MUMBAI, Aug. 22 -- The fight to save the last remaining speck of space left in what was once a thriving expanse of grounds is almost emblematic of the gradual erosion of football in the city. On life support for some time now, Mumbai football could stare at the beginning of an end from its gloried past, if plans by the BMC to convert the Neville D'Souza football ground at Bandra Reclamation into a convention centre take shape. The Mumbai Football Association (MFA), headed by Aaditya Thackeray, is clinging on to legal recourse while the Mumbai football community -- comprising players, stakeholders and administrators -- to a hope and a prayer. "It's extremely sad," Steven Dias, the city-based former India footballer, said. "I have nothing to do with politics. All I care about is football. I can only request the powers that be to not take the ground away. There are many kids whose careers depend on that ground." That there is only one ground left in the city for those kids to step on with a dream of becoming professional footballers, highlights a deeper issue that has largely been neglected over the years. Before the Neville D'Souza ground, the Cooperage Ground was the hub of the sport in the city and a rich part of the country's football landscape. Today, the iconic ground at Nariman Point, which once hosted the country's then top-tier I-League, Rovers Cup, Nadkarni Cup and Harwood League, to name a few prestigious tournaments, stands split into four smaller patches. Owned by the Western India Football Association (WIFA), Cooperage has been outsourced to a private agency for a couple of years. The ground now hosts pickleball games and even private functions. A ground that was once given for free to the Mumbai District Football Association (now MFA) and other leagues to conduct its matches, now demands hourly rentals in the thousands. For most clubs and leagues in the city, struggling for financial stability in the sport as it is, that price is almost unaffordable. The St. Xavier's Ground in Parel, which used to host around 600 matches every year, is now a pale shadow of its old self. The MFA had handed over the ground to Tata Memorial Hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic. The BMC then carried out work and built underground water tanks to accumulate rain water and prevent flooding. The ground has since not been in a condition to host any football matches. That left the MFA with only the Neville D'Souza ground to host over 600 teams across age-group divisions for tournaments in the city. Thousands of players, right from those in the grassroots to those competing in top leagues, would call the ground their second home. "We were conducting not less than 2,000 matches a year at the ground, with regular matches from 9am to 6:30pm," said Udayan Banerjee, MFA treasurer. "The decision will impact the football community." On Sunday, people of that community will turn up once again at the Neville D'Souza ground as part of the protests to save the little space they have left to play. Dias has been part of every such gathering since the decision was announced. The former international recalled learning the sport as a kid on the ground of a famous school in Kurla, the first steps that made him a professional footballer and gave many of his peers, at the very least, a government job through the sport. That ground is also out of bounds for outsiders now. "In my time, most kids were into football in Kurla. I don't see that anymore. Kids don't know what to do," said Dias. "I played for India, captained the state, because the city had these kinds of grounds. If not, I don't know where I would have been. Like me, so many kids are now out there dreaming to play for the state and get into clubs. If this ground goes too, I don't know what those kids will do," added the former international. Nadim Memon, former committee member of the WIFA and current apex council member of the Mumbai Cricket Association, believes this latest setback can run the risk of finishing Mumbai football completely. A committee member in the MFA, however, admitted that this was a wake-up call for the association as well. Crumbling infrastructure for football in the city is not a recent phenomenon, and little has been done over the years to address the issue. Dias, now a coach, said he often gets asked about why a country like India doesn't manage to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. "If we really want to dream about the World Cup, we need 10 grounds like this in a city like Mumbai - let alone one," he said. For now, Mumbai, and its football community, is battling to keep even that one ground intact....