Celebration parade turns Dhaka into city of joy

For a few hours on Wednesday, Dhaka truly felt like a city of unbridled joy.

As the four-hour-long parade of the Bangladesh National Women’s team to celebrate their crowning as the queens of South Asia moved from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, thousands joined in the procession as they cheered on Sabina Khatun and co, and it seemed like everybody was glowing of happiness, everybody from every part of the society.

The open-deck bus parade was something that Bangladesh football had never seen. In fact, Bangladesh did not even possess an open-deck bus for such moments.

But after Golam Rabbani Choton’s disciples bested Nepal in the final of the SAFF Women’s Championship 2022, that too cancelling out the cacophony from the home crowd, the Youth and Sports Ministry took matters in hand to get a bus from Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) ready for the momentous occasion.

The champion girls roamed the city on that bus. They danced, they applauded, they cheered, and they were happy.

And that happiness spread as Dhaka seemingly changed for one afternoon.

Homecoming

The Bangladesh team departed Nepal at 12:05 PM on Wednesday, and their flight landed at 1:50 PM in Dhaka.

But for hours since the morning, fans had been arriving at the VIP terminal of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to felicitate the golden girls.

A group of footballers from the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Pratishthan (BKSP) also arrived to felicitate the players, and there were bouquets in place from Bangladesh Olympic Association and Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Among them, one was Shamsunnahar Shatabdi, a student from Independent University of Bangladesh.

“When we see the comments section of social media, we see that there are many people protesting against our girls playing football. These footballers have come a long way to win this trophy. They have now created a path for other girls to play football and win trophies,” she said.

A female student from BKSP said that this win inspired them for the future.

“They have gone through various hurdles to win this trophy. They inspire us a lot. We hope to do the same in the future,” she said.

After landing in Dhaka, the Bangladesh team were supposed to attend a press conference but due to the over-eagerness of the media personnel present, the press conference was held brief after primarily being postponed.

“As we have won the SAFF Championship now, our target is to now move forward,” Sabina said there.

The parade

The parade started at the airport, and from the very start, people were joining in numbers and the mass kept cheering the players’ name.

The parade, which went through Kakali, Bijoy Sharani, Tejgaon, Fakirapool, and Arambagh to reach the Bangladesh Football Federation office.

While open-deck bus parades are a common feature in European football, it was unforeseen in Bangladesh.

But as the parade moved on, with two armed police cars patrolling it, people, on foot and on motorcycles, kept pace. And while the mass spread across socio-economic classes, the one thing stringed them together was the happiness that resulted from ending Bangladesh’s long-lasting desperation for a major title.

Foot over-bridges were covered in banners, and people climbed high structures such as flyovers to greet the girls, and the team applauded them back throughout the time, despite the humid conditions and scorching heat.

Though there was an accident during the parade as footballer Ritu Porna Chakma hit her head on a billboard and had to be rushed to a hospital, where she had to get three stitches.

When the bus finally arrived at the BFF office in Motijheel, the women’s team received a grand ovation as thousands gathered on the street to get them.

Grandest, messiest

At the BFF offices, thousands gathered to felicitate the girls, and among them was BFF President Kazi Salahuddin, who refused to receive the team at the airport as he did not want to ‘steal the thunder’ from the team.

But as Salahuddin felicitated the players, the gathered thousands tried to enter the BFF offices, leading to the players and Salahuddin facing difficulties to enter the building.

A group of players were left stranded outside among the massive crowd, but later they managed to enter the BFF office, which houses the women’s team players on the fourth floor.

The celebration proved to be more messier than expected, but it was at least a grand attempt to respect the effort of Sabina & co, and the smiles on their face at the end of the day proved to be worth it.