Karnataka Govt clarifies their stance as Sree Kanteerava Stadium to be used for both football and athletics

For the last couple of years, the Karnataka Athletics Association (KAA) has been at loggerheads with JSW-owned ISL club Bengaluru FC and recently-petitioned the Karnataka High Court to restrain footballing activities on the grounds that the stadium was built exclusively for track and field activities. The High Court, in their judgement, also added that the agreement between two parties - JSW and DYES - was not according to the guidelines before directing DYES to submit a report by October 14.

The state government later gave a written undertaking that a transparent process would be followed if the stadium had to be given on lease again. After that, the secretary of the Department of Youth Empowerment & Sports (DYES), Govt. Of Karnataka, made it clear on Thursday that the Sree Kanteerava Stadium cannot be the preserve of just one sport.

“Those who play football can play football and those in athletics can do athletics,” said M. S. Ramesh, Joint-Director, DYES, reported Sportstar.

“The only condition is that it should be according to the rules and there should be no damage to the property. It doesn’t depend [on whether] it is JSW or somebody else [who is requesting].”

While the BFC is set to play its first home game on October 10, the clubs are expected to finalise their venues at least a month in advance. Asked if a fresh agreement will soon be signed to grant the club permission to use the stadium, Ramesh said, “It has never been a decision to not give. We just have to follow the right procedure. The Athletics Association has registered a plea with us to not allow football and we have forwarded it to the government to take a decision. But it is tough to say a stadium can be exclusive for just one sport.”

All said and done, the KAA is also adamant to continue its protests even if the grant of the stadium lease is procedurally right. The KAA has also tragetted the DYES for not sanctioning a new athletics track, which eventually led to the shift in venue for the National Open Athletics Championships from Bengaluru to Ranchi.