Mohammedan seek unity

With their image tarnished and performance in the field reaching its nadir, the once revered Mohammedan Sporting Club officials finally realised that it was about time to work together to revive the club's image.

The first sign of that serious effort was on display at the club's Motijheel tent yesterday when former Mohammedan president Monirul Haque Chowdhury initiated a fruitful dialogue with the sitting board of directors of the club. 

“We all are responsible for this poor state of Mohammedan. But the bad times have allowed us to be united again. Mohammedan faced such a bad patch in 1977 but it bounced back in the next year and became unbeaten champions in football. It is time to be united in a bid to restore the pride of Mohammedan,” said Chowdhury after his meeting with the club's director-in-charge Lokman Hossain Bhuyian.

“I was waiting for this day. We have discussed how we will be united and how we will work together. We want to form champion squads in both football and cricket in upcoming season. Our target is to produce good results in all the sports events we will be participating in,” Lokman responded.

But Lokman, the man responsible for leading the club for the last six years, has miserably failed to uphold the image of the century-old club since it turned into a limited company in 2011.

Among the three major sports – football, cricket and hockey, -- the once-popular club has managed just one trophy in hockey in the last six years. To add to the misery of its thousands of followers the Black and Whites hit the lowest ebb in their football history, finishing 10th among the 12 teams in the Bangladesh Premier League. They also finished fourth and fifth in Premier Hockey League and Premier Division Cricket League respectively.

Lokman was responsible for a clear division among current and former club officials, players and supporters.  It has also been alleged that the board of directors led by Lokman has been dithering to hold elections for different reasons.

And yesterday's meeting was the first attempt to pave the way for a resolution of many pending issues that have been crippling the club for the last six years.

However, rather than holding the existing board of directors accountable for the poor state of Mohammedan SC, unity among former and present club officials, former players and the supporters have been sought to pull the club out of the mire. Abdus Salam Murshedy, Badal Roy,  Mozammel Haque Babu, FR Babul, Imtiaz Sultan Jony, Rummon Bin Wali Sabbir, Ilias Hossain, Jakaria Pintu, Protap Sangkar Hazra and Qumrun Nahar Dana are the few significant names who attended the meeting.