Bogura Shaheed Chandu Stadium. Photo: Metropolis-
Masum Hossain-
Around a year back, Bogura Shaheed Chandu Stadium’s wickets, outfield, indoor and dressing rooms were redecorated, and box net frames were made for the side wickets of the field. The torn turf (special carpet) was removed, and the indoor netting was also arranged. The dilapidated stadium appeared to have regained its luster with fresh paint on the walls.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) abruptly broke a piece of awful news on Thursday. A lack of collaboration from Bogura District Sports Association has compelled BCB quitting the field.
Chandu Stadium’s venue manager, Jamilur Rahman, stated that “The stadium’s 17 employees and officials have been requested to vacate the stadium and report to Dhaka by next Saturday. At the same time, it has been requested that the BCB furnishings at the stadium be transported to Dhaka.”
Masudur Rahman Milon, general secretary of the Bogura District Sports Association, said “District Sports Association is not the cause of BCB’s annoyance. If they leave the field, what do we have to say?”
Bogura Deputy Commissioner Saiful Islam said “BCB has never informed me that the district sports organization is not cooperating with it. Though I have nothing to do now, I have requested the BCB president to rethink the situation. I have also made a request to the state minister of youth and sports. This stadium being a heritage of Bogura, we should all try to arrange international matches under the direction of the BCB.”
However, BCB informed Masudur Rahman Milon, general secretary of the Bogura District Sports Association, on the issue of non-cooperation in a letter.
The letter sent to the secretary of the National Sports Council, signed by the Chief Executive Officer of BCB Nizam Uddin Chowdhury, read that due to the non-cooperation of the District Sports Organization, the decision has been made to hand over the onus of the BoguraShahidChandu Stadium to the National Sports Council.
According to sources, the BCB Youth Cricket League is going to start on March 8. As per the schedule, the venue of this league is Bogura Chandu Stadium as well. But in the meantime, the Bogura District Sports Association has started the Bogura Premier Division Cricket League at this stadium on March 1, which will end on March 25. Dissatisfaction was created between the General Secretary of the District Sports Association and the BCB officials over this matter.
Not only that, another incident happened three years ago. The Bogura District Sports Association did not allow the national event Youth Cricket League to be held at Shahid Chandu Stadium. There is also an allegation that the players came from Dhaka to practice, but later the players were not allowed to enter the field.
Earlier, the Bangladesh Tigers team started training at Bogura Shaheed Chandu Stadium on February 26 last year. This camp lasted till March 7 last year. Muminul Haque and his teammates on the national cricket team participated in it. The training camp of 23 cricketers was named ‘Bangladesh Tigers.’
They practiced from morning to afternoon every day during that time. The stadium was redecorated to mark their arrival.
On January 30 in 2006, the International Cricket Council (ICC) declared the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogura as an international cricket venue. The stadium was also recognized as an international test venue in the same year. Five ODIs and one Test match were held at this venue between February and December of the same year.
But after that year, the floodlights did not shine on the field again, and the lone arena for the people of the 16 districts of the northern region to watch international cricket matches was not re-illuminated.
Bogura District Stadium was upgraded to an international venue in the fiscal year 2003-04 at the cost of Tk 21 crores. The responsibility of the stadium is on Bangladesh Cricket Board. Only the Bangladesh Tigers team’s training camp caused the stadium’s renovation all these years.
