May 6th, 2008
The Chepauk Cricket Stadium Grouse

Last week, I had the chance to watch the T20 match between the Chennai Super Kings vs the Delhi Daredevils. I was only half interested in the game (mainly because we were losing) and so spent the other half noticing around things of interest.

Disaster Waiting to Happen: The MAC stadium, the biggest cricket stadium in Chennai, is also the WORST stadium when it comes to safety. There are no emergency exits. All the exits have a swirl gate which means only one person can get out at a time. The bamboo barricades makes it even worse. It took me 25 minutes just to come out of the stadium. I had to inch forward in a long dusty queue. Felt like I was in a Tirupathi Tirumala Devastanam queue.

If an emergency evacuation had to happen, there’s bound to be deaths by the thousands as more people will die out of stampede and congestion. It’s the most ill-prepared stadium and I guess the authorities will only change after a disaster happens.

Crowded cafeteria: Ok, my grouse continues. The cafeteria area is quite pathetic. Overcrowded and heavily under-managed. First, the give out a rule that outside food should not be allowed inside the stadium. Second, there’s only a 10 minute break between the innings. Third, very very few food counters. The result: A maddening rush and flying tempers. The powers that be did not realize that the 9:30 pm break is right at dinner time and they should have food counters that offers food. Biscuits, Cadbuyrs chocolates and Cashewnuts are fine but they aren’t dinner food. Pathetic organizing.

No Mexico in Chennai: Chennai crowd may be the most knowledgeable cricket crowd in India but they don’t know what a mexican wave. There was a group of people who would start the wave and it would quickly die out as the folks in the next stand wouldn’t take it up. It took about 20 tries after which the waves caught on. But by then, the chennai team was losing and the crowd quickly lost interest.

Indian Flags: The vendors have not wisened up to the concept of IPL. The bulk of them were selling Indian flags and there were hardly any buyers. You can’t blame them. All the international matches so far have been against different countries and there’s a reason for showing your partriotism. I guess it’ll take a while before they realize that its time to change. But these guys are quick to adapt and I won’t be surprised that by the next tournament, there’s be yellow coloured bandanas, flags and Tshirts.

Scoreboard Laggards: Both the electronic and the analog scoreboards do not show the required run rate. They do not show the number of balls a batsman has faced. They don’t show the number of balls bowled in an over. The boards are still stuck in the Test era.

The Wind-Shadow Area: If you are booking a ticket at the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk, make sure to book your ticket in one of the four stands E,F,G,H. Why? Because that’s where the sea wind blows into. Book any other stand and get prepared to sweat profusely.

Thankfully, I was in the F stand, and I could see the folks in the opposite stands of the stadium fan themselves crazy trying to keep themselves cool. Even at night, without any wind, it can get quite sultry and uncomfortable. Interestingly, the folks who paid the highest for the Pavilion Terrace seating, suffered the worst.


22 Responses to “The Chepauk Cricket Stadium Grouse”

  1. Giridhar says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:37 AM

    I also noticed it when i went to collect my tickets for the May 10th match. From outside, the stadia looks like a roman ruin which could fall apart anytime. Leave alone the security during match time. The security before match it a total mess. I didn’t know where to get the tickets and accidently entered some other gate and roamed into the stadium. Took a couple of photos and then someone chased me out. Serious security flag.

    Ah! I was dreaming of starting mexican waves.. but alas!

    HaHa! Indian flags? i am not surprised. A black ticker hawker tried to sell me tickets for India vs Punjab match.. :-)

    And yippie..we are in E/G Stands.

    Its very hot nowadays! hope it doesnt rain and ruin my first live cricket ticket…

  2. sai thilak says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:38 AM

    The stadium infrastructure and amenities are far below from minimum levels. Not only in MAC, but also the same case elsewhere in the country. BCCI rakes in millions of dollars but does nothing to improve basic facilities in stadiums.

    BCCI is not interested in the crowd, but interested in the money, crowd generates. It is pathetic that nobody is voicing this situation as everyone has interests in monetary aspects of the game! Media does all the hype and hoopla around the game, but to my knowledge it never tried on this topic! Cos, this issue is not worth for any prime time or not even worth covering. It wont attract enough eyeballs!

  3. Guru says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:38 AM

    I’ve been part of a perfect mexican wave routine at the MAC. It was during the India-SA test two months back ..

    Sehwag was on song(second day i think), and we(the crowd) kept doing these waves through the day. The wave went around the stadium and also the stadium was packed to the hilt, that made it look even better.

    Proll’y they didn’t work at the IPL match cos’ we weren’t playing all that well..

  4. arZan says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:38 AM

    Chennai crowd may be the most knowledgeable cricket crowd in India

    Are you kidding me?

  5. Dinesh T.U. says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:39 AM

    MAC is the biggest cricket stadium in Chennai?

    Chennai has only one cricket stadium

  6. gentle_gaint says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:39 AM

    I firmly believe IPL was started with only one thing in mind i.e. to make the rich more richer by all means even if it is mean. All the matches are fixed and we are being manipulated like toys. It is unfortunate that many are falling for it and spending thousands of Rupees to entertain themselves when there are lots of ways of doing so. I hope this hype will die soon. I also blame media partly for this mess and are being paid handsomely for promoting this event. By the way the song of Chennai suppra (not Super) kings really sucks. Wakeup guys & gals.

  7. HaRi pRaSaD says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:40 AM

    Yeah, the exit passage is pathetic. i too was present in the stadium for the Chennai vs Delhi match. I was in stand B. Got a 200 rs ticket for 350 rs. As you mentioned, we were sweating like hell. To make things worse, there was this huge net in front of us, through which we saw the match. The first 10 overs when chennai batted was fun with the atmosphere being terrific, after that things just fell apart. With the Aussies leaving, the weakness of the team has been exposed . I wish things do take a turn for the better and we get to watch better matches at Chepauk.

  8. Shrinivas says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:45 AM

    Lots of chances need to be made…the same feeling I get when I see some facilities here in KL,Malaysia…the Indian flag is the funniest one.

  9. roshini says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:46 AM

    Nice Post !
    You should use an Indian social bookmarking widget like PrachaarThis to let your users easily bookmark their favorite blog posts.

  10. Keerthi says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:46 AM

    When it comes to cheering up, I think we do it best than anyone else. It needn’t be a Mexican Wave !!

    I still remember one guy shouting “Saaaachin !! Saachin!!!” and banging the bench with his Water bottle, and that became a phenomenon for a while.

    BCCI cant do anything about the Sweat.. and they are being right about milking money, everywhere. They aren’t a charity organization, afterall !

    My two cents on T20 matches – they are not worth watching in a stadium. It is not even a good trailer of a one-day match. It is probably shorter than a highlights of a test match.. It is not worth buying tickets which are priced the same as a one-dayers.

    Reqd Run rates, and many other statistics are Television techs. I dont think they need to be showed on the scoreboard ? I may not be right.. but does it show in any other stadiums ?

    You are right about the exit plans and emergency evacuations.

    And one last question !!
    People were selling indian flags. But many people were buying them too :)

    It is better that people dont realize Chennai is fighting Bangalore.. we dont want to see people aggressive like how they are in India Pakistan matches…

    What say, Kribs.

  11. Shravan says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:46 AM

    About the mexican wave, I guess you are wrong! The last time I went for a match and that was b4 this IPL, the mexican wave caught up so rapidly and it was so much fun! There was no tries and misses…

  12. Adith says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:47 AM

    No Mexican waves in Chennai! Thats uncomprehendable….Let me draw your attention to a new stadium, the DY Patil stadium, in the outskirts of Mumbai… I was there recently for the Mumbai-Delhi match…I counted about 13 rounds of mexican waves…the atmosphere there was unforgetable…sadly Mr Mukesh Ambani has shifted future Mumbai Indians matches to the sickening Wankhede stadium in proper Mumbai, as it would take his team 2 hours to travel to the DY Patil stadium!

  13. Rajaram S says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:47 AM

    One quick question: I might be in Chennai for the 24th match against RR and am thinking of going to the stadium. Do they allow cameras inside the stadium ?
    I am asking this because of the various reports about ipl restricting photos being used/taken ?
    thx

  14. sarmishtha says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:47 AM

    jeez…is that how bad it is??!!!…but am sure to the cricket fans…and fanatics [:-)] it ain’t a big deal!!! may be by next leagu the vendors would have grasped the concept of altogether….

  15. Mark says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:47 AM

    Kribs:

    I am always amazed at the shoddy state of cricket grounds in India. You would think that the temples of the national religion would be better designed, more inspiring places. Not all are horrible (Chinnawswamy, for example, is merely very, very bad) but all are disgraceful given the significance and, dare we say, the money in Indian cricket.

    This is one battle Pakistan wins hands down. Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore is as beautiful as Indian stadia are miserable. The architecture is graceful and pleasing; there are flowers all over the place; each section has a cool water dispenser, clean, functioning washrooms, and dustbins (which, of course, would be superfluous in India because Indians do not know how to throw their trash anywhere but wherever it is they happen to be standing at the moment); there are no prison-like fences around the seating sections; and the maintenance of the facilities is first-rate.

    We part company on the Mexican Wave, I’m afraid. It was mildly cute when it made its first appearance in the early 1980s; but it got old fast. Let’s face it: The Wave is nothing more than audience masturbation. And when you pay as much for tickets as we pay for professional sporting events, we should have to get ourselves off — the players should be busting-ass to do that.

    Cheers,

    MBJ

  16. Giridhar says:
    May 25, 2009 at 5:48 AM

    @Kiruba and commentors…

    MEXICAN WAVE DO EXISTS in MA Chidambaram stadium and it was total fun. For almost 10-15 min, the crowd ignored the match and were mexican waving.. it was a nice experience…

    Chennai vs Punjab IPL match no 31.

  17. Juvvi says:
    May 25, 2009 at 6:00 AM

    Kiruba, you know you are a disgrace, don’t you? Just re-read your business standard article on web2.0 and hang yourself.

  18. Sudhakar says:
    May 25, 2009 at 6:01 AM

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  19. Bharat Rajawat says:
    May 25, 2009 at 6:01 AM

    I liked your blog

  20. pappu says:
    May 25, 2009 at 6:01 AM

    chennai cricket fans are very vigourous too.

  21. Vijesh says:
    May 25, 2009 at 6:02 AM

    Interesting post Kiruba. I have not been to Chennai, but was to Bangalore. Here its not much to crib about. Still this should be an eye opener for IPL organisers!

  22. Sankar Aiyar says:
    May 25, 2009 at 6:02 AM

    Sankar Aiyar:
    I also noticed that when I visited the Terrace stand where I was watching the Chennai Super Kings Vs Rajastan Royals,there was always a foul smell coming and the very reason for that one can easily observe that there is no water in the toilets and that gives the bad odour.

    Hope the stadium authorities are interested to have the tickets to be sold and probabaly they thought they could SAVE WATER.

    I still remember the TIED match between Australia and India and those days I could not see such scrambles in the stadium.

    Now things have changed on money front but not on other amenities however they claim to be !!!

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