Blackburn Rovers' India trip in danger?

The finalised India tour of English Premier League side Blackburn Rovers next week seems to be in danger of being called-off due to the blasts in Mumbai on Wednesday. Pune, the home of Blackburn's Indian owners Venky's is only about 200 kilometres away from Mumbai and the question has arisen if Maharashtra state, the city of Pune and the local district football association are willing to take a risk of having such a high profile guest in their city after such an incidence.

Blackburn Rovers themselves are looking at the developing situation. A statement from the office of Paul Agnew, Press Officer of Blackburn Rovers, said, "The Blackburn Rovers officials have a meeting scheduled with the foreign office to check on safety issues. Only after that meeting will it be known whether Blackburn will continue with the tour."

The highlight of the trip is supposed to be a friendly match against Pune FC at the Balewadi Sports Complex on Friday, July 22 besides a kids clinic for which tournaments are being held across India to find the finalists who are supposed to get a chance to play alongside the Blackburn Rovers players.

The All India Football Federation had given its okay to the match, but have clearly stated that the organisers need to put the necessary security in place for the game. And this seems to have become an issue though locally in Pune no one thinks this is an issue with Blackburn Rovers owners Venky's organising own security for the EPL team while Pune FC are also enhancing security at the venue through a private agency after the blasts.

One can only hope that due to such a tragic event in Mumbai football doesn't suffer and such a high profile friendly match is called-off.