No Dada No KKR

No Dada No KKR (or NDNKKR) is a protest group formed after , a Kolkata based franchise in the , did not bid for Former Indian Cricket Captain Sourav Ganguly (Dada) during the IPL auctions. Ganguly was the fourth highest run scorer in the previous edition of IPL. He was rejected by KKR as well as all other franchises in the auction, leading to a Facebook protest from his fans. The protesters also went on to the streets of Kolkata for the protest. This was followed by a silent protest rally, signature campaigns throughout the country and abroad, a leaflet campaign, and stadium protests. NDNKKR and the campaigns both received national and international press attention. KKR's opening match had drastically lower attendance, and attendance during the rest of the season was also below full capacity.
Background
The No Dada No KKR protest group formed after , a Kolkata-based franchise in the , did not bid for ex-India captain Sourav Ganguly (Dada) during the IPL auctions. In the previous IPL, Ganguly had been the fourth highest run scorer. The player won strong support from fans and a community was set up on the social networking site Facebook to support Ganguly.
Protest March
Following Ganguly's rejection, fans created a protest group on Facebook. Prior to the rally, the group had 2500 members and was to be joined by another group from Orkut named "No Ganguly…No Eden". The movement was covered by local and national media with journalists including Gautam Bhattacharya supporting the movement.
Signature campaign
On 17 January, NDNKKR launched a campaign with the aim of sending signatures from across the country to BCCI, demanding inclusion of Ganguly in IPL. Members from all over the country joined in. The signatures were accumulated, printed and sent to BCCI headquarters on February 2. BCCI called a General Council meeting on 4 February to discuss the re-inclusion of Sourav Ganguly in IPL 4, Teams like Kochi Tuskers expressed interest in taking Ganguly in the team. BCCI announced that such a move would require an NOC from all teams.
Leaflet campaign
Just prior to launch of IPL, NDNKKR launched its leaflet campaign. 100,000 leaflets were printed and distributed across the city and its suburbs, along with the morning newspapers, asking people to boycott KKR. The campaign was covered by local vernacular dailies like Aajkal. Without Ganguly, KKR got a poor response, with Eden Gardens recording a poor turnout. This was followed up with an SMS campaign. 600,000 SMS were sent out to people in Kolkata asking them to boycott KKR and IPL without Ganguly. This led to efforts made by KKR and its owner Sharukh Khan to counter NDNKKR with their own SMS campaigns.
Consequences of the campaigns
On the very first match that KKR played in its home ground, Eden Gardens, the stadium was more than half empty. Estimates pegged the footfall at 20,000 in a ground with a capacity of close to 70,000. This led to KKR management drastically reducing ticket prices for all following matches.
On 19 May 2011, Dada played against his erstwhile team KKR at D. Y. Patil stadium in Mumbai. NDNKKR arranged for a joint Mumbai-Pune campaign, wherein about 50 members from Mumbai and Pune reached D. Y. Patil stadium with the NDNKKR banner. A bus was arranged from Pune, to take the members, while those from Mumbai came in cars.
Future plans
On Ganguly’s birthday on 8 July 2011, NDNKKR undertook a programme to help small children at an orphanage in Chennai. It was a step forward to getting involved with social causes. It was carried out in an orphanage ‘Udavum Ullangal’ situated 40 km from Chennai. Apart from the customary cake cutting, the kids celebrated with sweets and snacks. Educational kits and books were also distributed among all the kids. NDNKKR aims to get involved in more such social causes in the future. The journey of NDNKKR over an year has been documented in a book No Dada No KKR- The Return of Hope, compiled by Dr. Sayak Bhattacharya which was released on 10 January 2012 on the first anniversary of the group's founding.
Further reading
*http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/ipl-2011/IPL-auction-Day-2-Ganguly-remains-unsold-unknown-Christian-clinches-huge-deal/iplarticleshow/7246101.cms
*http://cricketxtra.com/20100320/ipl-2010-leading-run-scorers
*http://news.oneindia.in/2011/01/14/facebooksganguly-fans-plan-protestmarch-aid0126.html
*http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-01-14/off-the-field/28364753_1_cricket-fans-kolkata-knight-riders-kkr
*http://news.worldsnap.com/states/west-bengal/kolkata-to-walk-for-sourav-ganguly-98750.html
*http://www.timesnow.tv/BCCI-puts-pressure-to-take-back-Dada/articleshow/4363243.cms
*http://www.sportskeeda.com/2011/04/14/fans-make-no-dada-no-kkr-campaign-a-success/
*http://sports.ndtv.com/ipl/news/item/172022-ipl-without-ganguly-eden-gets-poor-response
*http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dada-fans-still-hope-of-his-return/782419/0
*http://sports.ndtv.com/ipl/news/item/172022-ipl-without-ganguly-eden-gets-poor-response
*http://news.oneindia.in/2011/01/14/facebooksganguly-fans-plan-protestmarch-aid0126.html
*http://www.in.com/news/sports/ganguly-fans-on-facebook-to-lead-rally-17095946-in-1.html
*http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-27/news/29478924_1_kkr-squad-indian-premier-league-ipl
*http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dadagiri-kkr-forced-to-lower-ticket-rates/775405/
*http://cricketnext.in.com/news/sans-ganguly-kkr-gets-mild-response-from-crowd/56464-13.html
*http://www.timesnow.tv/articleshow/4372159.cms

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