I-League fixtures set to clash with IPL Ceremony in Kolkata

02-Mar-2013 9:25:00 AM

The cricket tournament is set to host its opening ceremony at the I-League venue which has resulted in a few glitches....

The I-League action is set to resume in Kolkata on 20 March, 2013. However it seems that the venue, the Salt Lake Stadium, will be booked to stage the opening ceremony of the IPL (Indian Premier League) cricket tournament.

"There's the news of IPL eating into the I-League and the opening ceremony will be effecting six [I-League] matches which were supposed to be held at the Salt Lake stadium. The opening of the IPL is on the 2nd of April and they are supposedly blocking the stadium from 20th of March," I-League CEO Sunando Dhar told Goal.com.

"Our alternate stadium is Kalyani, but the thing is that, with the floodlights being operational at the Salt Lake stadium, we want to play matches out there (at Salt Lake stadium)," added Dhar.

"The problem is that the [Salt Lake] stadium doesn't belong to us, but for having an opening ceremony and dancing and all that, you sacrifice football. That's pretty sad," the I-League official continued. .

It might be recalled that All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Praful Patel had also raised this concern, as he was quoted saying at FICCI's GOAL 2013 Indian Football Convention held in February.

"Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata is not a football stadium. It is a multi-purpose stadium - one day you have athletics, one day you have football and the third day you have an AR Rehman night also there," the AIFF President had remarked

In conjunction with the same, Dhar also stated that the involvement of corporates could be a way out of the aforesaid situation. "More and more, when these kind of situations happen, it makes sense to bring in corporates. One of the things that we want from the corporates is [for them] to build up their own infrastructure which will be used exclusively for football," he said.

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