Even as the Baroda District Football Association (BDFA) is organising more than seven state and district tournaments,soccer players in the city are forced to hunt for a venue to practise their favourite sport. The only football stadium in the city,which belongs to the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC),is facing a total neglect and is used for everything but football. The reason why BDFA has not been showing much interest in holding talks with the VMC is a small clause in an agreement between the two bodies. The clause,according to officials at BDFA,is allowing VMC to organise any other event other than football for 10 days in a year. We had to do scratch selections for the inter-district tournament as we did not have a venue where we can organise the camp. This is not something new to us as we had been forced to alter our tournaments and selection process in the absence of a dedicated football ground. We feel bad about it because Vadodara is one of the few cities in the state which has a stadium designed for football only, said Glenn Colaco,honorary secretary,BDFA. Hardev Jadeja,Honorary Secretary,All India Football Federation,who has been representing Gujarat for more than three decades,said: We have been representing the issue to the VMC. There was a meeting held between VMC and BDFA,but the issue hit the road block after a clause allowing them to organise any event other than football. Our argument was that if we maintain the ground for football,our efforts would go in vain if it is damaged during any other event. We are still open for discussion with VMC as it would only put Vadodara on state and national map as far as football is concerned.
