Not enough festivity

The SAFF Championship kicked off at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday afternoon amid little fanfare, glitz or glamour.

There was no opening ceremony before the tournament's first match between Nepal and Pakistan and outside the stadium there was only a single banner on the outermost walls of the facility through which one could ascertain that this was indeed the venue for the regional extravaganza.

Perhaps there could have been a few more decorations and banners in place but that still does not excuse the fact that, once again, the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has failed to catch the eyes of fans.

The crowd at the home of Bangladesh football was sparse at best during the first fixture of the day. However when the host Bangladesh turned up to play the day's second match against Bhutan the stadium became half-full.

Bhutan coach Trevor Morgan when asked about his thought on the general arrangements, simply replied: "At least they're ready [pointing to his players]."

Advertisement, it seemed, was solely confined to a few ticket hawkers who belted out "receipt! receipt!".