About 2,000 soccer fans, players and coaches stood silently in long lines in this eastern Indian city yesterday to protest government-run television's neglect of the sport in favor of cricket.
Cricket is the most popular game in South Asia and hogs the limelight in newspaper and TV coverage and in sponsorship and training money.
The protesters converged on the office of the state-owned TV network, Doordarshan, unhappy at what they say is a decline in soccer in India caused by TV's preoccupation with cricket.
They silently held up placards and banners that urged authorities to be more supportive of soccer.
"Why Discriminate Against Football?" asked some posters. "Show National League Matches" and "Don't Sacrifice Football at Cricket's Altar" pleaded others.
The soccer lovers told reporters that the network should show India's upcoming pre-World Cup matches live on its sports channel.
They were angry that Doordarshan did not show the pre-World Cup match that India won against Singapore last week in the western Indian state of Goa.
Instead, the station showed cricket matches of under-19 players.
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