Every football fan dreams about meeting their heroes. The stars and the legends who have always entertained them. It’s the same with me. I remember running around Footballers when I was a kid trying to shake their hands, back home in Gangtok when they used to come and play at the All India Governors Gold Cup Football Tournament. During those days I.M. Vijayan was a big star in Indian football, I clearly remember shaking his hands and nervously telling him “Well played”.
After I came down to Kolkata things which I had never thought about started happening to me.I had never dreamt about meeting the biggest legends of World Football. But here in Kolkata that dream without even me dreaming it started coming true. I had the opportunity of a life-time on 27th May 2008, when I got a chance to watch one of the greatest goalkeepers to have played the game Oliver Kahn in action and later shake hands with him. He was here in Kolkata for his farewell match against Mohun Bagan with the Bayern Munich team. This handshake happened only because of my quick thinking. I was in the Zee Sports production crew and as we were doing the live telecast of that match I was put up at the control room to assist in match stats and graphics. So I had to watch the match in the control room monitor.When Oliver Kahn was substituted during the second half after his team had scored three goals. I quickly told my Producer to kindly manage the stats for a while so that I could go out and shake his hand. The Producer agreed and I was out in a flash. I waited at the tunnel and there came that huge frame of Oliver Kahn, walking slowing towards the dressing room. I adjusted my Zee Sports ID card to make sure that he noticed that I had access to that place. Next thing I remember, I was shaking his hands and blurted out “Pleasure to meet you Sir”. Kahn smiled and said “Thank you” in a German accent and walked away. I was in awe. I just could not believe it. Only regret I have from that day is I did not carry a camera or a mobile phone with a “camera” otherwise I could have had that picture with a legend. A day before this event I also got a chance to say hello to Van Bommel.It was at the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club (CCFC) where a kids football clinic was organized. We had gone there with Zee Sports to cover the event. Many small sized grounds were created and in one of the grounds Van Bommel was helping the kids with short passing basics, one of the kid mis-timed his pass and ball came towards my direction and Bommel came running to fetch it. When he was picking up the ball I said “Hello Van” he looked at me and said “Hello,how are you”.I was taken aback as I was not expecting more than just a “Hello”. I could only say “Yes” and by the time I completed my sentence he had rejoined the kids in the middle.
Then on the 6th of December came the biggest moment of my life as a football fan. The “Football God” himself had descended to Kolkata and I had the opportunity to attend his Press Conference at the ITC Sonar Bangla hotel. We reached there pretty early and we were taken to the make shift Press Area which was created at the hotel lawns. I just sat there and started to get excited to see non other than Diego Armando Maradona himself. Many call him God and I am also one of them. Never saw him play live but my Dad’s story about him and the recorded videos of his matches was enough for me to become his follower. During my school days I had pasted his picture on my school dairy which a caption “God of Football” and had always dreamt to be like him one day. Now I know those were childish fantasies as I firmly believe there can be no another Maradona.Many legends have already failed in front of him so who was I to even dream about such a possibility. There were nearly hundred media people there and all of them had that look of excitement on there faces. That day I think all the journalist had become fans. I also over-heard one scribe talking to another about a possibility of a photo op with the “God”. But the security was tight and we were kept ten feet away from the dais. It did not matter to me at all as I was over the moon just to be there. I thought I will just sit there and listen to the God answering the questions. Then the moment came someone shouted “He is coming” and there was a chaos with the camera-persons running to get the best shot and some of the journos even trying to break the barrier and ask Maradona some questions, but none of them succeeded and he was quickly taken to the Dais. Someone threw a ball at him. He caught it and put it on his head to balance it but the ball didn’t stay on his head. He caught it and said something in Spanish followed with a wink! his interpreter quickly translated that for us so we could also understand the sense of humour.He had said “Out of touch thesedays,not good anymore”. But in the very next moment he proved that his ball skills were still intact, he not only balanced the ball on his head, he also joggled it with his shoulders, taking turns with his head, what made this special was that he was doing all these in such a limited area. After that he gave a thumbs and sat down. Made a short speech about his visit and the question, answer session with the Press started. I had already decided I will not ask any questions as I was in awe of the God and also didn’t want to make myself a fool in front of so many senior sports Reporters. Simply put I was too nervous to ask any questions. So I just sat there. Towards the end I suddenly felt an urge to ask him a question and started mustering courage to ask for the microphone. Courage finally arrived and it was at the nick of time, as mine was the last question he took I didn’t know how to address him Sir? Mr. Maradona? Maradona? or simply Diego?.With that confusion in mind. I got up asked for the microphone and there I went choosing the last option “Diego! Diego! This side” I said. The God looked at me and I could hear myself on the loud speakers, I was trembling like anything but also I asked him the question “Diego I have heard that people have built churches in your name and they go and worship you, How to you feel to be compared with God? He looked at the interpreter nodded and quickly replied in Spanish and smiled. The interpreter in turn translated that to English “It’s nice to be compared with God. But I have never felt like god but you can call me God of Football if you want to”. Felt a little proud next morning as all the newspapers had carried the question which I had asked.
Will write about Diego Forlan in my next post and will conclude this write up.
Photograph Courtesy- www.kolkatafootball.com
Cool stories, glad they took your question in the papers. The only time I saw Vijayan play was in London. I hardly knew India had a football team but watched them play Leyton Orient in East London. India had one player playing in England, in the division above Orient, I forget his name(joke). Vijayan scored the equaliser and the game finished 1-1. I told my father his name and he said this Vijayan guy must be from our home state of Kerala and I felt very proud. Years later playing for Viva Kerala my wife told me after the match that a film star had come in to watch the game. The star had a big entourage and everyone was shaking his hand while we were playing. I later found out that it was Vijayan, not a film star who had watched our match!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great blog!
Patrick