The Bangladesh Football Federation's (BFF's) plan to start the upcoming season in October may face a huge obstacle due to the unavailability of country's premium venue, Bangabandhu National Stadium, following the renovation works ahead of the 2011 ICC World Cup.
The BNS is being prepared to host the opening ceremony of the cricket World Cup on February 17 and the multipurpose venue is supposed to be handed over to the International Cricket Council by late October, although the National Sports Council (NSC) has already sought one more month to complete renovation work.
The Bangladesh League committee has already announced that they would begin this season in between October 10 to 15 through the Super Cup or the Federation Cup following the inter-club players' transfer, which will take place on September 1-20.
Keeping the Bangabandhu National Stadium in mind, the game's governing body is also planning to reveal its annual calendar by August, but the fact remains that they are not fully aware of the availability of the country's premium venue.
It seems that the start of football season would not be possible before the completion of the ICC World Cup opening ceremony if they want to roll football through a curtain-raising tournament at the BNS.
"The renovation works at the BNS has been going on full swing and the venue is supposed to be handed over by October," NSC director (planning and development) Abdur Rahman said.
"I don't think it is possible to hand it over to football."
NSC assistant director (planning and development) Habibur Rahman said that they had verbally informed BFF vice president Badal Roy about the situation.
"If the BFF wants to use the venue for a two-week period to hold a big tournament such as the Super Cup, they would not get the facilities of the players' dressing rooms, the media box and the VIP galleries where the renovation works are currently progressing," said Rahman.
The football's governing body is seemingly in the dark about the venue and is still holding on to the promise of sports minister Ahad Ali Sarkar, who had told BFF president Kazi Salahuddin that they needed the venue for only 40 days preceding the event.
"The NSC has been given our annual roster and they know about our main competitions so we hope to get the venue on time," said BFF general secretary Al Musabbir Sadi.
If the BNS is allotted to the BFF to hold the season curtain-raising tournament Federation Cup or Super Cup, they will have to sweat over ensuring security to the participating teams because of the state of the galleries where iron bars and, plastic chairs remain scattered across the venue.
Considering the huge turnout of the spectators, the BFF general secretary also believes it would be tough to hold tournaments at the alternative venue of Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur.
"We will think of the alternative of staging only the semifinals and the final at the BNS if the NSC does not allow us to use the BNS fully," said Sadi.
Source: thedailystar.net
