Hooliganism in Kolkata football?

I am once more touching a tricky issue and some will certainly not like it, but it needs to be said and discussed as it is a problem of Kolkata football - Hooliganism. Not in the way as it is known in Europe or South America, but rather the own Kolkata way. And I am not meaning it in any nice way...

When I was told and read about what happened to Parimal Das at the Saltlake Stadium on Friday I was simply shocked. First it was supposed to have been a fire cracker and as time went on it became something like a crude bomb. Then finding the truth behind the story becomes difficult as some say Das himself was carrying the bomb and it went off when East Bengal scored their first goal in the 12th minute, while others claim that it was thrown by Mohun Bagan fans at the celebrating East Bengal fans. What is clear is that crackers (chocolate bombs) were brought into the stadium and lit by fans of both sides. And be it crackers or bombs, they have nothing to do in a football stadium, anywhere in the world.

At the end of the day at least five people were said to have been injured, three of them are critical. Many more will have cuts and bruises which are unaccounted for, even policemen are said to have been injured after the match ended and fans tried to get onto the pitch to greet their players.

Now who is to blame? I think everyone involved!!!
It starts with the police, whose work is to ensure safety for teams, match officials, media and even the fans. But in a derby match with over 100,000 people they seem overawed by the occasion, during the match they rather watch the game then the stands to avoid potential trouble and often don't seem to know what is right or wrong. I am talking about the police, then they are ill-equipped and not trained to handle such stress situations.

But the biggest culprits are both sets of fans and lets even include the Mohammedan Sporting fans into this equation. The fans of the Maidan big three. For many who come to the Saltlake Stadium these days it seems to be a way to let out their aggression and I feel it is getting worse. Luckily the Saltlake Stadium is as big as it is as otherwise missiles, bottles, shoes, etc could reach the field and cause injuries to players. This is a reason why outstation teams are reluctant to play at the Barasat Stadium these days as the stands are too close and dangerous for them if their local opponents play a bad game or the away team is winning.

Friends of mine, who are genuine football fans and follow Indian football really closely, avoid going to the big derbies these days as they say, it's simply too dangerous. They say it could be life threatening and the events of Friday prove that. Then simply forget women and children going to such a venue.

What needs to be done? The rhetoric from the clubs and their fan need to be toned down ahead of derbies. We all are football fans and not warriors. Otherwise future crucial derbies are disasters waiting to happen and that is surely something which no one will want. Its all about the beautiful game, so winning and losing is part of it.

There are wise people in these fan groups, I actually know some of them, who have the brains and can understand the above issues. And I know that people listen to them. They need to take a pro-active role and try to ensure that their fan groups are clean of crackers, missiles, etc and behave themselves at the ground.

Also needed are better checks at the entrances to the stadium. But if that would be implemented then it could take upto three/four hours to get into the ground. An impossible ask if 100,000 plus people are coming in. But the police needs to ensure the safety of all present, so something has to be done about this. The Saltlake Stadium structure isn't the safest anyway, so crude bombs could have disastrous effects on the whole structure.

It needs an effort from all sides to ensure that the derbies remain something which people can look forward to and not fear to hear bad news. And I am not talking about the results...