The Salt Lake Stadium or the Vivekananda Yubabharati Krirangan officially returned to its pristine state on Friday having been re-laid with the natural grass which it had sported since its inception in 1984.
The centre of the multi-purpose stadium, which primarily hosts football matches apart from the field events of occasional athletic meets, was given the artificial cover of ‘Fieldturf’ midway in 2009 in a bid to keep the surface free from the damages of prolonged monsoon in the region.
After the biggest football stadium in India was picked up as one of the venues of the under-17 World Cup in 2017, it became mandatory for it to get back the natural cover. Atletico de Kolkata, the Indian Super League franchise which has the stadium as it home venue, has also been complaining about the damages the artificial surface caused to players’ fitness.
The work on the extraction of ‘Fieldturf’ and relaying of the natural ‘Reveira Bermudagrass’ started in early May and was completed before the scheduled deadline of October 31 by Sports Turf and Golf Enterprises, the company entrusted with the task.
The inauguration of the newly-laid surface will happen with one of the oldest and the most popular football derbies in Asia — featuring the city giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan — on Sunday.
The stadium was officially handed over by the State government’s sports department to the State’s governing body of football — Indian Football Association — on Friday ahead of the big match of the Calcutta Football League.
The stadium will also host the matches of the second edition of ISL before it is handed over to FIFA later in 2016 to get it ready for the U-17 World Cup.
