The pitch of contention

Bengaluru: The use of the Sree Kanteerava outdoor Stadium for sports other than track and field has been a bane of contention between athletes and the state government for the past few years. On Thursday, athletes — past and present — and coaches came together at their ‘home ground’ to protest and protect their rights over the stadium.

They appealed to the Chief Minister to intervene and find a solution for the issue.
The stadium was leased out to Bengaluru FC three years ago to be used as their home ground and there have been issues about the use of the centre field by the I-League club, who re-laid the turf and barricaded it to protect the pitch. But what proved to be the tipping point was the Border Security Force blocking all but one entry into the stadium during the on-going Oorja-CAPF Youth U-19 football tournament. The athletes were instructed to go about their regular training post 5 pm.

“Situation now is that Kanteerava has been sold to football and others with vested interest. This stadium is not a money-making proposition but a medal winning one. We are not against football but we need to co-exist peacefully,” said former international athlete and current Bangalore Urban District Athletic Assocaition president Ashwini Nachappa. Talking about the use of the stadium for other events, she cited the examples of a recent NGO tournament and other corporate meets that have hampered training in the stadium over the past three years.

“The centre part (the field) was for conditioning exercises and for throws. We are being forced to do that on the other side and on the track. When did our administration become so insensitive to the needs of the athletes and coaches?” she questioned.

When asked about steps taken from the athletes’ side to resolve the issue, Nachappa revealed: “We met the sports minister (Pramod Madhwaraj) on March 15 and he said he wants to hear both sides but so far nothing has happened.”
While the major source of complaint comes from the use of the stadium for football, the decorated athlete stressed that it’s the administration that needs to be sorted out.

“We are appealing to the Chief Minister because no one in the government or the DYES director can do anything. Not the home minister, K. Govindraj (KOA president and Congress leader), DYES Director (Anupam Agarwal). No one cares,” she remarked.

“We have nothing against any sport but we want our fair share. Let them do whatever between 10 am and 3 pm. Have matches also here. But, when we train, we need the stadium in full.

With the Asian Track and Field selections and the Federation Cup scheduled for June, and the athletics community has decided to use the facilities, as they did so on Thursday, to their full potential. “We will use the entire facility for what this was built for, even if we get arrested,” pointed out Nachappa.