KOCHI: Even as Kochiites eagerly await top-class cricketing action in their own backyard, football - the ‘Beautiful Game’ - is dumping the city yet again. The authorities’ continued apathy towards developing playgrounds has forced Viva Kerala to leave, quite literally, for greener pastures. The Kochi-based I-League side, the only team from Kerala in the nation’s premier football competition, is looking to set up shop for the season in Kannur.
As much as the Viva management prefers to stay in the expanding metro, poor sporting infrastructure has forced the team to look elsewhere. “Apart from a home ground, we need an additional ground for practice,” says Viva coach A M Sreedharan.
Still searching sponsorships, the team is yet to assemble for the new season while others have already set their plans in motion. “It is a pity,” says Sreedharan. “The team has not been able to come together for three months now.” The players had gone their separate ways after the last I-League game against East Bengal in May.
“We want to stay in Kochi,” says Sreedharan. “It is the best place in the state to base a national team. There are good hotels and the international airport is easily accessible. But the most important thing, the ground, is unavailable.” Registered with the Ernakulam District Football Association, the team had conducted its home matches in the I-League last season at Kozhikode. The same was the case during their first stint in 2007-08.
“This year, we thought of playing at the renovated Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium,” said Sreedharan. “But with the One-Day International and the IPL matches being planned there, it will be difficult to fit in
football.”
The club also looked at the Maharaja’s College Stadium as an option. However, the synthetic track laid in 2007 has made it an athletics venue. The playing surface there is rough and uneven, rendering it unsuitable for good football.
Under the circumstances the best option would be to develop the neglected Ambedkar Stadium, which had hosted the city’s first big cricket match in 1990 involving the country’s best players including a 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar, into a quality venue. Currently, it lies as an eyesore; weed-infested and ill-maintained, turning itself into a favourite joint of drug addicts and immoral traffickers.
Viva had previously used the FACT Ground, Eloor, for their pre-season camps. But a top class home ground to host I-League matches is what is rankling the team. It indeed is a pity, for this is happening in a city that has hosted international and domestic matches to packed galleries in the past.
kochi@expressbuzz.com