Mexico 86 and South Africa 2010- My Memories of Soccer indulgence!

Mexico 86 and South Africa 2010- My Memories of Soccer indulgence!
Circa 86- A gawky 13 year old, grade 7 student is building his castles in his dreams . He waits anxiously , eagerly and salivates for the kick off for the 86 world cup. The scene is further made easy with his elder brother Nikhil, feeling his excitement, gets his parents to buy a new colour TV!! The stage is all set for the grand finale…..


I was growing up in my own “hiccup- tical” ways- playing cricket, soccer, volleyball, athletics, table tennis, chess et al but soccer , for reasons faded in memory, remained very close to the heart! Carl Lewis, giant of an athlete post jesse owens, would haunt the dreams and so would our desi greats, Sunny gavaskar and Kapil Dev! The football stars occupying similar status were not from brazeel but from oh, so cool, Calcutta clubs!! Few school seniors like Randhir singh and sanjay ahirwaal would trespass the dreams sometimes. These were the soccer favourites of my pre teen years -

That year, we had 2 periods each of 35 minutes for soccer per week and that was one high time for all of us! We never missed school on those two days ( Tuesday and Fridays for us!), would plan for it a day before and dream of scoring a goal the previous night !! In grade 7 and 8 , we were the soccer section!! We had beaten all the other sections comprehensively in last two years. The stalwarts like manish kumar “ dhawak aka gwala”, Sunil sinha “ Kodhi” and sumit kumar “ singh” were already knocking on the doors of school team. Soccer had become our real passion while we followed other sports with similar spirit! Adpoting this life time passion in grade 8, I think, I became a global citizen , a lot before embarking for the unknown lands in year 2000.

The world was not inundated with media then… EPL and La liga were virtually unseen off apart the few erratic columns dedicated to them in sports section of times of India and Hindustan times… The journal de jour!

One was intoxicated on the wiles , guiles and dribbling of the stars of the three tittilators of Indian soccer fan – the three Calcutta clubs- East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammdean sporting.. Cricket had the most important status in the lives and minds of the entire country and for our generation, more so post the 1983 world cup victory but the escapades of these three clubs came only a close second .

The issue after issue of “sports star” and “sports world” which did give lots of coverage to the CPL ( common persons league! ) were diligently kept between the course books and every section was virtually memorized.

The exposure to world soccer was limited to print pages and a few documentaries on the God Pele on our own Door –Darshan, the national TV channel! Though , one gorged on all that the print media had to offer about the English summer of 66 , cryuff’s cunning craft of 74 or the way Italians inundation of 82! The history in pages created more awe , more dreams and more excitement in those adolescence years; much more than anything else could provide that time.

This B division team from Germany came to play 7 matches in india in 84/85 . Every match was telecast live on Dooor – Darshan ( the ball remained quite far from the screen!). Each match afternoons were meticulously planned and those 90 mimutes would take the breath away. First exposure to the western toughness. The wizardy , the guile of satyajit chaterjee’s and subroto banerjee’s and the safe hands of bhaskar ganguly appeared so humane and fallible (Almost the entire Indian 11 then would be from Calcutta- the soccer capital! With a few thrown in from Goa or Kerela.)

The TV revolution had just revolutionized our little world and we could think , breathe and visualize colours . One could dream of the yellows of samba, the bleu azzurris , oranje from the dutch land, the Spanish red , the light bleu stripes of the argentinians . The magic was building up… I could feel it in my fingers and I could feel it in my toes!!

Further all the print reports about magic of the short , rotund magician from Buenos aires were making the air even more exciting!

The print pages and our experts from the maidan of calcutta ( Pls note india had been a Olympic semifinalists and asian champions in few decades preceding 80’s!) called it as the cup of the mid fielders/ attacking midfielders. I couldn’t get the logic as I would think the world soccer would still be defensive in approach with the Italian wall having stolen the cup away the last time. I was glad , it was moving forward anyway!

The curly haired magician, Michel platini was all ready to sound his bugle. The deadly trio of Gullit, Van basten and Rijjkard wanted to do what cryuff couldn’t and were riding high on recent success. Sans smoke mais déjà mari (jua) nated magician maradona was showing off the rippling thighs in his short, stout frame. My favourite .. the low profile, gentleman from the streets of rio.. who could weave magic when needed , was Zico ! The prayers for brazeel started that fateful year and have continued since then!!

Brazeel has been the favourite since then and ritualistic prayers have ensured the ones around have followed my efforts of asking the gods to shower special blessings on the yellow jerseys! My 20 month old sang Brazeee and my 6 year old forced leezy, our dear dutch friend, to wipe off the dutch colours from his cheeks during the Brazilian dutch encounter in 2010. Am glad to have passed on the love for samba magic!!

Mexican waves , maradona’s last laugh both with the hand of god goal and goal of the century, zico’s drooping shoulders after the penalty fumble remain firmly embedded in my memory . I was initiated into the world soccer with late night matches being played on the other side of the planet.

Circa 2010

The world has changed, La liga, EPL and bundesliga are all over television, live. The club transfers of players is tracked and discussed over social gatherings. The fairer sex chants Go Espanyol and talks more of Messi than the usual messy stuff!

The stage was set with the vuvuzelas blowing the world away . It announced African arrival on the world stage in a loud, boisterous and in an emphatic manner. We were gifted two vuvus by chimene and Amelia , our south african friends! They became Rudra’s swords for the entire festive period.

Messi floundered, italinas withered, French bickered, German machinery was visible only in parts, England aka lampard could not be more unlucky but cant blame the queen f and my favourites brazeel bombed while trying out a new dung-a– soccer!

The two finalist did steal the heart away! Dutch played beautiful soccer and for a change kept winning !.. The espanyol delieverd when mattered.

We had a wonderful mix of friends watching the matches at bars, embassies, friends places and the final at dutch ambassador’s residence. The boisterous blowing by rudra on the Spanish goal stunned the entire gathering ! While I rejoiced the Spanish victory , my heart did ache for the magnificent dutch..!

For the entire period, Rudra blew his vuvuzela as much as he could and we got to bond together!! Even though brazeel lost and messi messed, I initiated him into the fantastic world of soccer.. My magic potion from the Cup of 2010!!