Monday, February 10

Crowd Chaos and Injuries Overshadow NPL’s opener

Subas Humagain, Kathmandu

The much-awaited Nepal Premier League (NPL) started on Saturday at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur. On the first day of the tournament, which succeeded in creating big hype even before it was held, Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) failed miserably in crowd management.

Eight people who had bought tickets to watch the game at the TU ground sustained injuries and are admitted to the hospital. Of these, two are in serious condition, informed Kathmandu Police Range Spokesperson Nawaraj Adhikari. Hundreds of spectators who had bought tickets had to return home sadly without being able to watch the game. CAN has once again disappointed the spectators, who are widely considered to be the strongest pillars of Nepali cricket.

In a league that is expected to be pivotal to push Nepali cricket towards a new era, CAN made it feel like it had left no stone unturned. Be it the contracts of players playing on the field or the space available to sponsors around the field, CAN put a lot of effort and invested in it.

By building a VIP area, CAN set different ticket prices for the spectators. It also sold tickets according to zones by putting up barriers on the general side. But CAN could not stop the problem of spectators entering the stadium from outside, which has been going on for the last decade. Although the capacity of the general audience and VIP audience was set for10,000 and 2,000 respectively, more than 15,000 people were present inside the TU stadium and thousands more outside the stadium.

In the first match of the league, Janakpur Bolts defeated Biratnagar Kings by 8 wickets. The match, which started with patient batting of world cup finalist Martin Guptill, ended with Lahiru Millantha’s show stopping innings. But when the players were busy in the field, there were many crises in the stands around the stadium. Moreover, a life-threatening chaos marred Zone-2 on the Chobhar side.

Since early morning, CAN had imposed a ban on both entrances of Balkhu and Kirtipur gates en route to TU. But this ban was only for vehicles. Although the police had banned vehicles, no one paid attention on stopping the main reason for the riot, “the spectators without tickets”. Instead, the police were more focused on stopping the vehicles, even of those who had received official accreditation cards to work in the competition, further adding to the problem. The main reason for the problem could not be solved due to the lack of proper briefing and coordination in between police on duty at both gates.

Khalti, which was authorized by CAN to sell official tickets, had issued a notice 2 days ago that all the tickets had been sold out. CAN Secretary Paras Khadka, through social media requested the spectators who did not have tickets to watch the match at home as all the tickets and passes were sold out. But his status did not work.

Although Khalti, which has the right to sell tickets, sold tickets online, it had made a provision that once they reached the ground, they would have to go to the counter again and get physical tickets to enter the ground. This also created additional problems for the spectators who had purchased tickets. First, the crowding, and on top of that, the limited security force, led to unnecessary crowding in the TU premises even 3 hours before the start of the game.

Supporters who were unable to watch the match even after purchasing tickets have come to social media with accuse of Khalti’s representatives selling physical tickets from the counter in Cash, even though the ticket was marked sold out days before. Forcing spectators to collect physical tickets when it would have been enough to scan them at the gate has added to suspicions of Khalti’s bad intentions.

This is not the first time that there has been a problem with Khalti and ticket management. Just last month, the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) had revoked the rights of Mount Everest and Khalti, who had been granted ticket rights, for selling more tickets than allowed in the semi-final match against India in the SAFF Women’s Championship 2024.

After the incident, even though ANFA asked Khalti not to sell tickets for the final, they proceeded. The problem was further escalated when Khalti sold tickets on its own and the fans were left fuming as ANFA announced suspension of ticket rights. Later, on the day of the final, when ANFA announced that it would sell tickets on its own, tense situation arose between those who had booked tickets from Khalti and those queued up to buy ANFA offline tickets from 4 AM.

Khalti is not the only problem in such occasion as other ticket sellers have had issues of such nature, but not to this extent and repetition. Either scanning online or only selling physical tickets in a certain number can control the crowd to some extent. But here, buying tickets online and having to queue up again to get physical tickets has become more of a hassle than a convenience for ticket buyers. Moreover, according to eyewitnesses who went to buy tickets for Zone 2, it was seen that while collecting physical tickets, tickets were distributed without even scanning the QR code. Due to which more people gathered than the tickets sold.

The supporters are the strongest pillar in Nepali cricket, and hardly anyone understands this more than CAN Secretary Paras Khadka. Having been a former captain, he must have understood better how important the presence of supporters is and what a great asset it is while playing cricket around the world and now that he is leading the governing body himself. There have been many positive changes since the new leadership came to CAN, but CAN has once again failed miserably in terms of audience management.

Dozens of professionals have been contracted from India in broadcasting to show a better standard of play on the field. This will help show Nepali cricket more widely to the world. CAN has spent heavily on this aspect, which will help in making the players known to the world along with helping CAN be strong financially. It will help to generate good income in the future. This positive aspect needs to be adopted in other areas as well.

In addition, CAN has also placed an advertisement for an organization called ‘Wolf777 News’ on the field through surrogate advertisements to advertise betting banned by the Nepal government. Although it is a news site, this website, which has not posted any news for 9 months, and has been in place to show the brand logo during live broadcasts. In the past, when such surrogate sites were used in the controversial Nepal T20 League, many controversial incidents in Nepali cricket occurred. In the Nepal Super League of football, although a similar organization was seen on the first day, it was immediately removed. CAN has put in an effort to working against the rules set by the government, but it seems that it has not yet emphasized the minimum necessary security.

CAN has limited itself to local resources in in managing supporters, who always support Nepali cricket and play a strong role in its financial income. There is also room to raise questions about CAN’s reliance on those bodies which have repeatedly failed in managing sports competitions in Nepal. Despite being large in number, they are not used appropriately and there is no clear direction and coordination between the parties involved, a situation of mutual discord is clearly visible on the TU premises.

The use of same resources and intent to manage the spectators who come to watch sports and the crowds gathered in the protest is inappropriate. There are many organizations in Nepal that provide services for this, perhaps now is the time for CAN to invest in them too. and if not, look overseas. Let’s not call it an expense but an investment, because only if you make the supporters feel safe will they come back to the field to watch the game.

Many people have expressed dissatisfaction and some rage on social media today at the TU ground. Some felt a sense of relief, as others witnessed a heartbreaking and scary scene in front of them.

After all, who wants to go be entertained by risking their lives? If not addressed properly, this support, which is beginning to show small cracks, may eventually break, causing a collapse of magnitude unthought of. It’s important to take the right action now to strengthen the foundation and ensure a brighter future.

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