Mumbai hosted yet another World Cup final in space of 2 Years yet the build up was a complete contrast. Yes, India is not participating and it's the women at the centre of attention rather than the men but had the organizing committee taken a leaf out of the 1997 women cup final in Calcutta things could have been significantly different.
In 1997 it was the Australians again at the centre of helm against their neighbors New Zealand but back then they played in front of a record crowd of over 60,000.
The facts are true. Even if the entry was free Mumbai only managed to get a crowd of about 2000 so how did Calcutta do it ?
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| Crowd of over 60,000 mostly women attend the Women World Cup |
"The organizing committee in conjunction with the Bengal cricket association had organized private buses to pick up and drop of women from rural areas nearly 100kms away. To go along with that all the women were provided food for the whole day at free of cost".
For many it was the first time they had watched cricket live. They were picked up as early as 6am, provided breakfast, they sat in concrete stands of one of crickets greatest stadium and importantly they gave the game the atmosphere it deserved.
Belinda Clark who played in the match later told the press how it was such a thrill playing in front of such audience. It gave them the feeling the women game was on par with the men's. At the end of the day they were entertainers and they deserved the audience for such a spectacle.
The Brabourne stadium is not has vast as the Eden gardens so to fill it up will require only 15000. It is such a shame a initiate that was taken 15 yrs ago cannot be replicated in modern commerical world of today.
Lets hope some research is done for the future women's world cup final so in four years we have a respectable crowd.
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