Within 24 hours between June 3 and 4, the mood of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) fans, who were celebrating the team breaking the 18-year long title drought at the Indian Premier League (IPL), went from euphoria to mourning as the victory celebrations outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium turned into a tragedy which claimed 11 lives and left at least 56 injured.
“We waited 18 long years to celebrate this trophy. This moment meant everything to us. But I never imagined it would come with such a heavy price,” said Shilpa Pradeep, a fan of the team from Bengaluru. “What should have been pure joy turned into a heartbreaking tragedy. No one expected things to spiral like this. The confusion and chaos around the post-victory event made it hard for fans to know what was happening or what to do.”
No time to celebrate
Vishwas M., another fan, had travelled to Ahmedabad to watch the final match. By the time he reached home, the mood around the victory had changed. “We could neither celebrate our victory nor even share the photos or videos we took during the final match on social media, as we felt it was not the appropriate time to celebrate. All this while RCB kept saying that they have the biggest fan base. It is such an irony that it was the same fans who had to die.”
The 18th edition of IPL was one of RCB’s best seasons ever with the team registering a streak of wins in away-games and with at least nine different players bagging man of the match awards. The fans opine that the stampede over shadowed the team’s achievements.
“RCB had played consistently this season with every player chipping-in unlike other seasons when the team was heavily dependent on a few. Now, no one is talking about it as the stampede, rightfully so, is being discussed more than the games or the season,” Mr. Vishwas said.
Fans also expressed their disappointment in how the victory celebrations were hurriedly planned and blamed all parties involved. They said that it would have been wiser if the event had happened a day or two later with due preparations.
Could have been postponed
“It seems like there was not enough time for the officials to properly prepare for such a massive crowd of 2-3 lakh people. Given the circumstances, the whole event was handled very poorly. Nobody even considered postponing it for a day or two to get things in order. The RCB management is also at fault for rushing the preparations. The government had no business hosting the players or celebrating them at Vidhana Soudha, especially considering this was a private tournament with private teams. When the common people could see the event was going to be overcrowded, how did the authorities not anticipate that?” asked Shrisha Kunjoor, a die-hard fan of the team who had also travelled to Ahmedabad to watch the final match.
Published – June 06, 2025 07:52 pm IST