Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium locally known as Polo Ground is a football

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

in Shillong, Meghalaya, India. It is used mainly for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and has most notably hosted the home matches of Shillong Lajong FC in the I-League. The stadium has a seating capacity of 30,000 spectators.

History

The stadium is a two tier stadium with a roof over the main stand. An artificial turf named

Astroturf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...

is laid down in 2012. The stadium is generally hosted I-League matches. Before professional football was played in Shillong, the stadium was created for football and running use. Both sports were played at an amateur level. In 2009 the football club known as

Shillong Lajong F.C. Shillong Lajong FC (founded as Lajong SC) is an Indian professional football club based in Shillong, Meghalaya, that competes in the Shillong Premier League. The club was established in 1983 with the prime objective of improving the declining ...

gained promotion to the top-tier of Indian football I-League and as a result started using the Nehru Stadium as there ground. The team regularly drew 30,000 fans for the games. After relegation the stadium was again used for Lajong games in the I-League 2nd Division for the 2011 Season Final Round. The home field advantage managed to give Lajong promotion back to the I-League and back into fully professional football. After the

2011 I-League 2nd Division The 2011 I-League 2nd Division is the fourth season of the second division of the I-League, the Indian professional football league. A total of 21 teams were divided into three groups and top two teams from each group played in final round, the ...

it was announced that a change needed to be done to the pitch at the Nehru Stadium. When the stadium hosted the 2011 2nd Division it drew criticism for how the pitch was very unprepared, it even drew criticism from Indian Football Captain

Baichung Bhutia Bhaichung Bhutia (born 15 December 1976), also spelled as Baichung Bhutia, is an Indian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Bhutia is considered as the torchbearer of Indian football in the international arena. He is often ...

. On 17 August 2011 it was officially announced that the Meghalaya Government had officially given 555,000,000 for the stadium renovation and it was commenced. Due to this Lajong had to move to another stadium for there

2011–12 I-League The 2011–12 I-League was the fifth season of the I-League. The season began in October 2011 and ended in May 2012. Salgaocar are the defending champions, having won their maiden title in the previous season. The current edition has a tota ...

matches.

References

External links

Stadium information
Football venues in Meghalaya Shillong Sports venues in Meghalaya Shillong Lajong FC Year of establishment missing {{India-sports-venue-stub