Bashundhara Kings Ultras: The first fan club of its kind in Bangladesh

Bashundhara Kings beat Mohammedan on Monday in the Independence Cup final in Gopalgonj to lift the title. In the semi-final of the tournament, they strengthened their record at the Bashundhara Kings Arena, the home of Bangladesh football's new powerhouse, beating Abahani Ltd. The last international game involving Bangladesh was held at the same ground and Shekh Morsalin's terrific equaliser helped Bangladesh salvage a draw against a much higher-ranked Lebanon.

When the likes of Morsalin don the Bashundhara Kings shirt at their home ground - and also away from home -  a group of supporters are always present, rooting for the team. The group of fans call themselves "Bashundhara Kings Ultras", the first recognised ultra fan club in the country.

This idea of establishing such clubs originated in Italy but has by now gained worldwide attention. These groups are known for their fanatical support which involves singing chants, playing drums, displaying banners and long flags, tifos, using flares and often intimidating the opponents. 

Clubs like East Bengal and Mohun Bagan have had ultra fan clubs for quite a few years now and that inspired football agent Saruare Alam Khan and co to establish one of their own.

"Most of the famous football clubs in the world have a unique fan club that follow the teams everywhere, shout for them and hold events in and outside the gallery to encourage the team. The concept of fanatical support in football led to the term "ultras" which is now quite a popular phenomenon in the world. To bring some excitement to our local league, we came up with the idea," Saruare said while catching up with The Business Standard (TBS) for a quick chat.

The concept of ultra football clubs is by no means a well-known thing in the country and so the process of being registered as one was never easy. 

"First of all, there is hardly a recognised fan club in our country so the process was obviously not easy. We filled up the ultras membership forms and then applied for it. Thanks to our honourable president of the club, we got nominated as the official fan club [in February]," he said.

The fan club often receives special mention for their support from the club itself.

Ultra fan clubs in different countries have often grabbed headlines for many wrong reasons like football hooliganism. Many football clubs have been fined for uncontrollable behaviour of the fans in many countries. 

But Saruare insists their club's programs don't involve any kind of questionable activity. 

"The activities vary from club to club and country to country. All of our activities center around the badge of the club which we honour and we won't be involved in any kind of activity that will bring bad name to the club," he stated. 

The ultras have a constant presence in the Kings' home games at the Northern Gallery behind the goal post and now they are planning to ensure support in away matches as well. 

"Since we started enrolling members, we have been present at every Bashundhara Kings game at home," Saruare said. "We are planning to open branches outside the country so that we can support the team abroad as well. For example, in Dubai, some volunteers represented the ultras in the Asian Games Qualifiers."

Saruare said fan clubs are essential for popularisation of the game. The game's popularity is on the wane and it's important to have jam-packed galleries to bring the excitement back. He believes clubs like the Bashundhara Kings Ultras will serve this purpose. 

"Active fan clubs like us are very important for football, especially in our country. We will see a spike in football's popularity if people start turning up at galleries. Football is a sport which is watched all over the world. So it's a medium through which we can introduce ourselves to the world. You know, there are many who stay up all night and watch club football. We are trying to engage them in local football," he concluded.