Football losing its fanbase in Bokaro

BOKARO: Ranchi is all bursting with excitement for the Champions League T20 and local hero MS Dhoni, along with his band of boys, are basking in the glory of a sport that is unquestionably the most popular in the country.
About 120km away from JSCA International Stadium, where CLT20 is being played, Mohan Kumar Mangalam Stadium in Bokaro's Sector IV wears a deserted look.
The 49th Junior National Football Championship was inaugurated on September 19.
But the young players could hardly draw any crowd despite free entry.
Though this was no deterrent for the undaunted young talents at the BC Roy Trophy, who displayed skill and spirit, organizers were left red-faced when the 40,000-seat stadium was left with 200 or less spectators to share the joy of the teams.
"I personally feel that players enjoy crowd and feel motivated and perform well. Such a low turnout is very discouraging. It seems that organizers have publicized the championship much ," said Sushil Kumar Verma, chief coach at SAI.
Abdul Manan, a player from Jammu and Kashmir, said empty galleries could hardly encourage his team. "Even local football matches in our state attract huge crowd," he said.
The craze for football seems to have diminished among residents here.
An organizer said things have changed these days. In 1990s, the same stadium used to witness heavy footfall during football championships.
He further said in 1982, during the match played between BSF, Jalandhar and Russia in All India Bokaro Football Cup, police had to open fire on crowd after it had gone berserk in this stadium. However, nowadays the empty stadium during national football championship is an example of how football fans are diminishing by the day.
However, the small crowd is said to be very big by the organizers in comparison to earlier matches. It was match between Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Himachal Pradesh which drews a big crowd to stadium, said an organiser. This is first time when BSLa is organising B C Roy Trophy.
The players and coaches finds the small crowd to be very discouraging. Chief Coach of (SAI), Sushil Kumar Verma expressed concern over poor presence of audiences in stadium. Their team is playing B C Roy Trophy for the first time and is performing well. They are in the semi finals beating Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, but there is no audience to praise them.