M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk

Chepauk MRTS Station and the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium

History

The M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai is named after M.A. Chidambaram, the former President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA). The stadium was formerly known as the Madras Cricket Club Ground or Chepauk Stadium. Apart from being the site of India’s first triumph in Test cricket (1952 against England), it holds the unique distinction of being the venue of only the second instance of a tied test match in cricket history- between India and Australia in 1986. Chepauk has also hosted One Day International (ODI) matches every time India has hosted the Cricket World Cup- a total of 7 matches in 1987, 1996 and 2011. It has also been the home ground of the Chennai Super Kings since the inception of the Indian Premier League in 2008.

Literally a stone’s throw away from the Chepauk MRTS Station which is located to the east, a major portion of the stadium is visible from the elevated railway station. It is surrounded by major streets, namely, Wallajah Road, Bells Road and Pycrofts Road in the north, west and south, respectively. The Buckingham Canal runs tangentially to the northeastern side of the stadium. It is also not too far from Marina Beach and is only a few hundred metres from the seashore as this aerial view image (Chepauk Stadium is the circle in the centre) shows.

Renovation work

When the World Cup was hosted by the sub-continent in 1996, floodlights were installed at Chepauk as day/night cricket matches were favoured by broadcasters. It enabled them to broadcast matches at a convenient time for viewers in England and also ensured maximum viewership from amongst the rising Indian middleclass. The game has grown significantly in the past decade and the astronomical rates which advertisers pay for advertisement slots during live telecasts of matches indicates the stratospheric levels of popularity the game enjoys in the sub-continent.

Natraj & Venkat Architects (NVA) in Chennai and Hopkins Architects in London, were contracted by the TNCA to upgrade the stadium before the 2011 ICC World Cup. On 28 June 2009, the decision to start reconstruction work for setting up state of the art facilities and an increased spectator capacity of 45,000 over the existing 36,000 was taken, the cost of which is INR 175 crore. The project comprises three new reinforced concrete stands accommodating 10,000 spectators and 24 hospitality boxes under translucent PTFE membrane roofs.

translucent fabric roof structures for shade over the stands

Huge pillars that often blocked the view in the old stadium have been replaced by the light state-of-the-art roof called Quad Conical Geometric Form which is held together by cables imported from China. The designer was Bird Air, an American firm, while engineers from Australia (from Tyio Membrane) have carried out the installation work. The stadium sports as many as nine new stands. These consist of three tiers with the middle one, fully air-conditioned, being the hospitality box. The stands are at a gradient of 36 degrees, which is not too steep by international standards.

The renovation lets the sea breeze in to get the ground's traditional swing back - all this while adhering to the principles of vaastu in design. The plan is to create a series of 12 stands atop a lower bowl of terracing, so the breeze can flow through the horizontal gap between the terrace and the stands, thus bringing some respite from Chennai's humid climate.

Observations

It is not possible to provide a spatial analysis without including an experiential view of the site. These observations are based on visits made to Chepauk-both during a cricket match (Champions League T20) and also on non-match days. I should not fail to mention that on all those occasions when I had gone to the stadium when there was no match being played, I was denied entry into the stadium. But before I do so, I shall first give an account of a match day experience.

Part I

The T20 match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians took place on September 24, 2011. Though it was scheduled to begin at 8.00pm (local time), the stadium was at near full capacity much before play started. The security measures in place and the number of police personnel present at the stadium indicated the high profile nature of the event. Since sponsors had paid enormous amounts of money to get their names displayed prominently throughout the stadium, the organizers made efforts to ensure that there would be no efforts of non-official sponsors to engage in ambush marketing.

What might seem rather obvious, but requires further examination is the seating arrangements. Corporates who have their own air-conditioned boxes and the masses in the stands have all come to watch the same match. But their match day experience is totally different. Whether the game is best enjoyed in the comfort of luxurious lounges, or amidst thousands of passionate supporters is an interesting question. Both have their merits and demerits. But, irrespective of where one is located in the stadium, one’s experience of the game is exponentially altered by the omniscient television cameras. With a penchant for finding the pretty ladies and the quirkily dressed supporters in the crowd, the television cameras ensure that those present in the stadium have their moments in the spotlight. In fact, one of the sponsors even had a competition wherein the ‘best fan’ would be presented with a prize for his/her entertaining antics.

Several association football clubs have retired the number 12 when awarding jerseys to their players as their loyal supporters are their 12^th man. The effects of the “12^th man” are of two categories. Firstly, the effect of showing the home team that they are appreciated, and that the away team are unwelcome. The second directly relates to the deafening effects of a loud crowd. While in cricket the 12^th man refers to the substitute player who fields when a member of the fielding side is injured, the crowd do play a large part during the match. But, even though Chennai’s team were playing, every single time Sachin Tendulkar of the Mumbai Indians was shown on the giant television screen, the partisan Chennai crowd erupted and cheered vociferously. This shows that loyalty and allegiances cut beyond teams and that fans identify themselves with iconic players.

Part II

The Tamil Nadu State Ranji Trophy team also play their home matches at Chepauk. The match between Tamil Nadu and Baroda (November 3-6^th, 2011) in the Ranji Trophy resulted in a draw after three days of play had been washed out, and only 12 overs could be bowled on the final day. It goes without saying that most of the players involved are either upcoming players trying to break into the national team or are fringe players trying to cement their places in the squad. There are no foreign players involved or cheerleaders to add glamour to these matches. When compared to the overwhelming presence of sponsors during the other game, there seemed to be a marked absence of major sponsors. Television coverage for these matches is not as much of a visual spectacle as other international matches.

Unlike the Champions League T20 match, or any other match at international level for that matter, there is no ticketed entry for Ranji Trophy matches. This ensures that such matches would not be played to empty stadiums as most of the players involved are not crowd pullers. Also, since the style of play to be adopted when 4 day matches is drastically different from playing 20 over matches, it is not possible to sustain the interest of the fickle minded fan. Cricket purists would still turn up but inclement weather meant that the match did not see much spectator presence.

As mentioned earlier, play was abandoned on the first three days. When I turned up at the stadium, the security guards at the gates told me that there was no entry allowed. At the nearby Madras Cricket Club, the watchman told me that only members would be admitted into the premises. This provided me with an opportunity to talk a walk around the stadium premises, much in the manner of a devotee circumnavigating a temple. It enabled me to analyze the stadium in spatial terms.

Photo taken during India-New Zealand practice match

Analysis

A cricket match can be seen as an event that has a social and historical component. Members of society come together to witness the match, in which the players have to abide by the laws that govern the game. The events on the field are recorded in terms of statistics and the spectators and players involved also leave with some recollection of events. The spatial component however needs detailed explanation as it can be overlooked because it is always there, but never really analyzed in terms of its contribution to the sociality and historicity of the process.

Foucault uses the term heterotopia to describe spaces that have more layers of meaning or relationships to other places than immediately meet the eye. These are spaces of otherness, which are neither here nor there, that are simultaneously physical and mental, such as when a spectator realises that he is being featured on the giant screen television in the stadium and starts waving at the cameras. Though all cricketing action unfolds within the confines of the boundary region, the crowd are also very much involved as the match progresses. Whenever the ball is clobbered into the stands by the batsman, spectators make attempts to catch the ball. Apart from this, as mentioned earlier, the presence of TV cameras ensures that spectators try and catch the eye of the production crew. So for the millions watching the broadcast either live or later, these spectators at the stadium who get featured are part of their viewing experience.

However, though they are part of the cricket match, spectators do not actively participate in the match. The security personnel are there to ensure that there are no disruptions and that apart from those involved in the match, the spectators do not enter the field. Only the players, the match officials, and the ground staff are allowed to enter the field of play. Even on the field, there are certain areas which are ‘restricted’ so to speak. The protected area or danger area is the central portion of the pitch, and a bowler must avoid running on this area during his follow-through after delivering the ball. The role of the umpires is to ensure that the laws that govern the sport are respected and enforced. To make their work easier, there is also an additional umpire who goes over the television footage and makes difficult decisions. It goes without saying that all these personnel have a good grounding of the rules of the game, which enables them to adjudicate competently.

A simplistic explanation of the game of cricket would be that batsmen score runs by placing the ball in the spaces that appear between fielders and that the fielding team have to keep changing their positions to make the batsmen’s work more difficult. Batsmen are not restricted to playing shots along the ground and can also take the aerial route and play attacking cricket. This expands the region that can be covered by batsmen and also involves non-playing spectators as mentioned earlier. The commercial aspect of the game had been touched upon earlier. But, the money that sponsors have pumped into the game can be seen in the advertising hoardings that encircle the field of play. So, from this illustration of on-field proceedings, it is quite clear that spaces inside the stadium have many layers of meaning and have complicated relationships.

Spectators are consumers in the sense that by purchasing tickets, they are gaining access inside the stadium and are witnessing the cricketing action that unfolds in person. Only those who buy tickets are allowed entry, and the patrons are provided seating based on the money that they are willing to spend on tickets. Premium seats in air-conditioned corporate boxes which have better amenities are worth several times what seats in the uppermost tiers cost. We see that space is being commodified and Lefebvre’s Marxist critique of social space can be applied here. He proposed "social space" to be where the Relations of production are reproduced and that dialectical contradictions were spatial rather than temporal. Corporate boxes which are auctioned off to the highest bidder are bought and paid for by large conglomerations and wealthy individuals who pay as high as INR 50 lakhs for these boxes. Most of the fans who occupy the packed stands pay INR 100 for each ticket while premium ticket holders pay in upwards of INR 3000 for better seats. We see that there is a large disparity in the cost of tickets. It goes without saying that those with better tickets also enjoy privileged treatment on account of the money they have spent.

Conclusion

It is possible to view cricket as a battle between bat and ball-but this is an oversimplification that misses out on the action on so many different levels. The location of the stadium as well as the design has contributed to the nature of cricketing action. Also, while the dimensions of a cricket pitch have been fixed at 22 yards, it is evident that the game is in no ways restricted only to what happens on the field. The involvement of spectators, security personnel, television cameras and various other actors contribute to the overall feel of each match and makes it a unique experience for each individual who goes to Chepauk. It should be added that I have largely dealt with my personal experiences-which are an assimilation of numerous factors that are constantly engaging with one another. This process can be dismissed as trivial-after all, isn't cricket just a game?

Yes, and no.

I feel that it is necessary to accept the singularly peculiar position stadiums and sports teams occupy in cities. By representing a particular region, they become a focal point around which the whole community can come together. This strengthens the region as it provides a stimulus for greater economic activity in the face of greater cooperation. Indeed, as FC Barcelona's motto claims "Més que un club" (English: More than a club)

As this video shows, it must be said that the Chennai Super Kings seem to embody the spirit of Chennai. Region based sports teams can claim to epitomize the qualities that make that place unique and the stadiums they play in is the physical manifestation of the space they occupy. Chepauk Stadium is thus fully lived space, a simultaneously real-and-imagined, actual-and-virtual, locus of structured individual and collective experience and agency.

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1. Thanks to Dipali for the tickets to the Champions League match.

2. Special mention and much thanks to Athul Krishnan for accompanying me during the trip to Chepauk. He has uploaded some of the photos taken during that trip. Accessible here

3. Talking to people who play Ranji Trophy cricket and regional domestic cricket matches has been quite helpful in forming impressions of the way in which the game is played. It also enables one to understand the game from an insider's perspective. Thanks to Tomy Alexander for his inputs.