KOLKATA: Monsoon is the peak season at the Mecca of Indian football, but the grounds across Kolkata Maidan lie vacant, waiting for players to return to the rain-drenched, open fields where the game has been played for more than a century but has now come to a complete Covid-induced halt.
With the football season suspended for two successive years, the entire sporting ecosystem of the Maidan has collapsed leaving all stake-holders — players, coaches, referees groundsmen, gardeners and club staffers — without earnings, forcing many to switch to other jobs.
Sujoy Oraw (22), who has played for United FC, Pathachakra and Shyamnagar Tarun Sangha, now drives an ambulance, carrying Covid and non-Covid patients.
“There have been no major club tournaments.
Even the local tournaments have been called off.
As a footballer, I would earn around Rs, 10,000 every month.
Now, I barely make Rs 6,000 as an ambulance driver,” said Oraw.
East Bengal junior team midfielder Bijoy Mondal’s dream of making it to the senior team was shattered when the pandemic hit.
Soon after being considered for the senior reserve team, the 22-year-old’s appointment was put on hold.
“I have been sitting at home for over a year now.
With no income from the game, I have started working at a tannery in Bantala for Rs 2,000 a week,” said Mondal, a Baruipur resident.
The story is similar for defender Somnath Dey, who had captained the under-18 United FC team.
Since last year he has been stuck at home and has now given up his morning training sessions to work at a fish market.
“My mother used to work at a beauty parlour which is shut for two months.
I had no option but to start working at the fish market,”said Dey.
Across divisions, all football matches were suspended in March 2020 only to resume in the latter half of the year but was suspended again this year when the second wave struck.
It has left more than two lakh footballers, 3,000-odd coaches and 250 referees idle.
Most have not been paid their fees since last year leaving them struggling to make ends meet.
The situation has been tough even for established footballers like Tonmoy Ghosh who has represented the national Under-17 team and senior teams of Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, Mohammedan and TRAU FC for the last 12 years.
“I am the sole earning member of the family but with no income for the past several months, I am on the verge of bankruptcy.
But I haven’t lost hope yet and am still continuing to practice hoping games would begin soon and I would also get a new signing this season,” said Ghosh.
National referee Tanmoy Dhar, who has been officiating in the I-league for nine years and ISL for five years other than officiating at SAAF games matches for India.
A resident of Nimta, Dhar, after sitting at home without any games for months, now works part-time at a digital content creation firm and a garments shop in Ultadanga.
“I don’t know where my career is heading now.
All I know is that I badly need a decent job to sustain my family,” said Dhar.
Veteran coach Shiben Sarkar, who has been coaching at the Maidan for the last 22 years and has been the head coach of three clubs in Kolkata is now seeking help from his students and club officials to make ends meet.
“The situation is so bad that I don’t know if I will have enough money to buy vegetables tomorrow.
I am practically surviving on charities,” said Sarkar, a resident of Belghoria.
Although the IFA shield was conducted last year, the Calcutta Football League couldn’t be held.
Although the IFA is still confident of doing it this year, it all depends on how the third wave of the pandemic behaves this year.
Club officials admit that with the future of the Kolkata tournaments uncertain and players from suburbs finding it difficult to attend coaching sessions in the city due to the suspension of train services, the entire system has got disrupted.
“Not only players, everyone associated with the game, from the players, to coaches to the security guards of club tents are feeling the pinch.
We are trying to help them in whatever means possible,” said IFA general secretary Joydeep Mukherjee.