Commemoration for the 15th year of Diamond Demolition

Sunday, July 08, 2012 Report by Amartya Dasgupta

13th of July has been a special day for all East Bengal followers. Exactly 15 years back on this very day, the "Red and Gold Brigade" destroyed the defence of their arch rivals Mohun Bagan, to score 4 goals. This is one of the biggest margins the Red-n-Golds have won over their arch rivals in recent times. But this moment of glory has got its own significance. This win is commemorated as the "Diamond Demolition Day" by East Bengal lovers all over the World.

The then coach of Mohun Bagan, Amal Dutta, known as a visionary of modern Indian football, came up with a totally new system of play. A 3-2-3-2 combination popularly termed as “Diamond System” by the Indian Media. They got immediate success by introducing this system and that year Bagan was almost invincible. But unfortunately the system was not tested in front of the mightiest club of India, East Bengal. The then Technical Director of East Bengal, P.K Banerjee (needs no introduction to the person with even the slightest knowledge of Indian football) had some other plans. Already the media created a rivalry between the two stalwarts, and Mr. Amal Dutta falling in the trap of the media uttered some nonsense against EB players. In public he gave derogatory statements about the East Bengal players by mocking their names.(Baichung as ChungChung, Soso as Sosha and the list goes on). May be it was a pressure tactic he tried to implement off the game. But it backfired as the EB players already got the required zeal and ardor to crush their rivals by these statements. The day was destined to be written in golden letters in East Bengal history. It was a working day in the middle of a week, 13th of July, the semifinal of Federation Cup. 1.31Lacs crowd got drawn to the YBK Stadium, Saltlake. From the word go, EB was in vengeance. Nazimul Haq drew the first blood followed by the first ever hattrick in derby by Baichung Bhutia. The diamond system was torn to shreds, in the EB test.

This day has been celebrated world-wide by the East Bengal fans. This time the 15th year of Diamond Demolition is also not an exception. EBRP Kolkata is celebrating the Diamond Victory on 15th of July, Sunday, by organizing a friendly match between the EBRP Seniors and Juniors. Also the new season of registration for EBRP membership starts on the same day. It gives us immense pleasure to declare that we, the EBRP members in Bangalore, will also celebrate this day for the first time here. The plan is a gala lunch to be hosted by all the East Bengal fans all over Bangalore at the residence of Mr. Prasenjit Dasgupta in White Field; near Spice Garden Bus Stop (even those who are not current members of EBRP are welcome). All interested fans please log onto our Facebook group "East Bengals in Bangalore".

It is a closed group, so please send us a request and we will be more than happy to add you. Also interested people can contact me directly at (+91) 9880330196.

EBRP Bangalore heartily welcomes every East Bengal supporter here in Bangalore to join the feast and make it a grand success and commemorate the "Diamond Demolition".