Barasat Stadium holds something between 14-16000 . During the last I-League Mohun Bagan played Salgaocar, Lajong, Royal Wahingdoh & Sporting de Goa matches there and except the Lajong match which had 80% filled stadium, the rest of the matches were played before packed house. Thus the Police plea of reduction of the attendance by more 60% because of law & order problem seems comical. Police is there to maintain law & order and not to enjoy the match for 90 m. During the Durga Puja at the same area Police can control Lakhs of people for 4-6 days and even during the nights, but for football they come out with stories. IFA should also share the blame. Why they did not take up the matter right at the beginning when the fixture was announced ? Why every body became pro-active just 3 days before the match ? MB officials can easily be blamed for not completing the Members' enclosure (approx one-third area is left for bucket seats to be fixed and also the Press Box). But remember they didn't have any money from the Sponsors since October last. The fund (provided by the Club President) kept for the gallery work had to be diverted for payment to the players. Things are tight to say the least but the Club is somehow pulling on. Let us see what happens........ we will have enough time to criticize later on. Right now let us focus on the Kolkata Football League.
Why Army is not taking back the ground from Mohun Bagan? It was given for sports and no matches are held there for 5th year running. IFA shouldn't give any more tickets to that club, they failed to organize their matches at their own ground. Kudos to MSC that they will again play in their home ground this CFL except derby matches.
Personally i believe that matches should be held at neutral grounds (barasat/saline manna/ other smaller stadia in the suburbs) so that tge maidan grounds should be used exclusively for team practice with better facilities (like better gyms, rest areas for players etc)...
@DeepakC there are enough grounds available for practice in Kolkata. The big two must play home matches in their home grounds, hopefully soon I-League matches as well. If you haven't been to one during match day, its difficult to explain the atmosphere. YBK or any other ground in India can't match it, electric!
I agree @eastbengalpride with u totally. Nothing compares to playing in a small football specific ground. The problem is that over the century none of these clubs have invested in a training setup and hence my suggestion that maidan be used as a trainibg base and the ckubs use govt stadia for matches
Mohun Bagan vs MSC is not the same as Mohun Bagan vs Salgaocar/Lajong/SCG etc(where 100% supporters are from Bagan). Here both the teams have their support base; MSC, infact have a more strong support base in Barasat and since the match is expected to be a high voltage one with emotions/tempers playing big time(happens with any big match in Kolkata), IFA has done the right thing in restricting entries.
Regarding lack of sponsors - one gets what he/she deserves! No one is interested in crocodile tears! Have u ever heard that any corporate wudnt want to be a part of a success story (with the team winning the I League, any principal sponsor would like to associate its brand/name with the club - yet they don't want to! ) This calls for introspection..
The day Debasish and co. is out of Bagan, sponsors would come in queue....
Comments
MB officials can easily be blamed for not completing the Members' enclosure (approx one-third area is left for bucket seats to be fixed and also the Press Box). But remember they didn't have any money from the Sponsors since October last. The fund (provided by the Club President) kept for the gallery work had to be diverted for payment to the players. Things are tight to say the least but the Club is somehow pulling on. Let us see what happens........ we will have enough time to criticize later on.
Right now let us focus on the Kolkata Football League.