Ten Thousand Gaffers: Bagan fans to show solidarity with Sanjoy Sen with a sea of masks
AS WE TOLD YOU earlier in this week's TFG Football Podcast, the Mohun Bagan fans are planning to protest AIFF's decision to suspend Sanjoy Sen for 8 matches by wearing 10,000 masks depicting the face of the head coach during this Sunday's match against Mumbai FC at Barasat.
The unique protest has been organized by a group of Mohun Bagan fans who whipped up about Rs 25,000 to have the paper masks made, which will be distributed for free to fans on matchday.
Unique support organized by Mohunbagan supporters in kolkata.Against @MumbaiFC there will be 10k sanjay sen in field pic.twitter.com/14p72c0E8N
— Mohun Bagan A.C. (@MohunBagan) March 10, 2016
The protest comes out of grievances about AIFF effectively suspending Sanjoy Sen for the rest of the I-League season. Since Mohun Bagan are engaged in a tight title race in I-League, the fans believe that suspending the coach would cost them a crucial advantage.
Sanjoy Sen is wildly popular among the Bagan loyalists for having won them the league title for the first time in 13 years. This season, Mohun Bagan remain on an unbeaten run in the I-League, and sit at the top of the points table.
The Mohun Bagan club officials have clarified that this protest has been organized independently and has nothing to do with the club itself. In fact, when some of the fans contacted club officials to ask them if certain banners criticizing AIFF were advisable to make, the officials told them not to "do anything against AIFF."
Two of the fans behind the protest, Soumen Chaki and Subir Das, informed TFG that they would like to distribute the masks from the ticket counters along with the matchday tickets but that is unlikely to happen; so match-goers should look out for two volunteers standing at the inner gates of the Barasat Stadium, handing out masks to whoever wants them.
The fans hope that this display of solidarity for their head coach will help AIFF see reason and reduce the extent of Sen's suspension so he can be at the touchline as the Mariners charge for another I-League title.
