Kerala Blasters confirm their 'home ground' ruined by event aiming 'Guinness World Records'

Kerala Blasters have said their home ground, Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium at Kaloor in Kochi, has been ruined by a non-sporting event hosted by the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA), which owns the venue.

The statement from the Blasters comes almost two weeks after the event attended by more than 11,000 dancers turned into a fiasco as MLA Uma Thomas, sustained serious injuries in a fall from the guest gallery.

The Blasters' reaction comes just two days before their home match in the ISL against Odisha FC on Monday (Jan 13). "The playing surface has also been amongst the best in the country year on year, however multiple inspections conducted before the ISL match scheduled for Monday, have revealed a sorry state of affairs," the Blasters said in a statement on Saturday.

"Conduct of a third-party non-sporting event on the field of play in the recent past has resulted in damages which are unwanted for the club and for the Indian Super League. The club has also taken note that there were no precautionary measures taken to prevent the same. Currently, the Blasters’ pitch team is working tirelessly, day and night, to restore the pitch to match-ready condition, which has resulted in the incurring of significant monetary charges," the statement said.

The event concerned was 'Mridanga Naadam' hosted by Mridanga Vision on December 29. Actor Divya Unni led the mega event that was aimed at a place in Guinness World Records for the largest Bharatanatyam performance. The Kerala High Court criticised the organisers for not stopping the event after the accident involving the MLA.

Blasters, the only representative from Kerala in the top-flight of men's football in the country, have used the Nehru Stadium in Kochi as their home since 2014. The Blasters used to share the venue with the Kerala Cricket Association that had wickets in the centre.

Cricket games were discontinued at the venue in 2017 when Kochi co-hosted the Under-17 FIFA World Cup, for which FIFA demanded the wickets to be removed to ensure player safety. Since then, only football matches have been played at Kochi. Last year, Forca Kochi, one of the franchises in the inaugural edition of Super League Kerala, played their home matches at the venue.