New Delhi: There was rain in the air on Thursday evening in New Delhi. After a day of heavy rain, the drizzle had brought the mercury down. At the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, only a few seats were occupied before the momentous occasion: a Delhi-based club playing a home game in Indian football’s top division. It had been 2587 days since Delhi’s own – Delhi Dynamos then – entertained the city’s locals. Now, SC Delhi’s red adorned the stadium with signage, banners and visuals at the main gates. They looked to make the most of this home return for their first win of the season against second-placed Jamshedpur FC in this truncated season of the Indian Super League.An hour before the kick-off, the most noise was made by a group of teenagers on the athletics track who were practising their dance synchronisation to the beats of the dhol. Alongside, multiple youngsters kept the athletics track busy despite the nip in the air. Further along, a group of young men and women posed for selfies as they distributed the club jerseys to one another.
Large banners of Nora Fernandes, Rafael Ribeiro, Mohammed Aimen, Ayush Adhikari, Lamgoulen Hangshing and Karanjit Singh hung from the ceiling. Close by, kids lined up to side foot the ball into a tiny goal. Each successful attempt was cheered on, and players of the future were slowly being created.Gate 1 welcomed the club ownership, their invitees and the VIPs. Away from the glitterati, over on the opposite side of the humongous multi-purpose facility, on Gate 10, is where the actual fans queued up to get inside as the clock ticked on.A small queue at 7pm — half an hour before kick-off — started to get longer in 15 minutes. One after another, QR codes were scanned, and the sound of beeps filled in. As is the norm with stadiums across the country, arguments broke out over what is allowed and what isn’t. Fans jostled with security as the size of the bags dictated what went in and what remained out.
Banners featuring SC Delhi players at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. (Image: Tanuj Lakhina/TimesofIndia.com)
Inside, after another quick check of the digital ticket, a large chunk of fans took their place in one section while a smaller group, possibly of away supporters, were stationed in another section. Chants reverberated in the stadium as players took the field – Delhi in red and black and Jamshedpur FC in the whites. A young man egged the fans on to follow his “purab, paschim, uttar, dakshin” with “Dilli hai bhai sabki dhadkan”, and the crowd chimed in with the same level of excitement.One section in the stadium made way for another as more people trickled in, even when the game kicked off. Teenagers, groups of friends and families with young kids were all part of this experience.The stadium started to bounce in the 21st minute as Joseph Sunny put the hosts ahead, capitalising on an Albino Gomes mistake. A bit of mis-clearance by Matija Babovic presented the ball to Sunny, whose left-footed strike made its way into the top-left corner.
Fans at the ISL game between SC Delhi and Jamshedpur FC in Delhi. (Image: Tanuj Lakhina/TimesofIndia.com)
As the evenly-contested game continued, the crowd persisted and stayed in their seats – for the most part. Some seemingly bored individuals resorted to making paper planes, and the action shifted from on-the-pitch to aerial tarmacs.Yet, the decibel level rose as SC Delhi went up in attack or made crucial interventions in defence. The boos were equally loud when Jamshedpur FC made numerous forays in the second half. A group of kids chanted “Free kick! Free kick!” towards the referee whenever an SC Delhi player was brought down.With rain getting heavier and affecting the lower-level seats, fans walked their way to seats higher up, but never made their way out in abundance. However, their – and SC Delhi’s – hopes of seeing the first win of the season, the first 3 points, the first home win in 7 years, were dashed by a Nikola Stojanovic equaliser in the 89th minute.
Jamshedpur FC players celebrate after scoring against SC Delhi in the ISL. (Image: AIFF)
With 90 seconds remaining on the clock, the Serb’s effort from outside the box took the slightest of deflections and made its way into the back of the net.The 6,732 fans who made their way to the JLN Stadium on Thursday would still count this as an evening well spent, and manager Tomasz Tchorz acknowledged their presence later.“There are places in India where you can say that people want football, and Delhi is one of them, so I’m very happy. We are very happy that a lot of fans came today. We all have experience of playing with the crowd because either we played away in stadiums which were full or we were working for other clubs with huge fan bases. So I think the presence of fans only helped us today, nothing else,” said the Polish manager, who had called the home support the ’12th Player’ ahead of the fixture.
