Anantnag: It’s 6 o’clock in the evening and the local boys of Badragund, a village situated on the bank of Srinagar-Jammu highway, are out to play football. They are carrying a bunch of sticks and a brace of bricks with them, perhaps, to plot the goalposts.
The boys of the age-group of 10 to 23 as part of their daily routine visit the nearby brickkiln to practice their favorite sport after the ordeal day. To their ill-fate, Badragund, which falls in Qazigund tehsil alongside some adjoining villages lack a playfield, hence becoming a roadblock between them and the sport.
“You know, it’s very difficult to play in this ground because the surface is quite hard and no way pleasant to play on,” said Shadab Ahmad a football player of the area.
“Playgrounds are almost everywhere but, perhaps, it seems we are the only left-out area,” remarked Adil, another footballer. “It’s quite obvious that we can produce professionals only when a playfield exits,” he added.
These enthusiastic players play on this rough and uneven surface, which instead poses the injury threat to them. However, the love for the game makes them throng and sweat it out despite all the odds.
The boys, while appealing administration, said that a playfield can largely help them in bringing out their skills and subsequently excel in the field of sports.
To address their plea, KSW reached Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Khalid Jahangir, who said, “Let the elections end, will go and check why the area is lacking a playfield,”
“Nothing can be said as of now because I am unaware about the ground reality.”