Attempt to popularise football seems a failure at Kanchenjungha Stadium

SILIGURI, 14 MAY: The Calcutta Football League match, which was played between Mohun Bagan Athletic Club and Prayag United Football Club at the Kanchenjungha Stadium in Siliguri today, was touted as an event that was held in the town to promote and popularise football among young people of north Bengal.

However, most of the students in schools of Siliguri and its rural outskirts could not watch the match because of the delay on the part of the main organiser of the match, the Indian Football Association (IFA), to issue students’ ticket on time.

Mr Arup Ratan Ghosh, general secretary of Siliguri Mahakuma Krira Parishad (SMKP), the local organiser of the match, alleged despite repeated requests to the IFA to issue tickets of the match to students of various educational institutions in and around Siliguri on time, the association gave the green signal to SMKP to issue students tickets just three days before the tie. The SMKP general secretary said he had taken up the matter with the IFA assistant secretary, Mr Swapan Dutta. “I spoke to Mr Dutta about the issue. He said the delay was caused due to some unavoidable reasons,” Mr Ghosh said. sns