A Sunday afternoon at the Saltlake Stadium

Currently I am in Kolkata and on Sunday afternoon I went to the Saltlake Stadium to watch the I-League game between Pailan Arrows and Shillong Lajong FC. I won't talk about the match, which was very scrappy at best but rather write about things around it which I saw and observed.

I thought I was late when I came to the ground around 1.45 pm, but at the time the stadium was close to empty. The good thing was that there was enough security from police and a private agency checking everyone who was coming into the ground or trying to sneak in.

I went up the two floors, but at that time even the press box was just having one colleague inside, so I decided to go across to the VVIP box, where I saw India coach Wim Koevermans standing alone outside.

My thought was simple, watch some I-League football and enjoy a good chit-chat. Wim and I were joined by East Bengal coach Trevor James Morgan and his clubs new Australian recruit Andrew Barisic in the VVIP. We did talk a lot, but that remains private then that was and is not intended for the general public.

A few hundred spectators did turn-up for the match and some colleagues did fill the press box before kick-off, but in one of the large venues around the world, the atmosphere simply cannot be created which would push the players to greater heights.

The game was that way, but I at least had an interesting afternoon at the Saltlake Stadium, watching and talking football, while not having to report about it...