Indian football’s premier club rivalry between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal mirrors the oppositional identities, social differences and emotional commonalities inherent in Indian society and culture. This paper seeks to suggest that while the roots of the origin and consolidation of this football rivalry lie in social and sub‐regional differences of contemporary Indian society, its playing out in the last 25 years can only be meaningfully explained in terms of club loyalty, fan culture and commercial transformation. It was an unimportant match between East Bengal and a local team in the late 1970s. The match was just about to start. A small crowd was chatting near the main entrance of the ground. Suddenly a middle‐aged man with messy hair, red eyes and a worn out look appeared at the gate. While entering the ground he anxiously asked the gatekeeper whether the match had begun. The gateman replied in the negative. A few other members who knew the man came to him and asked why he was so late in arriving on t...