The silence of Shams-ul-Huda Stadium

Jashore's Shams-ul-Huda Stadium opened more than six decades ago with pride and promise. For years it staged football, cricket, hockey and national tournaments, while also serving as a cultural stage for the south-western district. At present, however, the once-vibrant ground lies abandoned, its turf buried under knee-high weeds and stagnant water.

Even around a decade ago, it hosted international football contests, drawing packed crowds -- on March 24, 2014, the 12,000-capacity stadium saw more than 30,000 spectators during Bangladesh's friendly against Sri Lanka, with the hosts winning 1-0. It also staged international fixtures during the 2016 Bangabandhu Cup.

For the past three years, footballers and athletes have been forced to leave the stadium behind. More than two-thirds of the field is overrun by invasive grass, while the rest remains waterlogged even in the dry season. "It looks more like a grazing field for cattle than a stadium," one spectator remarked bitterly.

The neglect runs deeper than the turf. Cracked galleries, broken seating and the lack of a proper drainage system have rendered the stadium unusable. For two years no football matches have been held here, leaving the ground eerily silent by day and a gathering spot for miscreants by night, spreading fear among locals.

What was once the district's sporting hub has scattered its athletes to borrowed corners. Jashore's district football team now trains at the Hamidpur Orphanage Shams-ul-Huda Academy ground. Cricketers have shifted to the Municipal Preparatory School field, while handball players practice at the Muslim Academy ground. Volleyball, hockey and other athletes are left to make do with temporary arrangements at different institutions.

Sports organisers blame years of neglect by the authorities. District Sports Association officials acknowledge the crisis, estimating that repairing the drainage and restoring the stadium would require around Tk 1 crore. Yet repeated appeals for funding have gone unanswered.

The decline feels even more tragic given the stadium's rich history. Originally known as Rai Bahadur Manmathonath's field pre-1959 and officially inaugurated as a stadium in 1959 -- with the foundation stone laid by then East Pakistan governor Mohammad Zakir Hossain -- it became the district stadium in 1978 and was renamed in honour of philanthropist Shams-ul-Huda.

"Unless urgent steps are taken, this historic venue will be permanently lost to weeds and neglect," organisers warn.

Jashore Deputy Commissioner Azharul Islam said, "We have written to the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Youth. A delegation visited recently. The ground will be repaired as soon as possible and turned into a modern stadium."

For the people of Jashore, though, the question remains: how much longer must their stadium, once a symbol of pride, remain a symbol of decay?