A football tournament for girls may well mark the platinum jubilee year of the popular Jamshedpur Sporting Association (JSA), usually reserved for men.

With the Covid situation having a bearing on the conduct of the league, JSA officials are veering around the idea to host a fixture for girls.

“We don’t want the platinum jubilee celebrations to become a blank affair. We are serious about conducting the tournament for girls,” said JSA secretary Avinash Kumar.

Kumar said the JSA football league is a lengthy fixture, which stretches for over a month, and they can wrap up the girls’ event in two-three days.

“We can conduct the girls event on a knock-out basis with the participation of eight teams,” said Kumar, a former Bihar Ranji Trophy skipper and senior manager at the Tata Steel sports wing.

Around 80 matches are played in the annual JSA league, one of the oldest sporting fixtures in the country, and as many as 44 clubs and institutions are part of the event.

JSA football sub-committee chairman S. Zubair Alam also said the fixture for girls seems to be the only option when it comes to celebrating the 75th year of JSA league.

“We don’t think we have any option left at this point in time. The JSA league looks a non-starter. We can go ahead with this event to mark our platinum jubilee year,” he told The Telegraph Online, adding that they would go ahead with the idea of hosting the girls’ event if the Covid-related situation improves.

“We have plans to conduct the girls’ tournament by the end of August or in September. By that time the Covid situation should improve and we could go ahead with the event,” he added, stating that the event would be held only after the state government allows tournaments to be conducted.

Keeping in mind social distancing aspects, the girls’ tournament would be organised sans spectators at the JRD Tata Sports Complex.

Buzz around the city’s football circle says that the JSA football league may well be called off.

“Preparation for conducting the league is time-consuming. We have not even organised the qualifiers and the process for registration is yet to start. More importantly, we also need to prepare the grounds. The fixture will ultimately be called off,” one of the JSA members said on condition of anonymity.

The JSA hosted the football tournament for girls in an efficient manner at the landmark JRD Tata Sports Complex in Bistupur last year.

Eight teams were part of the event which concluded in three days.