I-League: Why 2/3 pm kick-offs? & who to blame?

The All India Football Federation and its marketing partners IMG-Reliance have to take the blame for a lot of things which currently aren't going right about the I-League, but when it comes to kick-off timings they aren't solely to be blamed on this then none of the stadiums are owned by the federation or the participating clubs. They are dependant on the city, district or state governments; who own the properties.

This means that the AIFF, state/district Football Associations and the clubs have to work out schedules with the respective authorities to get the grounds for matches and the issue persists with practice grounds too.

Now take the example for Kolkata. The Saltlake Stadium has been having a floodlight issue since September 2004, when the lights went off for the first time during an India vs Japan qualifier for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Since then the lights have gone off numerous times, but the West Bengal government has not done the necessary to ensure working floodlights. Now after the first I-League Kolkata derby late-last year with the lights going off once more and people getting injured the West Bengal Sports Minister Madan Mitra banned any evening floodlight matches until the lights and power lines are repaired. When will this happen, no one really knows. Until then matches need to be played before it gets dark in Kolkata meaning 2 pm kick-offs.

In Goa a different problem with the same result. The floodlights at the Nehru Stadium in Margao have been off for years with the Goa Government claiming that they will be installed, even having open bidding for the project but it has been delayed over and over again. The new floodlights are supposed to be operational next month, until then the matches need to start at 3.30 or 4 pm latest to avoid it getting to dark.

Mumbai's Cooperage ground didn't even have floodlight in the past, so evening matches were out of the question. Now even Pune has had its floodlight problems in the recent past with certain towers going off during live evening broadcast.

Until these problems with floodlights, power supply and cost for the power is sorted these 2/3 pm kick-offs will continue in Indian football. And that surely is hampering the development of the I-League, then who likes to come and watch football in the afternoon heat? And I haven't even spoken about the players yet...