Mumbai’s football fraternity came together as one strong team on Sunday to protest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) decision to turn the Neville D’Souza ground in Bandra West into a convention centre. The Mumbai Football Association (MFA) organises tournaments where thousands of city footballers across age groups and from 300 clubs play the beautiful game at this ground year-round. However, its lease expired a few months ago, and the government wants to step in to change its purpose.

On June 24, the BMC’s Improvements Committee officially approved the proposal to change the land-use reservation of the ground. This essentially means that BMC has approved the redesignation of the 8450-sq-m plot from a “Sports Ground and Playground” to an “Exhibition Centre”. The proposal will next be sent to the General Body of the BMC for final approval.