On Friday, December 2nd, the SAFF football championship got underway at the Indian capital of Delhi with the fixture between Bangladesh and Pakistan. The drab affair ended  0-0. The pitch looked beautiful; while a view on TV can at times be misleading, it appeared to be comparable to any pitch in Europe. Even the football played reminded me of EPL; the only problem being it was played at a three quarter pace. But, by far the most interesting (and at the same time the most disappointing) aspect was the empty galleries. This is the biggest footballing event of the region; yet no one at Delhi seemed to care about it.

The last 2 decades had seen drastic decrease in the popularity of regional Soccer in the South Asian region. While the stars like Messi and Ronaldo generate lots of interest in this region, people care little about the regional football. Specially, the domestic Leagues in the region struggle badly to attract the spectators. Yet, things were so different in the 70's and in the 80's. At Calcutta, any match between the traditional rivals MohanBagan and East Bengal would virtually bring the city to a halt. People would forget everything else and just concentrate on football. Similarly, in Dhaka any match between Mohammedan and Abahani would have meant virtual holiday. The rather ordinary quality of football mattered little; the interest generated was nothing less than the intensity of an El Classico or a Mersy-side derby.

Of course the Mohammedan (black and white) and Abahani (sky blue) rivalry is a relatively new one.  While Dhaka Mohammedans are a traditional power of local football, Abahani only came into existence in the early 70's, following our independence. Mohammedans first won the Dacca League title in 1957, and after that they won this title at regular intervals. They also won the prestigious Aga Khan Gold Cup football Tournament on three occasions, making them the most successful team in the cup's history.

In contrast Abahani emerged in the early 70's, after changing their name from Iqbal Sporting. Based on Dhanmondi, they found an influential patron in late Sheikh Kamal, son of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. With Sheikh Kamal providing the support, Abahani quickly established themselves as a major force and in 1974 they won their first ever League title. Mohammedans however, were determined to held on to their supremacy, and they responded by lifting the trophy in 1975 and 1976. It was around this time that the rivalry started and very quickly the Abahani-Mohammedan fixtures became the biggest attractions in our sporting calendar.

I first got interested in this rivalry in late 1976. On TV, I watched the black and whites clinch the Dacca League title after defeating their arch rivals 2-0 in the final (and hence I became a Mohammedan fan). Their ace striker Hafiz netted both the goals. It should be mentioned here that the Dacca league at the time was not a proper League, rather it was a mixture of League and cup format. After the 16 teams played each other once, the top 8 would qualify for the super league. There, the teams would be divided in to 2 groups. Then would come the SF and the final.

Mohammedans also got the better of their opponents later in the season, when they beat the sky blues 2-1 in a group match of the Aga Khan Gold Cup football tournament in the winter. Hafiz and mid-fielder Sharif scored for them in this occasion. The Mohammedans defeated SL 2-1 in the SF, but in the final the Penang football association team of Malaysia proved too strong for them, the Malaysian's won 3-0.

Abahani, however took revenge in the very next season. In fact, the 1977 season was a memorable on e for the Dhanmondi team. Not only did they win the title (defeating Rahmatganj 3-1 in the replay after a 0-0 draw in the first final), they remained unbeaten throughout the League. With mid-fielder Babul (signed from Victoria at the beginning of the season) playing brilliantly at the center of the park, and with strikers Sallahuddin and Shamsu ( father of cricketer Khaled Mashud Pilot) scoring goals for fun, they seemed almost invincible. They also did the double over their arch rivals. The first match between the giants saw the first big import of foreign players in Dacca football. Abahani had  Lankan keeper Lionel Pirich for most of the season; for this big match they brought in another Lankan Mahendra Pala. Mohammedans responded by bringing in 3 Pak players, including ‘Kala' Gafur, who was a familiar figure to the Dacca crowd in the 60's. At the end it was Mahendra Pala, the Lankan winger who scored the only goal of the match. Abahani won the 2nd meeting between the two 2-1.

It was a miserable experience for the Mohammedans. They lost midfielder Sharif in the transfer market, and with players like Kaikobad and Hafiz ageing, they failed even to reach the last 4. In a desperate bid, their team management tried a host of youngsters in the Aga Khan Gold Cup tournament; and although they didn't produce the desired results, at least the management deserves credit for their boldness.

The SF and the Final system was scrapped permanently in 1978, giving the league a more proper format. Mohammedans won the title remaining unbeaten throughout the League. They drew both their fixtures against the sky blues but prevailed because of their more consistent performance over the season. Wari emerged as the bogey team for Abahani, defeating them twice (2-0 and 3-2). But, the 1978 season would be mostly remembered for the wrong reason. The first match between the two giants of Dhaka football was abandoned at the halfway stage following crowd violence which had one young man die. After this, violence between the supporters of these two rivals became almost a common thing. A number of people died over the violence throughout the 80's. In fact, the increased violence in the local football during the 80's is a major factor in the gradually diminishing popularity and image of the game during the period..

Wari continued on their giant killing act the following year, this time catching the Mohammedans off-guard, winning 2-0. In contrast, Abahani took sweet revenge for their humiliation a year earlier beating Wari 5-0. Helal, a prominent football official nowadays scored a hatrick. Abahani also defeated the Mohammedans 3-1, but the league title eluded them. A late run by the office side BJMC saw them take the title. Basu Dev, the left winger led them well, and the young strikers Hasan and Salam performed brilliantly.

The Mohammedans regained their title in 1980. A bad 3-2 defeat against Brothers disheartened their fans, but the team recovered brilliantly winning 3-0 against Abahani. Their young forward line consisting of Salam (signed from BJMC), Gaffar (from Wanderers) and Mossabber performed consistently over the season. Also impressive was the experienced central defender Abu Yousuf, signed from Rahmatganj. Not only did he perform his defensive duties well, he scored a number of vital goals with long range efforts.

For Abahani, it was a miserable year. They finished  4th, Azad Sporting took over the mantle of their bogey team (from Wari) beating them 1-0 twice.

The 1981 season started brightly for the black and whites, as they beat Abahani 2-0 in the final of the Federation Cup .This is still the only match between the great rivals that I have watched from the stadium. Unfortunately, I don't remember the scorers; but I do remember that the Mohammedans completely dominated the midfield and their wingers Gaffar and Kohinoor got plenty of space in the flanks. In contrast, Chunnu, the dangerous left winger for Abahani (he was one Abahani player I did like) was kept under control by Mohammedan full back Abul.

Abahani, however bounced back brilliantly to clinch the league title for the 3rd time in their history (after 1974 and 1977), and only a 1-0 defeat at the hands of BJMC In the final match (after the title had been decided) denied them a complete unbeaten run at the League. In the big match against Mohammedan, played in an extremely muddy pitch, the sky blues won 2-0. Overall in the season,, their midfield duo of Babul and Ashish reigned supreme in the middle of the park, while Salahuddin, in the twilight zone of his career scored some vital goals.

Mohameddan won the 1982 title defeating their arch rivals twice. They were indebted to their young goalkeeper Mohsin, for the narrow 1-0 victory in the first match, as he saved a penalty from star striker Salahuddin. But, without doubt, the biggest star over the whole season was Salam Murshedi, the diminutive but extremely quick center forward for the black and whites.  His understanding with his fellow striker Badal Roy was brilliant. With Badal providing plenty of assists, Salam broke the record of Salahuddin for the number of goals scored in a Dhaka League season. Young and energetic, Salam seemed destined for a great career in soccer, sadly, he suffered a bad injury the following year, and although he returned in due time, he never regained the old goal scoring form. He is now a very distinguished businessman and a football official.

Back to the 1982 season, Wari carried on their giant killing act, defeating Abahani 2-1 in the 2nd leg. Samrat Hossain Emily (more about him later) emerged as their star player.

Abahani won three successive titles from 83 to 85. Sadly, I remember very little of the 83 and 84 season, but no one concerned with Bangladesh football at the time would ever forget the 1985 season. This was one of the most eventful season in our soccer history.

In fact, things started to happen even before the season had started. First, the authorities here, in a bold move introduced the 3 pt. system, it was indeed a bold move, as at that time, among the major footballing countries, only England used this system. The 2nd change took place within the Abahani camp. Salahuddin, their greatest player ever, had retired at the end of the 1984 season. The club offered him the job of the manager. It was a very nice gesture, but at the same time it opened the exit door for Ali Imam, who had taken them to two successive titles. Dejected, Imam joined Brothers Union, determined to take revenge.

Indeed, at the end of the 1st leg, Brothers was top of the League, 2 pts. ahead of Mohammedans. Abahani, further 3 pt. adrift seemed out of the race. The Brothers, from Gopibagh, was a young outfit.  In the midfield, Mossaddek was a relentless worker, Wasim was the playmaker, while Liton was their main target man. Sadly, the young lads lost their heads in the final stages. With one hand already on the title, they squandered a 2-0 lead against Abahani, to lose 3-2. Suddenly they were out of it, the black and whites also dropped points against weaker opposition, and as they took on their arch rivals in the final match of the season, they needed to win, while Abahani just needed a draw.

Still, we were quite confident, in the first leg we had defeated them 2-1; a bad mistake by their Lankan goalkeeper Chandrasiri allowed winger Monu to score a late winner. But, Abahani defense stood firm in this final match. It wasn't a great match for the spectators, as frequent fouls and interruptions hampered the flow of the game. At the end, Abahani got what they wanted, a  0-0 draw ensured a 3rd successive title for them.

We were getting desperate by this time; thankfully our boyz responded by winning the league title in 1986. Abahani's problem with goalkeepers remained,  Bhasker Ganguly from India was the guilty party this time, as his mistakes allowed Mohammedans a 2-0 victory in the title decider.

The 1987 season was a memorable one, as the quality of Dhaka football reached its zenith during this season. And there was an exciting finish. The black and whites needed to win their final game against Abahani.  The tipsy-topsy affair seemed destined for a 2-2 draw before Babul, for long a great favorite of the Abahani fans stepped in. But this time he was wearing the black and white jersey. He had moved to the rival camp after being shown the exit doors. His goal in the injury minutes ensured a 3-2 victory for Mohammedan.

The Mohammedan victory meant that the two teams finished on equal points. The league rule for that season (the rules changed frequently) meant that goal average wasn't counted, instead the giants met in a Play-off. The first match ended 0-0, but (much to our delight), Mohammedans won the replay 2-0.

The 1987 season saw some real quality foreign booters show their skills in the local League. Mohammedans had Nignerian Emeka plus the two Iranian midfielders Naljegar and Borhanjade. Naljegar, the playmaker is one of the best players ever to play in our league. No less impressive were the Abahani recruits, the Iraqi duo of Samir Shaker (defender) and Karim Alavi (striker).

By this time our football had reached a decent stage. Our national team had impressed in WC qualifiers in 1985, and our club teams were doing well in Asian club competitions. Yet, it was around this time, due to some injudicious decisions by our football authorities, football started to lose its popularity to cricket. It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss the causes of this decline in details (those interested might read my'Football in Bangladesh: All passion and Nothing Else').

As the 80's approached its end, me, like many others of my generation became more interested in cricket. Not surprisingly, I remember little about the matches played between the giants from the 90's onwards. I can just recall two fixtures, in autumn 1990, a goal by striker Nakib ensured a 1-0 victory for Mohammedan in the final of the ‘M-O-Moni' cup. In the summer of 1992 Mohammedans again found themselves in a familiar position, needing to beat their arch rivals to lift the title. They took an early lead, but two goals by the young Abahani forward Mamun Zoarder dashed our hopes. As far as I can remember, this is the last time I watched Abahani play the Mohammedans.

Before I finish this article I would like to look at some of the players who had played for both the giants during the 70's and the 80's.Salhuddin, of course had a short stint with the Mohammedans in the early 70's, but he was one of the early recruits of Abahnai management when they started building their team; and almost all his laurels were achieved playing for Abahani.  Similarly, Sheikh Aslam, Salahuddin's  successor as the leading marks man of the country, had a forgettable year with black and whites, but scored regularly for the sky blues throughout the 80's. For goalkeeper Mohsin, the story is exactly opposite. He first played for Abahani in the 1981 Aga Khan Gold cup football tournament, as Abahani's regular Lankan keeper was not available at the time. Though Abahani failed to reach the knock out stages, Mohsin impressed everybody with his keeping. Still, the Abahani management considered him too young, and was reluctant to use him as their no.1 keeper for the next season. Dejected, he joined the rival camp and became an instant hero of the Mohammedan fans by stopping a penalty from striker Salahuddin.

But, by far the most interesting cases are that of the brothers, Manju and Nannu. Both were prominent figures in our football during the 70's and the early 80's. Nannu was the most creative playmaker in our domestic football in the early 70's but following an injury he moved to the central defensive position. Manju was a right back, who could also play at the center of the defense. They both enjoyed spells with Abahani and Mohammedans, but almost inevitably they found themselves in the opposition camps. Most interestingly, in 1978, Manju was leading the Mohammedans, his brother was leading Abahani. They did play together at Rahamatganj late in their career. There they were joined by Raqib (another  full back who could play stopper if necessary); Raqib too had experience for playing for both the giants.

Overall, I found 4 players who played with almost equal success at both the clubs. Midfielder Khurshid Alam Babul joined Abahani from Victoria FC in 1977. For the next 10 years he was at the heart of all Abahani's success. In 1981, he was the successful captain of the side. Yet, he was dropped after the 1986 season; after joining the rival camp he scored that all important goal that helped Mohammedans beat their arch rivals 3-2 in a do-or- die match for them in 1987.

After joining from Rahamatganj, Abu Yousuf was a pillar at the centre of Mohammedan defense for 3 seasons (1980-82). Yet he left the club over a pay dispute in 1983, and enjoyed a lengthy and highly successful time at Abahani.

Left full back Imtiaz Sultan Jonny joined abahani in 1982. He had just taken over (from Swapan of Mohammedna)  the mantle of the best left back of the country; a mantle he held on for most of the 80's. Jonny was an instant success, but like Babul, he too was shown the exit door later in the decade. After joining the black and white camp he became a regular; there he occasionally played as left side midfielder as well.

Finally, I come to Samrat Hossain Emily, one of my all time favorite Bangladeshi player. He first made the headlines, as he scored a string of goals late in the 1982 season. His goals, plus unselfish play by his fellow striker RajKumar, enabled Wari to finish a highly creditable 4th. He became an instant target for both the giants, and after a tag-of-war, Abahani emerged as the winner. Emily was a grand success in his first season there, forming a superb understanding with the more experienced Salahuddin and Chunnu. But, his progress was hampered by successive injuries. Finally, after a career threatening injury suffered against a Pak team in an Asian Club fixture, in September 1985, Abahani let him go. He restarted his career at Mohammedans, in a slightly different role. For the Black and Whites, he played the role of the attacking midfielder. Injuries had taken away some of the brilliant skills of his youth, but he remained extremely industrious and full of running. He also enjoyed the lucky charm; for 5 successive seasons (1983-87), he was in the title winning team.