Cricket gaining ground but football still rules Kolkata

PASSIONATE FANS: It is said every Kolkatan's heart beats for football.

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Kolkata: Kolkata is considered the Mecca of football and a city that is is strongly divided along football club lines.

But now, there is a new sport that is vying for the Kolkatans attention.

"Football has its own space in West Bengal and Kolkata. We have teams like Mohun Bagan and East Bengal," a football fans says while another fan adds, "

The passion for football is not dying."

When East Bengal and Mohun Bagan meet on the field - victory takes on a whole new meaning.

"Fifty thousand fans of Mohun Bagan and 50,000 fans of East Bengal cheering for them when they come out on ground is tremendous," Mohun Bagan Karim Bencharifa says.

They say every Kolkatan's heart beats for football and emotions run high when local rivals East Bengal and Mohun Bagan play each other.

But now there is a feeling that that passion is waning. There's a new sport and a new mascot.

Kolkata has its own cricket team in the Indian Premier League and its owner Shah Rukh Khan has become an honorary Kolkatan.

Fans arrived in thousands to cheer for Kolkata Knight Riders and they cheered with Shah Rukh and wept with him.

"He would stand near the boundary line, raise his hands and more than 80,000 people would roar. I think he is more than an honourary Kolkatan," Jeet Bannerjee, Kolkata Knight Riders, says

Clever marketing enabled the Knight Riders franchise to cash in where football couldn't. But the beautiful game continues to draw in die hard fans, almost all of them male.

"We are having a lot of live television coverage but unfortunately it is not quality," Amit Sen of United Breweries, which sponsors Mohun Bagan and East Bengal team, says.

Kolkatans argue they have place in their heart for both and thanks to some loyalists at least, football players continue to salute Kolkata as the Mecca of football.