Goa's Nehru Stadium out of reach for a year?

The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, also called Fatorda Stadium, in Margao is set to be under renovation for over a year to bring the venue upto international standard for the 3rd Lusofonia Games to be held in Goa from November 2-10, 2013.

The Lusofonia Games is a multinational multi-sport event which involves athletes coming from Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) countries, namely those belonging to the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Language Countries), but also others where there are significant Portuguese communities or that have a common past with Portugal. For Goa is a great honour to organise the games, but that also means creating the necessary infrastructure which is currently not available in the state.

But this means problems for Goa's four I-League clubs - Dempo SC, Churchill Brothers SC, Salgaocar SC and Sporting Clube de Goa - then the Nehru Stadium is their home venue in the I-League. The two only alternatives seem to be teh Tilak Maidan in Vasco and the Duler ground in Mapusa, which is currently getting a FIFA artificial turf and might not be ready if delayed by the onset of the monsoon.

The Sports Authority of Goa along with the Goa Football Association informed the clubs at a meeting attended by Custodio Almeida (Dempo), Macario Rodrigues (Churchill Brothers), Raj Gomes (Salgaocar) and Victor Fernandes (SCG) that Tilak Maidan would undergoing some minor renovation work in the players' dressing rooms, media room, while floodlights would also be installed to make it I-League fit.

It will be interesting to see what the I-League says about such a move, which would surely harm the way the league is organised and run, then the Nehru Stadium is by far the best venue in Goa.