Football crowd crisis!
The qualifying round matches of the AFC U-19 Football Championship (Group A) ended in Dhaka early this month peacefully with Uzbekistan as champions. But the competition suffered from crowd crisis due to absence of proper coverage by the Media and the lack of adequate advertisement by the country’s soccer governing body–the BFF.
We do not want such repetition at the imminent Sheikh Kamal International Gold Cup Football Tournament to be held in Chittagong from October 20. We think that the officials of the hosts Chittagong Abahani KC will take lessons from the past.
Crowds are players’ inspiration. Verily crowd deficit in the stadium is hindrance to the development of sports in any country. On Saturday, about one lakh spectators watched the 2017 Confederation Cup Football qualifying match between Mexico and the USA in a US city. Contrarily, few hundred people went to the stadium to witness the AFC competition.
However, eight clubs from five countries have been divided into two groups of four, with top two from each group cruising into the semi finals of the Kamal Gold Cup. Of the participants, Pakistan Champions Karachi Electric Supply, Calcutta League Runners-up Mohammedan Sporting Club and Afghanistan Champions Bazan Club will draw the crowd’s attention. Sadly, Bangladesh champions Sheikh Jamal Club are not taking part. Indian Champions Mohan Bagan suddenly withdrew from the competition giving consent previously. Instead Calcutta East Bengal will participate.
We wish success of the tournament.
Ahmed Shahzad
Dhaka
