MUMBAI: The fight to save the last remaining speck of space left in what was once a thriving expanse of grounds is almost emblematic of the gradual erosion of football in the city.
“I have nothing to do with politics. All I care about is football. I can only request the powers that be to not take the ground away. There are many kids whose careers depend on that ground. Owned by the Western India Football Association (WIFA), Cooperage has been outsourced to a private agency for a couple of years. “The decision will impact the football community. “In my time, most kids were into football in Kurla. I don’t see that anymore. “Even grounds like the Goan Sports Club at Cross Maidan or the Karnataka Sports Association are given on lease by the government, and the rent in turn to use them is high.
“It’s extremely sad,” Steven Dias, the city-based former India footballer, said. “We were conducting not less than 2,000 matches a year at the ground, with regular matches from 9am to 6:30pm,” said Udayan Banerjee, MFA treasurer. Kids don’t know what to do,” said Dias. “Football has become completely commercial,” he said. Earlier, these “We need to get our house in order,” the member said, requesting anonymity. “We need to look at alternative arrangements and methods and work with the administration.”
Before the Neville D’Souza ground, the Cooperage Ground was the hub of the sport in the city and a rich part of the country’s football landscape. Today, the iconic ground at Nariman Point, which once hosted the country’s then top-tier I-League, Rovers Cup, Nadkarni Cup and Harwood League, to name a few prestigious tournaments, stands split into four smaller patches.
Dias, now a coach, said he often gets asked about why a country like India doesn’t manage to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. “If we really want to dream about the World Cup, we need 10 grounds like this in a city like Mumbai – let alone one,” he said.
