Neglect begets neglect

It seems that the fervor of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) has not crossed over Chittagong to Mymensingh as the league is set to shift to the Rafiq Uddin Bhuiyan Stadium here from today.

Despite this being the first time that BPL matches will be held at Mymensingh, the crowd seems far from enthusiastic, perhaps even disinterested. Before this, the city has held only two major football tournaments: the Sher-e-Bangla Gold Cup in 1991 and the Nitol-Tata Football Tournament in 2004.

The BPL has been massively publicized in the past couple of days, with 12 loud speakers blaring news of the league to draw people's attention.

“As the tournament is being held after a long gap, it is difficult to draw people to the venue, but we are trying our best to make the event a success,” said Md Borhan Uddin, joint secretary of the District Football Association.

Borhan, also an ex-football with a 17-year career as a referee, added that if such tournaments were held regularly, people's attraction towards football would surely increase.

Talking to this correspondent, one of the townsfolk did not even bother to feign interest as they talked about the BPL, saying: “Cricket is more interesting for its world class standard compared to that of our football.”

Altaf Hossain, a college teacher, also pointed to neglect as one of the reasons why people had lost their interest in the game.

“Once it was most popular game for people living in towns and rural areas of the country but due to a lack of proper patronization and regularity in holding matches, it has lost its appeal in the past decades.”

Reminiscing on his youth, 76-year-old lawyer AHM Khalequzzaman said that the enthusiasm for football was unparalleled during his early life.

“We enjoyed many big tournaments at the Mymensingh Circuit House ground during our student life and the presence of spectators at the ground was huge” said the lawyer.

“As there was no stadium then, the ground used to be fenced off with bamboo sticks and we had to wait in long queues to collect tickets, spending one ana to one taka,” he continued.

Kamalesh Chandra Talukder, 80, is one of the most prominent footballers of Mymensingh region. When he was a student of class ten in 1959, he played for the Pakistan National Team against Kolkata Mohammedan. He also played for different Dhaka clubs including Azad Sporting and Victoria.

“I was not invited for the event but I expected such an honour from the present District Sports Association,” lamented Kamalesh. “In the past there were two tournaments: the Lila Devi Shield for school level and Surya Kanta Shield for district level, which were introduced by the then zaminders of Muktagacha dynasty in British regime and the tournaments brought with them a festive mood to the district,” said Kamalesh, who played in the tournament.

After Liberation, the Surya Kanta Shield continued for several years before being stopped, informed Kamalesh. The Lila Devi Shield has also remained stopped for some five years.

And as the BPL returns after so many years of the football world neglecting Mymensingh, it seems they might be in for a dose of their own medicine from the locals.