Half an hour before kick off. People, mostly clad in blue and white, were trickling into Sree Kanteerava Stadium to witness the Sunday night blockbuster between the home team, Bengaluru FC (BFC), and the defending champions, Chennaiyin FC. To the right of the area where the members of the press were seated, a group of about 100, chorused Nenje Ezhu (Arise, heart), a Tamil song composed by AR Rahman. They tweaked the song’s lyrics to say “Chennaiyin FC never dies.” Supplementing the song was a banner that read: “Shhh… we don’t take part; we take over.”
Opposite to them, sat the famous fan-group of the hosts, West Block Blues, with a huge banner of their own. “Lead us, Carles” it read. They wanted Carles Cuadrat – making his debut as the manager in ISL – to win Sunday’s game to start the season on a victorious note but mainly to prevent the extension of Chennaiyin’s unbeaten record in Bengaluru.
Last time the two teams clashed there, a lot was at stake. Chennaiyin FC came back from behind to stun Bengaluru 3-2, winning the fourth edition of Indian Super League. Bengaluru FC, also known as the Blues, many concurred, were the season’s best team. When the league stage ended, they’d won 13 of their 18 games, scoring 11 goals more than any other team and leading the second-placed side by eight points. Despite this dominance, they went down 2-3 in the final.
And, that game had ended on a bitter note for the Blues’ fans. They’d accused and abused Chennaiyin FC for stalling the game after Bengaluru was trailing by a goal in the last few minutes.
So, much before the start of Sunday’s contest, there was a considerable hype getting built. These two teams might have played each other only thrice in the league before Sunday’s contest. And, Bengaluru are just a year old in the league. But all the contests between the teams were intense last season. Hence, even if the rivalry’s still nascent, it isn’t entirely an exaggeration to call it the ‘Southern Derby’.
“There’s no revenge,” said Bengaluru FC captain Sunil Chhetri ahead of Sunday’s final. “If the match was just after a day (of the ISL 4 final), then it probably would have been. But now, it’s just a fresh start to the season. We’ll play them like we would play any other opponent.”
Coach Cuadrat, too, had underplayed the hype. “We know that this is a repeat of last season’s final, but the ideal scenario is that we view it as the opening game of this season,” he said.
His counterpart, John Gregory, too, didn’t get drawn into the narrative of rivalry in the pre-match interactions with the media.
“Fans tend to enjoy this maybe more than we do. They like to create this southern rivalry between these clubs,” he said.
Proximity is an important factor in sporting rivalries, especially in football. Bengaluru is a six-hour drive from Chennai, which makes it convenient for the fans of both teams to traverse to the two cities. This inter-city rivalry involves topics of weather, traffic, lifestyle and culture.
“There’s a lot of banter in social media as well,” Gregory had said. “As long as it’s done in good taste, it’s great for the game. It’s great for the fans.”
But fans do not like diplomacy. They need a conflict, a confrontation. And, by rooting for their respective teams, they seek resolution. When two evenly matched sides, over a considerable period of time, are involved in a battle of one-upmanship, a rivalry develops. And, a good rivalry has the potential to create collective, infectious energy that affects the players and supporters of a team.
On Sunday night, for instance, when Chennaiyin FC were beginning to slump after a good start, the team’s coach John Gregory gestured his team’s fans to cheer louder. The cheering spurred the players of the visiting team to perform better and they twice came close to scoring. The team’s performance increased the fans’ vigour.
Courtney Nguyen wrote in New York Times about sporting rivalries, “To put it simply, it makes you care and it’s compelling theater regardless of the result, the scoreline, or even the quality of play.”
Sunday’s game ended in a 1-0 victory for Bengaluru FC, courtesy Miku’s spectacular strike towards the end of first half. The Blues, for the first time on their home turf, had beaten the defending champions.
After the win, some fans of Bengaluru, seated adjacent to the CFC fans, needled the latter about avenging the defeat of last year’s final. The fans of the visitors team retorted by pointing blue banners that said “champions”.
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