CHENNAI: Corporation's football ground lacks maintenance

By G Saravanan

Pictures by P Anand Kumar

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai, on April 20, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/a-neglected-football-ground/267051.html

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation’s only playground in Ward 32 (Vyasarpadi South), home to several budding footballers from the Vyasarpadi slums who have represented the country in various international events, is now in a state of disrepair due to lack of maintenance.

While the facilities were always bare minimum at the ground, construction of a health care centre by the Chennai Corporation on Sathyamurthy Nagar main road about a year ago made things really worse. The ground was used for dumping sand and construction material, reducing the play area for the footballers. Besides, lorry movement on the ground caused damage to the turf and has created undulations in several places. After the construction was over, the contractor did remove the materials, but the damage was done.

“Now, they need to level the ground by putting in more earth. Only then will it be play-worthy,” said N Thangaraj, a football coach with Slum Children Sports Talents and Education Development Society (SCSTEDS), an organisation that works for the betterment of the slum children in Vyasarpadi.

The situation has become so bad that in the past few months, the football-loving slum children were looking for a new ground in the area to practice the game they have come to love. This very playground has nurtured talents like Dilipan, who has been a steady member of the Indian Under-16 team, currently having a camp in Goa. Dilipan represented India in tournaments in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sri Lanka, said Thangaraj.

According to N Umapathy, Secretary and Coach of SCSTEDS, about 100 children, starting from the ripe age of three, received training on football basics at the ground for the past 10 years. 
“Enthusiastic slum children from the locality under the SCSTEDS banner got trained at this very ground for years. Last July, the team got an opportunity to visit Sweden to participate in the World Youth Cup, where they impressed even the Europeans with their dribbling skills,” said Thangaraj.

The team, comprising players below 18 years drawn from the locality, won an all-India tournament that helped it qualify for the Gothia Cup in Sweden. It was indeed a shot in the arm for the poor children, whose trip to the Scandinavian country was funded by a Mumbai-based corporate house, Thangaraj said.

“We have complained to the civic body and also spoken to it’s local elected representative to make the playground fully usable for slum footballers. But nothing has moved any further,” he rues.Corporation sources, however, said the modernisation of the playground would be taken up soon.