A football stadium is a unique
place. A large concrete structure that holds thousands of enthusiastic football
fanatic individuals come together to watch 30 players play the common passion
which they admire, the game.
What constitutes a football
stadium? We can possibly break a stadium into structural and physical
components. Structural components are the infrastructural elements of the
stadium, the structure, the pith, goal posts, seats, dressing rooms, washrooms,
flood lights, cameras, sound systems, computers, generators and many more.
Physical components include the
human elements, which are classified into players, officials, fans, visitors,
guests, VVIPS, media persons, stadium staff, security people and technicians
amongst many others.
A simple stadium which we all
look up to as a recreational space is actually constituted of many elements
which narrate a story of its own. Whenever
we watch a match, we just take note of the 22 players playing the ground,
scrutinized by match officials and managed by a team management and being
watched by thousands in the stands. But there is so much more to a stadium.
Each element in the stadium has its place in the process, its own space in the
entire system and power in the system of hierarchy.
Every physical component inside
the stadium enjoys its own unique sense of power, administers its own chain of
power and enjoys its unique position in the hierarchy within the stadium.
But what role does the stadium do
at large? It exhibits a game, played by professionals in front of a gathered
enthusiastic crowed and transmitted via air to million others watching via
television, internet or listening via radio. To sum up, it preserves and
nurtures a culture. A stadium is a cultivator and preserver of football
culture. Let’s us look and deconstruct one such ground which has immense
football cultural value.
The walled city of Old Delhi
beholds many tales. From lanes full of Ghalib’s poetry to taste to mouth
watering parathas. From shimmering lights to beautiful attires, you get them
all there. But more than anything else, the Forted City beholds numerous cultures.
From traces of ancient Mughal culture to a rich Islamic architecture, Old Delhi
has it all.
But alongside all these, one of
the least talked about aspect of Old Delhi is its football culture. Hard to
believe for many, but the Old Delhi has numerous football stories to share.
Today it becomes a little
unimaginable to figure out free spaces in the usually crowded lanes of the
forted city. The Ramleela Maidan situated just at the edge of Daryaganj is
today is known more prominently because of the political rallies while the
historic Ambedkar Stadium, near Delhi Gate, is probably one of the least
visited sporting venues of the city. However, about 40 years back, Old Delhi
has ample of playing grounds, which slowly perished in the race of
modernization and growth.
Situated right next to the
historic Firoz Shah Kotla Cricket stadium, the 20000 capacity Ambedkar Stadium,
which most of us might not have even heard of is undoubtedly the hub of all
pure football lovers in the national capital. The stadium itself beholds
stories that narrate unadulterated love of few individuals for this most
watched game of the world.
Ambedkar Stadium is right at the
juncture of Old and New Delhi. Right across the gate of the stadium is the
Delhi gate that marks the beginning of the fortified city and on the other side
we have the starting of the Lutyens' Delhi.
For anyone associated with
football in Delhi, Ambedkar is the place to be. It has been the host of the
world’s second oldest football tournament, the Durand Cup for a long long time,
until last year when it was shifted to Goa. Be it the school tournament of
Delhi to India’s largest International school tournament, Ambedkar is the
venue. Not just this, Ambedkar has also given India its most successful
football captain ever, Baichung Bhutia. It was in Subroto Cup here that
Baichung was first spotted and from then on, it’s been quite a journey. All in
all, the Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi is quite a unique place to be, if you love
and follow football in India.
Let us today examine this
football ground as a heterotopic space. Philosopher Michel Foucault used the
term heterotopia describe spaces that have more layers of meaning or
relationships to other places than immediately meet the eye. It is described a
physical representation or approximation of a utopia, or a parallel space that
contains undesirable bodies to make a real utopian space possible.
In general, the Ambedkar Stadium
is Delhi is like just another concrete structure, but within it it sustains
history and culture of a game. Before elaborating, let us first deconstruct the
power relation that usually goes unrated within any football ground around the
globe. Furthermore, Foucault described several possible types of heterotopia or
spaces that exhibit dual meanings; let us use that to understand a football
ground.
The first one is Crisis heterotopias;
there are the privileged and forbidden places where individuals in crisis go
away from the society. Now, will any student be allowed to be play in a
football ground? As in, let’s take in the example of Old Trafford, the home
ground for Manchester United. Will anyone from a Govt. school in India be
allowed able to play in it? No right? Only if you have been to the Manchester
United School in UK or have played in a privileged football school in any part
of the world, it’s only then you become a privileged to play in this privileged
ground.
The next is the heterotopias of
deviation. These are institutions where we place individuals whose behaviour is
outside the norm (hospitals, asylums, prisons, rest homes, and cemeteries). Now
who can play professional football? Only individuals with extreme fitness level
and technical as well as physical abilities have the endurance of being a
professional footballer. They deviate from what an average individual is cape
able of. Thus those a football ground is an institution where such individuals
play.
Foucault next describes that a
hetrotopia can be a single real place that juxtaposes several spaces. Now
football ground is not just a place where you see individuals playing. It’s
also a place that serves as an advertising ground for many corporate brands.
It’ is also a place of cultural significance. It is also a meeting place of
individuals with collective interest. Hence it is a juxtaposition of different
other spaces, not just a playground.
His next principle, heterotopias
of time describes spaces that seem immune from the passage of time such as
museums, which contain objects from many eras. They exist in the present but
they contain and preserve memories of the past. In that case, a football
stadium as mentioned is a preserver of culture. It beholds tales of greatest
players and events that the ground has been a witness to. In its dressing room
you have the memorials of individuals who came in as no one and walked out as
legends of the game. Some like the Old Trafford has museums built inside it,
where visitors come in to relive the history.
Next Foucault talks about the Heterotopias
of ritual or purification. Now these are spaces that are secluded and
penetrable yet not freely accessible like a public place. These spaces rely on
ceremony and custom and require permission to enter. Now, anyone can visit a
stadium, but not anyone can play in a stadium.
Also you can walk in as an audience into the stands of the stadium, but
you can walk into the pitch of the stadium and get a picture clicked with your
favourite star, you are not privileged enough. This is hetrotopia of ritual and
purification.
Lastly, heterotopias have two
functions in relation to all remaining spaces. These are heterotopias of
illusion, which expose real spaces for what they are and the heterotopias of
compensation, these are real spaces that are ordered and regulated – in a way
that is sometimes impossible to achieve in wider society that is often messy
and unordered. A documentary on the Football stadium would probably be an
example of heterotopia of illusion as it describes what exactly the stadium and
its components are.
A ground where the home team has
always won, irrespective of who is opponent is probably a hetrotopia of
compensation, because it is never achievable.
Coming back to Ambedkar stadium
now, it’s not just a playing ground, it’s preserver of Delhi’s football
culture, it’s an epitome of footballing disciple that has produced the likes
Indian captain Sunil Chettri. It exhibits heterotopias as it has multiple
spaces entangled within one concrete structure.
The various components within the
stadium also exhibit relationship and power within itself. The common love for
football binds the professional players and the spectators along with the
managers. In terms of power, the players play for a country, read football
federation, or club. The club owners pay the players their salary and hence
they own them. The spectators pay money to watch a match thus making revenue
for the organizers and the team owners. Then you have the media overlooking
everything.
The 20000 capacity Ambedkar
Stadium, which most of us might not have even heard of is undoubtedly the hub
of all pure football lovers in the national capital. The stadium itself beholds
stories that narrate unadulterated love of few individuals for this most
watched game of the world.
One person, who could have
narrated all these tales was Vishwa Nath Singh, who passed away last October. V
N Singh has been the voice of Ambedkar Stadium for four decades and in a piece
written in 2012 by veteran journalist Vijay Lokapally of The Hindu, he was
tagged as the unsung hero of Ambedkar Stadium.
V N Singh co-ordinated football
matches when Old Delhi used to be a hot spot for the lovers of the game. In one
of his interviews he narrated, “Football season in the Capital meant DCM and
Durand tournaments. DCM invited teams from overseas and Durand, the world’s
second oldest tournament, attracted the country’s cream. Matches were played to
packed galleries. Interest for the game was high, teams were good, television
was not big and people had time to come to the Ambedkar Stadium,”
“Lathi-charge was common at big matches. Lathi-charge when ticket sale opened and also when reputed teams clashed.”
Even during the 1995 Durand Cup
finals when East Bengal played Tata Football Academy, gates of the Ambedkar
Stadium had to be closed with many ticket holders stranded outside.
Things have changed now. Ambedkar
today is an empty space. Football in Delhi has relocated itself to Jawaharlal
Nehru Stadium, Jungpura. Ambedkar today bears an empty look. For anyone, visiting
the stadium now, it will be difficult for them to comprehend the space as such
as described by Late VN Singh.
Ambedkar today represents a
heterotopia of time. It exists in time, but also there are other things which
no longer exist there. Long back, the stadium used to host the best teams from
across the nation; today it hosts schools teams and local football clubs. Once
upon a time football enthusiastic crowd used to flock the stadium; today, the
stands are empty. Occasionally few daily workers cross the road to sit back and
relax in the stadium, not to enjoy the match, but to beat the heat. A
Heterotopia of ritual or purification once today is just another place.
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