Mumbai: Footballers, coaches, local activists and citizens turned out in force at Bandra’s Neville D’Souza Football Ground on Sunday evening for a ‘Tiranga Andolan’ against its proposed redevelopment. Their demand was to save the football ground from being turned into an exhibition and convention centre. Organisers said the protest was part of a larger fight to protect open spaces, alleging that reservations of 17 such plots have been changed over the past four years.
Aaditya Thackeray leads football ground protest
The protest led by Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray, who is also president of the Mumbai Football Association, saw protesters rally against the proposed redevelopment of Neville D’Souza Football Ground. Many turned up in black and carried the national flag. Nigel Neville D’Souza, son of late footballer Neville D’Souza, after whom the ground is named, thanked the legal team, students and supporters of the campaign.
The gathering reverberated with slogans such as “Maidan amchya hakkacha, nahi konachya bappacha” and “Kon bolta denar nahi, ghetlya shivay rahnar nahi." Thackeray said the Mumbai Football Association had used the ground exclusively for football and never for political programmes. National-level footballer Bhumika Mane made an impassioned appeal at the protest, warning that the loss of playing fields would threaten the future of the sport. “If there are no grounds, where will the new generation play football? We should come together to save our ground,” Mane told the gathering.
Campaign expands to Mumbai open spaces
Versova MLA Haroon Khan broadened the campaign beyond Neville D’Souza ground, calling it a fight to protect Mumbai’s open spaces from private takeover. “This is not just a fight for one ground, but for open spaces across Mumbai being handed over to private entities,” Khan said, urging Gen Z and Gen Alpha to raise their voices. “No one can try to suppress your voice,” he said.
Khan also alleged that Andheri’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Krida Sankul, which offers cricket, cycling, walking, tennis and open-gym facilities, was being handed over to a private trust. He called for the grounds to remain in public hands, saying, “We should not stay quiet.”
The controversy intensified last week after the BMC General Body’s special meeting approved a proposal to change the reservation of Neville D’Souza Football Ground. The amendment to DP 2034 seeks to replace the existing playground reservation on an 8,450-sq-m MHADA plot at Bandra Reclamation with an exhibition centre. However, in a hearing on a plea filed by the Mumbai Football Association, the Bombay High Court on August 20 halted the civic body’s plan to convert the ground into an exhibition or convention centre. The matter will come up for hearing next on September 18.
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