Absence of a gym finally felt

The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), feeling the vacuum of its self-owned gymnasium, has taken up the initiatives to set one at the premises of the BFF House.   The full squad of the national team went to a city gymnasium on July 6 and amid the cry of making it a continuing process the players enjoyed the session.    “The players also felt the requirement of a full-fledged gym and its benefits. It’s unfortunate that we don’t get the chance of using the gym in the club level and the same story remains at the national level also. The federation should take immediate steps to set up a gym,” said a senior player of the national team requesting anonymity.   All the players, including the injured Shakahwat Rony and Jahid Hossain, went through the session which also included 20 minutes of swimming.   The wave of the urge also reached the BFF office as general secretary Abu Naeem Shohag said they have already drafted a proposal regarding setting a gym as soon as possible.    “The vacuum of a gym has been felt for a long time and we have already started communication with a couple of companies and looking forward to a fruitful conclusion,” said Shohag.   Meanwhile, BFF in its initiative to make the Bangladesh Premier League more attractive has decided to change the idea of home and away matches and is all set to run the professional league matches in neutral venues.    BFF thinks it would help decentralise the football and the clubs will also enjoy a light frequency of match days. Dhaka, Sylhet, Chittagong and Khulna or Jessore are in the target list to be the neutral venues while the federation is also mulling the matches for weekends.    If BFF succeeds to implement the new notion then all the teams will play equal number of matches in each venue.   The thought of holding all the matches of a round on the same day also means the BPL will see five games per day next season. Keen to obey the Fifa instruction, that a club should play at least 40 matches a season, BFF has chalked up the new ideas, but it would need the approval of the BFF’s executive committee.   If the new plans are introduced the footballers will have to stick to their job for nine months starting from October. This year the BPL might also feature 11 teams.