Chinnaswamy stampede revives memories of ugly 1969 Eden Gardens episode: Fans who never really mattered

Chinnaswamy stampede revives memories of ugly 1969 Eden Gardens episode

In a stampede for tickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata six cricket fans lost their lives and 50 were injured in December 1969. What was/is most unfortunate is that none of them have been remembered in the annals of India’s cricket history.

2025 - 55 years later many fans died earlier on Wednesday in Bengaluru with many others injured. The similarities are uncanny. In 1969 fans had queued up outside the Eden Gardens for tickets and many had parked themselves overnight. For 7000 tickets to be sold, there were more than 20,000 fans present. When the counters opened, the crowd turned unruly and the ones at the back started pushing the ones in front causing many to fall. That’s when the stampede happened and many died.

Earlier on Wednesday the road was barricaded for the RCB team bus to go through and all the fans were pushed to the side of the roads. As the numbers swelled, there was hardly any space to stand. Some felt suffocated and when the team bus arrived, many who were at the back pushed the ones in front. That’s what caused the stampede as many fell down. Some got trampled and many others were injured.

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1969 - When the police lathi charged to disperse the fans, a substantial section walked to the team hotel to catch a glimpse of the players. Not seeing any, they started throwing bricks and pelting stones at the hotel and multiple window panes were broken in the process. That’s when the police was forced to fire tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.

2025 - After the stampede and after all of the injured were transported to hospitals, many expected the fans to disperse. Nothing of the sort happened. In fact, when my colleague Gargi Raut, who was covering the event at the Chinnaswamy, left the stadium around 9:30 pm there were still a few hundred fans waiting for a glimpse of the players. No one had mentioned to them that the players had all left and it was all over and done with. While many pairs of slippers, left behind amidst all the chaos, narrated the story of what had earlier happened, these fans seemed unfazed by the whole thing.

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Two simple observations. How blind is fandom? And why? What is it about seeing cricketers or stars that one has to completely lose sense and responsibility? When one is seeing a serious crowd build up and can sense that the situation is getting out of control what is the point in being there? What difference will it make if you don’t see Virat Kohli for a second in the team bus? What’s the attraction?

The second question is are these people real fans or are they the herd who just turned up because this was the in thing to do? A fan posted some hours on X that they had waited for 18 years so the loss of a few lives was okay. That’s what makes me feel Indian fandom has taken toxicity to a very different level. Maniacal behaviour can never be a part of healthy fandom. While the administration is every bit responsible for having allowed the parade to happen after the police had red flagged it, the RCB management showed lack of sensitivity when they carried on the function hours after the stampede. But as citizens we too have a responsibility. If we sense danger and understand that things aren’t really okay, why would we take a chance? Why risk lives when it is totally unwarranted?

In 1969 none of the men who died could be named. They have never been remembered in the annals of Indian cricket history. Chances are in 2025 we will do the same. In a couple of days it will all be okay and the men and women who died will be mere footnotes in the larger IPL story. And we in the media would have moved on to the next scoop.