Watched Mohunbagan play the final match of a football reality show. Long time since I last watched a Calcutta club football match. But today’s special match had a special guest – the Golden Ball winner Uruguayan star Diego Forlan as the mentor of the other side! Mohunbagan won (2-0) as expected in the 70-minute match. The young boys of the Challengers XI, selected from all corners of the state in this reality hunt called The Match and trained by ’94 World Cup winner Branco, however looked impressive and drum rolls were heard whenever they made a foray towards the Mohunbagan box.
Novel effort by Mahua Bangla, the newest Bangla channel on the block, I must say. With the World Cup 2010 still fresh in memory, roping in Forlan was just the right thing to do. Will go a long way to boost the morale of budding footballers, who are now a rare breed thanks to Cricket’s aggression! Percussionist extraordinaire Shivamani and Bangla band Bhoomi were also there to liven up the event.
I stopped short of changing the channel after the prize distribution as June Maliah, who looked stunning on the Salt Lake stadium grounds like any other day, announced that up next on the channel is Forlan’s interview with none other than Rahul Bose. Rahul Bose looked solid and did a great job as Forlan’s host. I’m glad I stayed at home and got to watch all this. It was however not as pleasant an experience for the 50000 odd football enthusiasts who went to the Salt Lake stadium today but barely got a glimpse of the star footballer, as reports HT (article), something that really raises those uncomfortable questions – do our football organisers really lack a professional attitude?
Of course, hats off to the golden footballer for coming all the way to Kolkata and winning millions of hearts with his simplicity and the elegance of his personality. Before the match, Forlan visited Mother Teresa House and tweeted that the work they do there is admirable.
These are some pics he shared on his twitter.
So Forlan’s visit to Kolkata will inspire more youngsters to take up football and may be our country of 1200 millions will produce 11 men who can match international standards? Whaddya think!
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i love football as my girlfriends…(i dont have any!)
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