KOCHI: What is common between the CPM state meet held in Alappuzha, the last month’s religious convention in Fort Kochi and recurring circus fairs in Irinjalakuda? Well, all these events were held in sporting venues across the state, built spending several crores from the state exchequer.
Take the instance of the CPM state meet held in February. It had the EMS Municipal Stadium in Alappuzha, built primarily for organising sports events at a cost of Rs 13.62 crore, as the venue.
The stadium was inaugurated by V S Achuthanandan in August 2010, when he was the Chief Minister, with a promise to bring football tournaments like Santosh Trophy to the district. However, four years after the grand opening, not even a single sports event has been hosted there. The four-year-old venue, embroiled in a controversy after a vigilance probe was ordered into the alleged irregularities in construction, is badly in need of renovation.
A victim of the political wrangle between the ruling and opposition parties in Alappuzha Municipality, it now plays host to non-sporting events like political rallies, exhibitions and fairs.
Alappuzha District Football Association president K Vijayakumar, who is also one of the vice-presidents of Kerala Football Association, said the EMS Stadium is symptomatic of everything that is wrong with sports development in the state.
“We don’t have a decent football ground in Alappuzha. Our boys play on beaches and vacant plots, where if you run fast, you risk hurting yourself. So naturally, we have to depend on players from other districts to make up a strong team,” Vijayakumar said.
Alappuzha emerged the Under-21 champions in the all-Kerala youth football tournament held in Tiruvalla last year. But 12 out of the total 18 players in the team were from outside the district.
A religious convention held at the Corporation ground at Veli in Fort Kochi, is only one of the events that takes place in the sporting facility. If the venue is not booked for an event, it is used to give driving lessons and even as a dumping site for construction materials.
Irinjalakkuda’s Municipal Ground, one of the oldest natural grass turfs in Thrissur district, is now a gambling hot-spot that hosts mostly circuses, political and cultural programmes.
Former footballer A T Varghese, who lives close to the ground known locally as Ayyankavu Maidan, said the venue had hosted the Santosh Trophy cluster competitions in 1993.
“Though several groups regularly play cards in the ground, what is more worrying is the willingness of the local body to allow circuses and even private functions to be held there. Circus troupes pitch tents, erect toilets and animal enclosures, and ruin the turf,” said M K Subramanian, former assistant coach of Churchill Brothers, Goa. Many local players have sustained injuries because of the holes dug by event organisers. Irinjalakuda Municipality chairperson Marykutty Joy said they are helpless when pressured by political parties and cultural outfits, who seek the ground for various events. The problem, according to Dominic Presentation, former Sports Minister and Kochi MLA, is not the hosting of public functions in these grounds, but the lack of sports events. “Organising a tournament is a costly affair and it is tough to find sponsors. Public functions are just secondary sources of revenue generation, which help meet the expenses for upkeep,” Presentation said.
It’s an argument not digested by sports lovers. “What kind of upkeep are they talking about?” asks former footballer T A Jaffar.
“The Veli ground, which is under the Kochi Corporation, is no longer a ground. It has been reduced to just another open plot, which the Corporation rents out to make money,” Jaffar said.