The thought of having to share the Bangabandhu National Stadium with cricket came as a big surprise to many sports organisers especially those involved with football but they wanted to believe that the premier of the government has been provided with a one-sided information on purpose.
“We have come to know it through newspapers and don’t want to believe that until confirmation from the government comes, though we believe that the group that raised this issue has provided one-side information to the Prime Minister. We will try to make her understand the need of BNS for football,” commented Bangladesh Football Federation’s executive member and former general secretary Harunur Rashid yesterday.
Bangladesh Cricket Board’s director Jalal Yunus on Thursday told the media that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that both cricket and football should share the BNS when finance minister drew Prime Minister’s attention by saying that cricket has a rich and traditional bonding with the BNS.
“Who will hold the rights over the BNS is a settled issue and BCB has only been allowed to use the venue for staging the opening ceremony of the Cricket World Cup. I don’t want to divide the country’s sports arena ahead of the World Cup, but I am sure what has been said is deceiving and is being done on purpose,” said BFF vice president Badal Roy.
Cricket was shifted to the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium from BNS in 2005 paving the way for a rejuvenation of ailing football and the popular sport is seemingly going in the right direction under the current committee. Football is once again drawing big sponsors and also crowds in numbers to the stadium after its return to the BNS.
“If the government takes this move, football will be extinguished from the country for ever because it will not be possible to hold both football and cricket matches in the same field; firstly because of the round-the-year schedule of both sports and secondly for the rigours of the two sport on the ground,” said Zakaria Pintu, the captain of the Swadhin Bangladesh Football team. Pintu believes a sports-friendly Prime Minister would not take any initiatives that would harm the country’s football.
It is very rare that two demanding team sports like cricket and football are played in the same ground, even more so when both are aimed to be run with a professional attitude.
It might be added that football’s governing body is currently struggling to hold its annual calendar at the only venue of the Birshreshtha Mostafa Kamal Stadium after leaving the BNS for the opening ceremony of the ICC World Cup eight months ago.
And it’s not about football alone, as athletics will be the hard hit if cricket shifts back to the BNS. A Tk 10-crore turf will have to be removed and athletics will be driven away from its abode.
