'Cooperage is not a football ground' By: Ashwin Ferro http://ww3.mid-day.com/sports/local/2006/august/142498.htm Mumbai’s Cooperage ground may boast of a century old history of football, but if a couple of Goan coaches whose teams are playing this year’s National Football League (NFL), are to be believed, it’s anything but a football field.
“Cooperage is not a football ground,” Clifford Chukwama, coach of Sporting Clube de Goa, told MiD DAY after his team beat reigning Goa League Champions Dempo Sports Club 2-0 in a season-opening charity match at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda on Saturday. Cultural venue “It’s a venue for all other cultural activities except football. And this is because the authorities there aren’t serious about the game,” added Chukwama. It may be recalled that the opening matches in Mumbai of the NFL last season had to be shifted to Goa due to poor ground conditions at the Cooperage as it had been given out for a wedding, days before kick-off. This threw the tournament’s schedule into complete chaos, with matches being re-scheduled and cancelled at the drop of a hat. Even after NFL matches finally took place at the venue the green top was nowhere in sight, replaced instead by an uneven slush brown surface. Dempo Sports Club coach Armando Colaco too is far from impressed with Mumbai ’s only NFL venue. “Mumbai is not serious about football, because if you want to see good football you must have good grounds and the Cooperage is far from good. And this has been its state for the last few years now. Nothing seems to have changed at the Cooperage except its officials,” complained Colaco. The truth “This is not to take away anything from Mahindra United but the truth is that if they would have played last year’s Federation Cup at Cooperage, they would have never won it,” added Colaco. Colaco also said that he would be taking a big risk if he were to play his expensive players in Mumbai. “Nowadays, with the traditional studs having been replaced by blades underneath, whenever a player makes a 360 degree turn on a slushy field, his boot tends to remain where it is, while the the leg turns in the direction of the body, thus resulting in ankle injuries. Comment: Its a pity that Mumbai doesnt have a good football ground... Edward Verdes _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
