Let playgrounds flourish for sake of young talent

Representation pic

As the FIFA World Cup football enters its exciting knockout stage and fans of the beautiful game stay up bleary-eyed to watch the greatest sporting spectacle in the world, the game is in focus here in Mumbai for entirely different reasons.

Footballers, present and former, fans and locals staged a peaceful protest on Sunday against the BMC's Improvements Committee's recent decision to remove the reservation of the Neville D'Souza Football Ground at Bandra Reclamation, which is in Bandra West and re-designate the plot as an exhibition/convention centre.

The protest was organised by the Mumbai Football Association (MFA). While there are arguments that the space was re-designated, and Bandra West does not have an exhibition centre, we bat for keeping grounds open in a city where space is at an absolute premium.

Keep grounds open for young sporting talent rather than going in for redevelopment, corporate buildings or even residential housing. This is extremely important in a city where buildings grow and space shrinks alarmingly. Is it that important to have a convention centre everywhere? We do have convention centres in the western suburbs, so there is a greater need for sport than commercialisation.

If we do not allow all classes access to open spaces and playgrounds, then the creamy layer will be able to access clubs, while a chunk of our youngsters will be left out. It is no use bidding for the Asian Games and the Olympics when our base is so fragile, and we do not have something as fundamental as a space to play.