KOLKATA: Mohun Bagan club claimed that several fans wearing green-and-maroon jerseys were denied entry to the Eden Gardens during the IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday.
LSG and Mohun Bagan football team — which would now be known as Mohun Bagan Super Giant — have a common owner in RP Sanjiv Goenka Group. In tribute to the century-old club and current Indian Super League champions Mohun Bagan, LSG played the match sporting the iconic green-and-maroon colours.
Mohun Bagan club secretary Debashis Dutta, however, slammed the KKR management, accusing it of “disrespecting the National Club of India.”
"It was a special match for the supporters of Mohun Bagan because LSG was wearing a new Green and Maroon jersey. But the KKR management curtailed the freedom of the Mohun Bagan supporters (who are also fans of KKR and LSG) by not allowing them to enter the stadium as they were wearing the jersey of Mohun Bagan," Dutta said in a statement.
Sources said that when a group of Bagan supporters, wearing club jerseys and scarves and holding banners, marched towards the stadium, they were asked to change their attire and leave behind other club merchandise at the gate before entering.
Condemning the action, Dutta said: “It is an individual's right to support and wear the jersey of the team which he/she loves and supports. No one has the right to interfere in one's own choice. Thus, Mohun Bagan Athletic Club strongly condemns this decision of KKR management for disrespecting the National Club of India and hurting the sentiment of our supporters.”
The KKR management is yet to reply to Dutta’s charge.
