A PICTURE OF NEGLECT

All Is Not Well With The YMCA Nandanam Hockey Arena

Chennai: It has been one of the best hockey arenas in the country. The way things are shaping up, the YMCA hockey complex may not stay the same in the years to come.

The ground that had hosted important tournaments like the Champions Trophy (2005) and the Asia Cup (2007) is suffering from lack of maintenance. A walk around the ground and you will know that it’s not in the ideal shape. All four corners of the complex are covered with moss and the fencing, too, has fallen apart. Just about anybody can walk into the ground without any hindrance.

It’s surely not the way a Rs 2.5 crore project should be maintained and the authorities have already gone into passing-the-buck mode.

Dr Jothi Dayanandan, who is in charge of the YMCA hockey team, said that the maintenance of the ground is the jurisdiction of the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) and that they have no role to play in it.

“According to our agreement with SDAT, they are supposed to take care of the ground. We even have to seek their permission to play matches or organise tournaments in this ground,” Dayanandan said.

But Gopinathan, the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium officer, who is also the in charge of the YMCA ground, came up with a different explanation.

“SDAT did not sign any contract which says that it is supposed to look after the for the maintenance of the YMCA ground. We use the ground for three days a week and it’s upto the YMCA to do the needful for the other three days. Why should we be blamed for the poor maintenance of the ground?” Gopinathan asked.

The turf is being taken care of by Suresh, an untrained labourer, who stays at the officials’ rest room inside YMCA premises for free. Suresh has no knowledge about the maintenance of an astro-turf and all he has is a broom stick and an iron net to keep it clean.

“I don’t have modern equipment to take care of this turf,” Suresh, who was appointed by Johnson, a fourth-class employee of the SDAT and earns a monthly salary of Rs 4,500, said.

A former Tamil Nadu hockey player rued that the students of the YMCA use the ground for karate and taekwondo practice, while many local people do their morning jog, here too.

Dayanandan, though, was prompt to deny that “How can that happen? No one has ever informed me that the turf is being used for other purposes,” he said.

Former Tamil Nadu player P Rajini Kumar, who is now associated with the YMCA hockey team, feels that the people who are in charge don’t have any idea about the maintenance of the turf.

“You go to any international hockey ground and you will find a drenching pit, where the players clean their shoes before entering the ground. There’s no such thing here. The nets behind the goal posts are not stretched high enough, while the wooden goalposts are damaging the surface of the pitch,” Rajini fumed.

That’s not good news. It’s time for the authorities to take charge and ensure that another astro-turf in the country doesn’t go waste.