the
fans
and
the
owners
is
a
pivotal
exponent
–
and
to
be
fair,
Goenka
has
done
his
part.
It
is
up
to
the
supporters
to
accept
the
fact
and
move
on,
because
their
club
deserve
that.