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October 4th , 2010 will be written in the history books of Pune not only for Football but also with respect the sporting culture and the numerous sports enthusiasts the city has in terms of the vibrant youth as well as the traditional purists. Being named the Sports City after the ’94 National Games to the recent Youth Common Wealth Games , the Junior World Badminton Championships , the FIVB Men’s Junior World Championships and the I-league 2009-10, Puneites have responded to sports events with their huge numerical presence at the venue, the first Indian International Football Match in Pune will for sure be no exception !
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The Venue – Balewadi Sports Complex
It surely goes to show that if provided with quality sports infrastructure , sports enthusiasts would surely come out in substantial numbers to support. Shiv Chhatrapti Sports Complex should be an ideal venue as Team India Home . The Balewadi Sport Complex has its own huge campus , lots of open space , dedicated parking space, clean roads and footpaths and numerous recreational facilities apart from the 1500 lux floodlights to the main multipurpose athletic stadium. The changing rooms for players and the press-conference hall are fully air conditioned !
Pune FC and the PDFA
Professionalism is the word associated with Pune FC for the way they conducted themselves in bringing up the club from its inception a few years ago to being a top flight club in Indian Football.The last I-league season was a testimony to this fact ! Along with PFC , The Pune District Football Association have had a huge role to play in developing the game in Pune and they have done a commendable job. Vishwajeet Kadam , the President of PDFA and his team have been toiling hard to make sure that Football catches up in this part of India. From providing free entry for school children for I-league and the upcoming International Friendly matchdays to organizing the local league and the national level Abhijeet Kadam Football Championships for the clubs at Bharti University.
Tickets and the Turf
With the success of I-league in Pune , with an average attendance of around 5000 spectators per PFC home game , the ticket sales for the International friendly have already started. The price bracket is Rs.50 , Rs.100 , Rs.200 and Rs.300
Ticket Price Range Rs.50 – Rs.300
Ticket counters are spread across the city and are tickets are available at City Pride Theatres ( Kothrud, Deccan Gymkhana and Satara Road), E Square , Pratham Motors( Bhandarkar Road) , Infosys Campus , Bombay Motors and Cycle Pune Agency, Keshav Madhav Cooperative Branches and at Bharati Vidyapeeth Dhankawadi, Erandawane, Balewadi Sports Complex as well as MIT, Fergusson, and Symbiosis Colleges
The Stadium is a Multipurpose Sports Complex with single tier seating arrangements and a maximun capacity of 28,000 !
Ground Work In Full Swing at Pune
Having an athletics track around the football field means that the view from behind the goal posts is the farthest and price accordingly but being an all seater stadium with good sound systems for announcements all across makes the viewing experience pleasurable and comfortable !
The pitch will be kind of newly laid with experts from UK providing a sand based turf with new water draining facilities. The turf will boast with a refreshing green look and as put forth by Mandar Tamhane , member PDFA and man behind implementing things at ground level, it will be a treat for the players as well as the spectators.
Pune , the Refreshing Face in I-league 2009-10 is all geared up now to become the New Home Place for Indian Football in the upcoming weeks with matches against Hong Kong , Vietnam and Yemen . Matchdays being on weekdays is a matter of concern with respect to attendance. But the local print media with likes of Sakaal , The Times Of India , The Mirror , DNA , Indian Express etc are trying their bit by covering the Indian Football Team news as well general info about ticketing , the matches and a general know how on Football . With the floodlit Balewadi Stadium and the much needed and appreciated after office 6.30 pm starts , football enthusiasts across the city would sure make their presence felt huge numbers for our very own , Team India !
