Liverpool vs. Manchester United: Sports fanatics in Kolkata to witness city's biggest live screening

On September 1, Kolkata will witness one of the biggest screenings, featuring the greatest rivalry in English football. When Liverpool takes on Manchester United at Anfield, more than 120 supporters of both clubs from Kolkata will be sitting together in a hall cheering for their team and booing the other.

The rivalry between the two legendary English clubs is not a new subject of discussion. While Liverpool started dominated the league from the late 60′s, United have successfully carried it for the past 20 years. The two clubs have achieved an enormous amount of success right through their existence and this match is no less attractive than an ‘El Classico’ encounter.

‘Bengal Kop – Liverpool FC Supporters’ Club Kolkata’ and ‘Manchester United Fans’ Club Kolkata’ will jointly organise a live screening on a day the North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur takes place as well.

Supporters of both the clubs will come in large numbers and the screening hall will bear an atmosphere no less than that present at Anfield. With various club chants and songs already popular, both sets of supporters seem prepared to raise the bar and come up with their very own innovative chants.

Being organised at Park Street, this venue is extremely convenient for supporters from any end of the city to travel to and witness one of the biggest footballing events.

“We have been doing it for the past couple of years and this time the response is huge”, said Sourav Jyoti Barua, an organiser. “We started off with 40 odd supporters in the year 2011 and on 1st September this screening will feature over 120 participants,” he added.

“We are still lagging behind other metropolitan cities where the demand of screenings is quite high, but no doubt, in due course of time even Kolkata will reach that peak”, said Dipesh Agarwal, another organiser for this event.

Both the fan clubs were established in 2011 and irrespective of the rivalries shared on the field; these two supporters’ clubs have tried to give Kolkata what it has never experienced before. Being the football capital of this country, screening at this scale started to gain popularity once these two groups decided to bring all the supporters of Liverpool and Manchester United under their respective banners.

Based on the infrastructure provided in Kolkata, it is an extremely difficult job to even book a screening spot, which is affordable for the football fanatics dwelling in the City of Joy. However, overcoming all the difficulties, these two fan clubs now have a healthy number of members and with their support, Kolkata will soon achieve the success similar to the other metropolitan cities.

Both “Bengal Kop” and “MUFC-K” will look to organise more than eight screenings this year. Besides organising screenings, they would also work together in bringing up and recognising various football talents in the city.

Both “Bengal Kop” and “MUFC-K” have a football club of their own, and under proper guidance, various scouting events are also organised from time to time.

“Bengal Kop” has previously organised two major football tournaments in Kolkata, where more than 400 players participated from all around the city. Notwithstanding the rivalries shared in England, both the organisations in Kolkata are determined to contribute and improve the footballing culture in this city.

With more members joining each day, these two organisations are getting more and more support, which will eventually help them achieve their goals.

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