Salt Lake Stadium-Kolkata: Source of Pride or Shame for India?

The Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata is one of the few multi-purpose stadiums in India (Getty Images)

The Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata was established in 1984, having a capacity of 120,000 people in it’s three-tier configuration. The stadium has the 2nd largest capacity in the world. A few years ago, the the grass of ground was replaced by artificial ground,  for the first time in India. Football superstars like Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Oliver Kahn came to this ground to make the history of the ground more glorious.  Till the last decade, the stadium was Indian football’s pride having such features.

But over the last 2-3 years, things have started to change. The floodlights suddenly  stopped working during matches several times, due to which a long pause in the games took place. At last, matches at night were stopped, players had to play in the day time against the beating sun in 35-40 degrees Celsius temperature. And there are many broken chairs, bricks also in the stadium, which took the lead role in the mishap of 9th December, 2012 during the Kolkata derby. In short, the environment in the stadium is messy.

Currently, if someone goes to the stadium, he will see waste around the gallery, and lack of maintenance. The beauty of the stadium can’t be found by anyone. Moreover, the stadium is not only used for football, but also for athletics, room rent, counselling etc. And last year it was used for the IPL opening ceremony as well. Maybe India is the only country where the biggest football stadium is used for cricket program.

The stadium is currently the home ground of four major I-league clubs, and about 45 matches are to be held in this stadium in the next season. And East Bengal FC will have international matches also in this stadium.  The stadium urgently needs some repairing, floodlights should be repaired immediately. Otherwise the stadium will be a shame for Indian football soon.