Dreams crushed, earnings lost as India’s football Mecca falls silent

Monsoon is the peak season at the Mecca of Indian football, but the grounds across Kolkata Maidan lie vacant, waiting for players to return to the rain-drenched, open fields where the game has been played for more than a century but has now come to a complete Covid-induced halt. With the football season suspended for two successive years, the entire sporting ecosystem of the Maidan has collapsed leaving all stake-holders — players, coaches, referees groundsmen, gardeners and club staffers — without earnings, forcing many to switch to other jobs.