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Some say there were more than 30,000 spectators while others say it exceeded 40,000 during the 1985 final. Including organisers, volunteers and security personnel, there were hardly 5,000 spectators during the 2017 final between India and Malaysia at Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium, adjacent to Bangabandhu National Stadium, Sunday. The eastern half of the gallery had less than 100 people. Even the VIP gallery in the western part of the field was not filled. The significant difference of the presence of audience is not the only aspect that differentiates the two finals hosted by Dhaka. The game was played on the natural grass of Dhaka Stadium, currently known as Bangabandhu National Stadium. It also used to host international matches of various sports like football and cricket, among others. Synthetic turf has been a mandatory feature in every major international hockey tournament since the late 1980s and Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium followed suit for the last two decades.
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The shift from natural grass to artificial turf also brought changes in rules and regulations, including off-side. There is no off-side rule in modern hockey and 1985 was probably the last Asia Cup which had this feature. After making some restrictions and experiments with the off-side rule in the later years, it was finally abolished in the early 1990s. After football, hockey was the most popular game in Dhaka's sports scenario in the 1970s, 80s and in the early 90s. Having only one modern hockey venue in the country and with the gradual growth in popularity of cricket, hockey is failing to pull crowd like before.
