Mumbai, June 27 -- Mumbai's local football league is set to hit turbulent waters as the state government has reportedly given instructions for the Neville D'Souza football ground to be taken over. The ground will be rebuilt as a convention centre. The full-sized football pitch in Reclamation, Bandra West, has been used by the Mumbai Football Association (MFA) to conduct the nine senior and six youth division tournaments since 2018. "This ground, for the past nine years has hosted thousands of players and multiple tournaments each season. From grassroots to elite divisions, the Neville D'Souza football ground hosted it all," MFA chief Aaditya Thackeray said in a post on X. "Now despite requests from the Mumbai Football Association, it is barred from using its own ground, and now the open space will have a contractor build a convention centre on it." Named after former India player Neville D'Souza, who was the joint-highest scorer in the football event at the 1956 Olympics, the artificial turf-ground hosts over 600 local clubs. "All tournaments in Mumbai take place on this one ground," said MFA honorary secretary general Sudhakar Rane. "Then we have our inter-district teams from juniors to seniors. There are 60 inter-zone events that happen on this ground. All this will be affected. The lease ended in October (2025), Aditya has been trying to get it renewed but they kept delaying it." The biggest concern for the clubs though is that there is a danger that the leagues could come to a halt. "This is the one place where football tournaments have been taking place for almost a decade, but it seems the government now wants to end football in Mumbai altogether," said Nadim Memon, former committee member of the Western India Football Association (WIFA), and current apex council member of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). "There is no other good place to play. The St Xavier's Ground in Parel still hasn't been reopened after it was closed to install a water tank. The Cooperage Stadium is open only for commercial activities since it has been split into four small pitches, and there is pickleball happening on the side." With no other venue available, the ground in Bandra was the only place to play. "Everyone is playing for the title. But the main thing is, at least you get to play. When I speak to the parents of the youth players, they all say the same thing that at least the children are playing. Now if there is no ground, where do they go?" said former India player Aqeel Ansari, who coached Maharashtra Oranje to the premier division title last season....