Moderate attendance for first ISL match in Delhi

Delhi Dynamos played out a goalless draw against FC Pune City

New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) After a grand acceptance of football's newest form in India from a passionate local crowd in the opening night of the tournament in Kolkata, the Indian Super League (ISL) bandwagon got moderate crowd support in the capital, in home team Delhi Dynamos' clash against FC Pune City.

The organisers decided to keep the upper tier of the stadium empty due to security reasons.

And inspite their best efforts - bringing in tennis player Sania Mirza and Bollywood starlet Lisa Hayden - coupled with a promotional blitzkrieg and flaunting of a FIFA World Cup winner in their ranks (Alessandro Del Piero, who came off the bench in the 35th minute), it failed to fill up the reduced capacity Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, packing in around 20,000 spectators.

The blue bucket seats did get partially full with the passage of time in the first half, but it wasn't enough to fill up the stadium.

Though people assembled in the middle and lower tiers and concentrated on the middle portion to get the best possible view, empty blue buckets seats were present at every corner of the ground.

The enthusiasm and vociferous shouts of "Delhi, Delhi" was present, with the DJ egging on the assembled crowd with "Come on Delhi" chants and playing the peppy "Lets Football" tournament anthem.

The crowd responded to it more earnestly than the mediocre action on the pitch.

The organisers claimed Monday, in the build-up to the match, that 75-80 percent of tickets were already sold and that they expected a full-house Tuesday, hoping that the capital city will emulate the passionate football crowd of Kolkata, but their efforts fell short.