STADIUM STORIES: A lot like the maidan of old Rabindra Sarobar is a classic footballing venue

IF ANY STADIUM in Kolkata can re-create the classic Maidan vibe outside the Maidan, it's the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium.

Just like the Maidan grounds, it's a small compact arena that holds a little more than 20,000 people. Just like the Maidan it's well-connected by road with the entire South Bengal and falls right on prominent bus routes leading out of Esplanade. 

Just like the Maidan it's got the metro close by. The stadium is a walking distance from the Rabindra Sarobar and Kalighat metro stations. 

Almost exactly like the Maidan, the area near the stadium gets a buzzy, cool breeze starting late afternoon into the evening. That's because just like the Maidan stadiums, there's a large water body nearby. The iconic Rabindra Sarobar Lake, after which the area and the stadium itself is named, is right next to this arena. It's no Hooghly, but it's good enough to create that feel-good weather in the stadium which, along with hot milk tea in clay-pots, is essential during a game of football according to some traditionalists.

And it still houses one feature of the Maidan of the old times - one thing that used to be there in Eden Gardens but is no longer around - that a lot of people heartily miss. Long cement benches with back support that you squeeze into with your friends, the quintessential comfort of the Maidan's sporting experience has long made way for plastic chairs, bucket seats and what not. But Rabindra Sarobar still has them. Which, come to think of it, makes it a very niche attraction to the old-timers.

So if this is such a great stadium, why did it lie unused for so long? Why didn't any of the I-League clubs choose to play their home matches here, instead of going all the way to Barasat? Why did it take till ISL 2016 to have this stadium step back into the limelight again?

Well the answer probably would be that the presence of the Salt Lake Stadium made this ground irrelevant. The iconic, gigantic arena has a higher capacity and better facilities. It's not even very far away. So that's what everybody used. And the state government being the way it is, allowed this ground to wither; its grass wearing out, the stands rusting away. It was only because of the U-17 World Cup that this ground came back into the mind of everybody; as a practice pitch or a back-up for domestic games while the Salt Lake Stadium remained occupied by FIFA.

And even then the renovations started too late. The YBK has been under renovation since late January. But it wasn't until July that work began at this venue. That was because Atletico de Kolkata officials, in their moment of wisdom, thought they should pressure the state government to somehow make the YBK available to them for ISL. 

The government started on its own, installing floodlights and re-laying most of the grass on the turf, in order to get it ready as an alternative pitch and practice arena for the World Cup. Meanwhile, ATK considered the Mohun Bagan Ground, Siliguri and even Bengaluru's Kanteerava Stadium before realising Rabindra Sarobar was there for the taking. Why? Because they probably wanted to avoid the extra cost they would incur trying to improve the dressing room and press facilities. In the end, sense prevailed and they decided to take up this ground as their home arena.

There was one legitimate concern regarding Rabindra Sarobar, though. Most of the grass on the turf were laid recently, and there's no way they have grown long enough roots yet. So it may be the case that chunks of the turf keep coming off with every dive, and increase the chances of injuries for players, just like the Salt Lake Stadium during ISL 2015. Of course, that won't be a problem as long as it makes commercial sense.

So ATK got into the act, and draped certain stands in red and blue carpet to mark them as VIP and hospitality areas. And soon they were ready to get on with the game.

Although there was one major-ish roadblock they had to overcome. The Rabindra Sarobar Lake is a huge draw for birds in the afternoons. An environmental group opposed holding matches under floodlights here over concerns that it would scare the birds away. They filed a court case, which was obviously thrown out. And the path to bring football back to this weary old arena was cleared.

So on Sunday, the floodlights at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium will glare at birds, humans, insects and whoever else is in the vicinity, and the stands will be packed again with an excited football crowd sitting on long cement benches, enjoying the cool evening air and drinking hot tea out of plastic cups (clay pots are too upscale for football games these days).

It's hard to say how the ATK team will find its new home ground. Maybe this will become their new ground of choice going into a future of a merged league where they have to directly compete with East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, or perhaps they will go back to the Salt Lake Stadium at the first chance they get. But if this brings football back into the arena for good (there's a chance it will host a number of I-League games later on, maybe even the Derby, which it has hosted in the past), nobody is complaining. With the traditional Maidan stadiums not slated to host national-level games any time soon, who would mind a venue that would re-create the whiff of the old days on matchday evenings?