CHENNAI: It was in 2004 that the local crowd last witnessed India’s premier domestic football competition being held in the city. After a gap of 13 years, the I-League (then called National Football League) returns to the city, with Chennai City FC replacing Indian Bank as the home side.
A lot of teething problems aside, the Robin Charles Raja-coached side will finally take to the pitch at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday. They will take on fellow debutants Minerva Punjab FC, based out of Chandigarh.
There are quite a few similarities between both. Apart from making their debuts, both teams got very less time to acclimatise and gel ahead of the opener. Minerva coach Surinder Singh said it will take time before they get their game going. “We can’t use time as an excuse, as both teams faced the same problem. But we’ll give it our all,” Surinder said, adding, “We’ve quite a few away games before we play our first home game. We need to make sure we earn points there. We don’t want to play catch up.”
Both teams are bringing back football to their regions after a relative period of lull. JCT FC was the last club from Punjab to play in the top division, in 2010. Minerva will be hoping to cash in on the sport’s popularity in the region. Stadium problems are also something that both teams are facing. While Chennai are being charged an exorbitant amount for renting the ground, Minerva, on the other hand, do not have a home ground of their own. They will be playing all home matches at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana, some 100 kilometres away from home.
Minerva CEO Ranjit Bajaj laughed when asked on the topic. “We’ll literally be playing 18 away games! Hopefully, crowds will turn up and support us in large numbers when we play there.”
Chennai captain Dharmaraj Ravanan, who came up the ranks at Indian Bank, is finally going to represent his city in the I-League, and the same is the case with counterpart Manandeep Singh. Robin, Ravanan and even assistant coach Andrew Oakley hoped that crowds come out in large numbers. “Hopefully, the crowd supports us in a big way. If we’re to make an impression, we’ve to convert our home into a fortress, and teams should be wary of us when they travel to the city,” was their general consensus.
ayantan@newindianexpress.com