Empty stands welcome ATK Mohun Bagan for ISL season-opener

ATK Mohun Bagan’s first game of the 2022-23 Indian Super League season, a home affair against Chennaiyin, is being played in front of a near-empty Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan as a result of mass protests from the Mariners fanbase.

The protests are a result of the conflict that has existed between the club’s fanbase and Kolkata Games and Sports Pvt Ltd, its majority owner, ever since the latter acquired 80% ownership of the club in 2020. The fans are at odds with the Sanjiv Goenka-led consortium over the manner in which the club is marketed around the world, which they claim has led to a lack of clarity over the identity of the club: whether it’s a new club born out of a merger between ATK FC and Mohun Bagan or the same institution that has existed for over 130 years.

Chiranjit Ojha, Assistant Editor at The Fan Garage and lifelong Mohun Bagan supporter, recently sat down with SportsKhabri to explain the matter in thorough, emotive detail.