Port city fans get money's worth

It's amazing! It's unbelievable! After a long time, the MA Aziz Stadium in the port city of Chittagong was filled to capacity at the prospect of a tantalising final yesterday.

The continuous rain since morning was threatening to spoil the match, but it stopped in the afternoon and then the groundsmen got to work. As various parts of the pitch were submerged, they were seen bailing out the water with sponges and locally made equipment.

As the rain stopped, spectators in their thousands rushed to the stadium. Locals said the stadium saw the highest number of spectators in 18 years.

However, the trials and tribulations of the hectic day for the groundsmen and the fans did not go in vain as Chittagong Abahani thumped the visitors 3-0.

Despite the 25,000 capacity, tens of thousands failed to make their way inside the stadium to watch the dream football match, where Chittagong Abahani battled with East Bengal for the Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup trophy.

Fans began pouring to the stadium hours before the match kicked-off. They were in a festive mood and while some brought musical equipment, others were seen with painted faces.

There was a mad rush in front of the gates. The queues seemed to go on for kilometres. Even after the match began, there were spectators queued up and waiting to enter.

Raihan Uddin, a businessman, told The Daily Star that he regularly came to games at the stadium, but he never before saw the number of spectators that he did yesterday.

Several thousand spectators had to eventually settle for waiting outside as there was no space for them inside.

A good number of female spectators were also seen in the stadium. One of them, Sanjida Akter, came with her husband Taslim Uddin.

"I have never enjoyed a football match from the stadium, so I asked my husband to bring me as we [the hosts] will fight for the championship," she said.

Sanjida's husband Taslim said they wished that Chittagong Abahani would win. However, he added, "I wouldn't mind if they lost either. I am satisfied that the home team could reach the final and I want to thank all the players and coaching staff for giving us the opportunity to watch a dream match."