Comment: Could Mohun Bagan Have Handled The Bhaichung Issue Better?

Everyone went gaga over the fact that Indian skipper Bhaichung Bhutia shall be showcasing his skills on a different pitch altogether. The torchbearer of Indian football was to participate in the dance cum reality show.

The show began on February 27th, five days after the 3-0 humiliation at the hands of their arch rivals East Bengal which ended Bagan’s ten match unbeaten run. The match was also significant as the referee Dinesh Nair booked Bhaichung and thereby, the skipper wasn’t suspended for the following crucial encounter against Churchill Brothers which on March 4th.

Mohun Bagan general secretary Anjan Mitra shot a letter to the All India Football Federation (AIFF) that the referee Dinesh Nair has always been biased against their skipper and that in future, the referee in question shouldn’t be allowed to officiate their matches.

The Green and Maroon’s downward spiral began when they lost to Churchill Brothers and never really got their AFC Cup campaign going though their initial defeats were not by a big margin.

The press would often hound Mohun Bagan officials and the coach Karim Bencherifa as to why Bhaichung would skip training sessions and not travel with the squad for away games. But the club always remained mum and the coach backed his skipper time and again. The media, after trying every possible way, to look for a controversy had failed and gradually left that question out of their list.

Mohun Bagan finished runners-up in the I-League and won the Super Cup beating Churchill Brothers. The Sikkimese Sniper reached only in the afternoon in Jordan where his side were to play against Al Wehdat. This was followed by the player’s decision to opt out of the exhibition tie at Jaipaiguri.

On Thursday, Anjan Mitra termed Bhaichung’s behaviour as ‘erratic’ and not befitting the Indian football icon. The club questioned his commitment and performance and claimed that his poor display was one of the primary reasons for the club not winning the I-League.

Yes, Bhaichung had taken a prior permission from the club and the coach but the terms agreed upon were breached, according to Mohun Bagan. It is believed that the former East Bengal star had mentioned that participation in the reality show wouldn’t hamper his training and that he shall continue to play the matches. The time frame of the reality show as told to the club was between three to four weeks.

The format of the reality show is such that each week based on the performances, the judges allot marks to each contestant which amount to only 50% of the total count, while the rest is dependent on the audience’s vote.

Bhaichung has time and again reiterated that he doesn’t know how to dance and that he has been part of this show just for the experience of it. Having reached the finals of the dance competition, the star player had never imagined back in February to do so. Going by his dancing, Bhaichung would have seen himself being chucked from the competition way earlier and hence, the three to four weeks talk.

“The reality show is a test of how much people support you. If I do reach the final, it will show that people do love other games apart from cricket as well,” said Bhaichung earlier. Indeed, he has got a lot of support with the whole city of Gangtok voting for him.

The Mariners do have a point that Bhaichung missed a number of training sessions but the question comes as to why the club has suddenly risen from its slumber? If the club felt that their skipper’s performance wasn’t up to the mark in the closing stages of the I-League, they should have taken immediate action against the player. Why did they wait?

Even after Bhaichung reported on the day of the game at Jordan the Bagan officials kept mum. It was only after his absence for the exhibition tie in Jaipaiguri comes the show cause. Mohun Bagan officials would have promised the people in North Bengal of the presence of their star player but his absence would have hurt the officials' ego.

It’s not rare that the officials in India speak about the club being a family and if that had been the case; the issue should have been sorted behind closed doors. Having a press meet and publicly humiliating the player doesn’t sort things out. Bagan are right with their ‘club over player’ agenda but it's the way things were managed wasn’t good.

But it’s the timing of the show cause which raises serious doubts over the club’s intentions. As far as Bhaichung is concerned, the player has taken part in all the competitive games. Missing the training sessions wasn’t called for but the club should have raised doubts about this way back before giving a green signal.

The public spat seems to be more of an ego issue than anything. It seems that the club wanted to have all the drama in public and thus, show their authority as they could have sorted in a different way.

What do you think?

Rahul Bali.