Socrates the legend - there will be only one Socrates

In the history of football there will be only one Socrates. Socrates was like no other on and off the field.

He is a footballer,doctor of medicine: a rare achievement for a professional footballer (he was a graduate of the Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto. Even rarer is the fact that he earned the degree while concurrently playing professional football), painter, football coach,TV commentator, columnist for a number of newspapers and magazines, writing not only about sports, but also politics and economics, involved in Brazil’s pro-democracy movement during the time of military dictatorship that ruled Brazilian politics (spoke at street protests in the 1980s calling for an end to authoritarian rule) and made forays into writing fiction and acting on the stage. After retiring as a player he practised medicine at Ribeirão Preto.

He was also noted for being an intellectual, a heavy drinker and smoker, and for his height (193 cm, 6 ft 4 in). His brother Raí (not my favourite) was a member of the Brazilian national team that won the World Cup in1994. When he died on Sunday in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was 57.The cause was septic shock from an intestinal infection, according to a statement from Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, where he was admitted on Saturday.

But above all Socrates treated football as a game, to be enjoyed. “Is that why you have come all this way? To discover whether it is more important to win or to play beautiful football?” he recently asked a British journalist who had travelled to Brazil to meet him. “Beauty comes first. Victory is secondary. What matters is joy.”

The understanding he developed with the other celebrated names of Brazil’s 1982 World Cup team – Junior (king of beach soccer - my personal favourite), Falcao, Zico, Eder, Serginho – appeared telepathic. Passes were played without looking, and unerringly found their target. Socrates was so adept at the back-heel that Pele once remarked that he could play better going backwards than most players could going forwards.

Socrates, the captain of Brazil’s team in the 1982 World Cup (regarded by many as the best team ever not to win football's showcase tournament), had been hospitalised three times in the last four months. I liked the team of 1982 sometimes better than 1970 team of Pele. I would request everybody to see the game played by team of 1982. It was simply poetry in motion. See this video , to understand the magic of 1982

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZxvYy5-ekI ( see Socrates in the 4.00 seconds to 4.10 seconds)

Socrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira was born on February 19, 1954, in the Amazonian city of Belem do Para, Brazil. His upbringing was more privileged than that of many Brazilian professional soccer players, who often rise from abject poverty. His father enjoyed reading Greek literature and named the boy after the philosopher. “Just to show that there could be no confusion he insisted on adding Brasileiro (Brazilian),” the footballer recalled later.

Emerging in the 1970s as a promising young player in Ribeirao Preto, in the interior of Sao Paulo State, he studied medicine while playing for provincial teams before attaining his medical degree at age 24. After that, he moved up to Corinthians, the famous Sao Paulo club with a big following among Brazil’s poor. I am also a fan of Corinthians and have an original jersey of that club.

When Socrates was a child his family moved to Ribeirao Preto in the state of Sao Paulo, where in 1974 he eventually joined the local club, Botafogo (Garrincha also played for this club). As if to underscore his unusually casual attitude to the game that dominates so many lives in Brazil, he refused to commit himself full-time to the club until he had completed his degree in Medicine at the local university. Such was his talent, however, that Botafogo allowed him to skip training sessions to finish his studies, and soon he became both a qualified doctor and the team’s star player, notching up 24 goals in 57 appearances.

By 1978 he had turned professional and joined Corinthians, the club in Sao Paulo which – along with Rio de Janeiro’s Flamengo – dominates football in Brazil. At the time the country was ruled by a military dictatorship, and Corinthians had a reputation as a centre of democratic opposition, acquiring influence and significance that stretched well beyond the pitch. This manifested itself in the movement known as Democracia Corinthiana, in which the club’s directors, staff and players all had a vote to settle any decision of significance.It was an obviously political organisation, and Socrates (a self-confessed idealist who named one of his six children Fidel) was at its heart. He played for Corinthians for six years, until 1984, making 297 appearances and scoring 172 goals during a spell in which the club was champions three times.

With his long, flowing locks, headband and wispy beard, backed up by outrageous skill on the ball, Socrates was an embodiment of rebel . But his rebelliousness also took a toll on his health, and he demonstrated as significant a commitment to beer and cigarettes as he did to his political ideals.

It is a testament to his physical power that such indulgence had no discernible impact on his performances on the pitch. He started playing for the national team in 1979, making his debut in a 6-0 win against Paraguay, and by 1982 was captain of a group of players considered as worthy of pulling on the golden shirt as the constellation of stars which had gathered around Pele in 1970.

It was a devil-may-care attitude that almost saw the side lose its first game, against the USSR. After going behind in the first half, however, Brazil came back to win the game with two of the goals of the tournament. With 15 minutes remaining, Socrates collected a Soviet clearance 40 yards from goal. Skipping over one potentially leg-breaking challenge, he feinted past another defender before unleashing a right-footed shot from 25 yards into the top left-hand corner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2Aecr7gPSk

Then, with two minutes of the game remaining, Eder flicked up a cross field pass and volleyed the ball into the net from a similar distance; in neither case did the Soviet keeper move.It was a win which established the Brazilian players’ credentials as the showmen of the competition.

Some players, like Falcao, were devastated not to have gone on and won the competition. But, outwardly at least, Socrates was unconcerned. “At least we lost fighting for our ideals,” he noted. “And you can compare that to society today. We have lost touch with humanity, people are driven by results. They used to go to football to see a spectacle. Now, with very few exceptions, they go to watch a war and what matters is who wins. That is why I value the squad for this World Cup – it might just be a team with ideals.”

Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, an outspoken fan of Corinthians, the club where Socrates thrived in the 1980s praised Socrates in a statement on Sunday. “Dr. Socrates was a star on the field and a great friend,..he was an example of citizenship, intelligence and political consciousness......Socrates' generous contribution to Corinthians, to football and to the Brazilian society will never be forgotten,"

Socrates seemed like a player from another era," former Italy forward Paolo Rossi told the ANSA news agency. "You couldn't place him in any category - on the pitch and even more so off it. Everyone knew about his degree in medicine and he had a lot of cultural and social interests as well. He was unique from every point of view."

On the field, Socrates was known as a wily strategist who could elegantly employ his signature move, a back-heel pass.Socrates was included in FIFA's list of the best 125 living soccer players in the world, a list compiled by countryman Pele

Socrates, born February 19 1954, died December 4 2011.

According to me, only person who can remotely match versatility of Socrates is Rick Charlesworth of Australia. There won't be another Socrates for sure.

source:

wiki,http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/sport-obituaries/8934498/Socrates.html,

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111205/jsp/sports/story_14840389.jsp,

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/12/04/2825642/former-brazil-captain-socrates.html,

http://www.heraldonline.com/2011/12/04/3572797/former-brazil-captain-socrates.html

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2011/12/04/sp-socrates-obit.html

TETE A TETE WITH Ronald Machado - (friend of Garrincha)

Sourabh Datta Gupta

 During the world cup 2002 I had the opportunity to watch the world cup with the ambassador of Brazil in India, Ms Vera Berrouin Machado.

She had invited me to see the matches in the embassy, after I wrote a letter to them.







There was real carnival when Brazil won the world cup, right in the embassy, pastires were brought from Oberoi hotels and we learnt Samba dance, while juggling the football .



We got some flag of Brazil, which i preserved even today in 2012.







I had the opportunity to meet her husband Ronald Machado and interview this immensely lovable and down to earth person. His father, Alcino Machado, was Director, Finance of Brazil’s one of the most famous clubs Botafogo, the club for which Garrincha used to play. As a result he was a personal friend of Didi (voted the best the best player of 1958 world cup by the press), Garrincha ,one of the greatest right out ever, Pele, Tostao, Leonardo ,Socrates, Zico, Joao Saldanha etc to name a few. He has in fact played with Didi, Garrincha . A civil engineer by profession ,he is an encyclopedia and authority on Brazilian football. He has seen almost all the matches Pele played in Maracana stadium The interview was taken in two days. On the first day he had an appointment in the Cuban embassy at 5 pm. The interview started at 4pm and ultimately (abruptly!!) ended at 7.40 pm, when somebody reminded him that it is very late for the party. He gave me some rare cassettes of Garrincha !

My picture came in Indian Express during the world cup and also the picture of Ronald Machado !

 My name also appeared in the Indian Express.
















SDG: When did you play for Botafogo?

RM : Till 1960 I have played for Botafogo in the junior team. But I chose civil engineering as my profession after that.

SDG :Tell me about the footballers you have played with?

RM :Garrincha, Didi, Kaka, Vava etc.

SDG :Tell me about your experience with Didi, Garrincha, Pele?

RM :Every Sunday we used to play. Didi, Garrincha used to come there to play with us.

Didi was a very good friend of mine. Didi’s capability to score from free kick was quite exceptional. He used to hit the ball on the valve. There was a Goalkeeper, Pompeia, from America(a team in Brazil).He was very confident. He used to say I don’t need a wall to save goal. Before the match, Didi told me “look Ronald if I get the free kick in front of the goal I am going to score the goal.” As luck would have it he got a free kick in front of the goal. Didi used to hit the ball on the valve. As a result the velocity of the ball used to change .He invented this technique. He applied the same technique while shooting the ball. The ball changed velocity just in front of him, and fell like folha sica ( like dry leaf) and went inside the ball between Pompeia’s two legs.(he was very excited to explain the point. In fact he got up and shown it to me how it went inside) He was so embarrassed.

Garrincha was a very pure guy, very, very simple person. He was never a PR man like Pele He was born in a very poor family in Rio. His father worked in fabrice (factory),built by the English. Garrincha also worked in the factory when he was 15-18.But he was basically paid salary to play for the fabrice football team. The fabrice sponsored the football team . However his alcohol problem was always there, long before he left the game(which many people does not know) .He had a minor problem with his leg ( bow shaped). As a result he used to stand like a crippled person(he got up and shown it to me).So when he was 18, he first went to the Vasco Da Gama club , for the trial, coach did not allow him to play even in the trial match!!!!!!. When the coach saw him he said “you are out”.

Eventually when he was 20(57’-58’) went to Botafogo for trial. On that day, Friday, I was present in the stadium, since I was a regular visitor in the club. So I saw it in my own eyes. In the trial in the opponent team was Nilton Santos, one of the greatest ever defenders. The first ball Garrincha got dribbled Nilton Santos with a faint, as though he is a novice. Nilton Santos looked at him in disdain . The next ball he got again dribbled him in the similar fashion and made the perfect centre from which the striker scored the first goal. Then Nilton Santos immediately stopped game and told the management that make contract with him immediately. In those days there was hardly anybody who dared to disagree with Nilton Santos.

Another incident I distinctly remember about Garrincha. It was in 1963.By that time Garrincha was a household name all over the world (since 1962 world cup was called Garrincha’s world cup) .We were driving towards Petro Polis, which was 70 Km from Rio de Janeiro, for a soccer match. Suddenly we saw Garrincha driving Volkswagen, he was going towards Paulo Grande. When he saw me he said “Hi Ronald”. We requested him to go along with us and play the match. He went with us and played for 15-20 minutes. Of course everybody said it is not fair that Garrincha is in your team! He was very simple. It was not for him to “show”.

SDG :Who do you think is better player Pele or Maradona?

RM :I have seen almost all the matches Pele has played in Maracana stadium. I have seen Pele making one or two small mistakes. But I never seen him playing badly. On the basis of what I have seen I can tell you Pele was better player. Pele used to dribble in high speed. Pele played somewhat like Ronaldo. We have hardly seen any of the matches of Pele. In those days telecasting of most of the matches were not done. It is difficult to know today what he had done match after match. But Maradona’s passing was probably better.

SDG :What is your opinion about Puskas?

RM : He was a very intelligent player, methodical player. But South American skill was more refined. Our skill was more natural, more spontaneous. In Europe tactics was more important. There was a Hungarian team called Hovard. It was a very good team .Nobody wanted to play against Hovard. In fact FIFA banned the team to go out of the country, during the communist regime. Hovard played two matches against Botafogo and Flamengo.

SDG :Which Brazilian team do you think is the best?

RM : The Brazilian team of 1970 was the best. Although they appear to be bit slow in today’s standard. But they would have changed their game accordingly. In those days players played for fun. Today it is not so. In those days to put a Co name in one’s jersey tantamount to blasphemy.

SDG: Have you seen Indian football?

RM :Yes

SDG: what do you think is the reason why India is so lagging behind in football? What are the remedies?

RM :There is no sponsor for football. Moreover it is not a profession in India. In Brazil footballers practice 8 hrs a day. After the morning practice they take rest in the club, take their food. Again they start doing physical exercise, hone their skills etc. There is accommodation facility in the club. They need not commute from their home daily. A club should have a team of Doctor, Physio, Massager and properly trained coach. Each constituent of the team is important. Coach cannot play the role of all of them. The type of exercise that is required to be done by a forward is different from the one that is done by a defender. There is a social security system for all players playing for different clubs.

SDG :What is the lifestyle of ordinary footballers from lesser known clubs? Do they lead a miserable life, like footballers from small clubs India ?

RM :Brazil has got 25 states. Almost all states have their clubs and championships. So even if they can’t play for big clubs in Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, there are opportunities in other states. Moreover big Companies also recruit good footballers .And Brazilian footballers are much in demand outside Brazil also.

SDG : Tell me something about Brazilians schools, education and attitude of parents towards their ward taking football as their profession?

RM: In Brazil public schools are very expensive, although there are many categories. But public schools are free. So poor people mostly study in public schools. But medium of education and course is same everywhere: that is Portuguese, unlike a country like India .These days education is given even to remote places through TV . English is studied for 1 yr only.

At the university level, there are Pvt universities, State universities, Federal universities.

In Brazilian education system Physical education is very important. If you do not pass physical education you can’t pass. To pass you have to pass in physical education ,just like passing ,say, Mathematics. The Brazilians parents are very open to their ward choosing sports as their career

SDG: In Brazil is there any football academy like that of Germany, where kids in the age group of 5-12 are being trained?

RM : Previously only clubs used to have academies. Now there are two types academies : run by club(free) and pvt academies, run by Zico, Junior, Socrates, Leonardo. The consent of the parents is required before joining the academy. Normally the cut off age is 9-10 years. But contract is possible only after the age of 18.After that contract one cannot go to any club without the consent of the academy.

SDG: Which part of brazil has contributed maximum no players?

RM :After Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro ,it is Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Porto Alegre (e.g. Ronaldinho),Salvador(e.g. Rivaldo)

SDG: Is it the favelas (sort of slum in Brazil) which has produced most of the big players?

RM :Not necessarily. They are in the hills surrounding the great cities. The condition of favelas is not as bad as it made out to be. They have all the facilities like electricity, fridge, TV etc. It is also true that normally bandits live in these favelas. The best banks has its presence in favelas. They do repays the loans. Unlike India the lands are registered. So they pay Municipal Taxes.

SDG: Tell me about the famous 4 th goal of Carlos Alberto in 1970 World cup final, where Pele passed the ball to Alberto without even seeing him? People used to say that Pele has an eye at the back of his head, with which he can see the whole field?

RM :Do you how he has given that pass? Pele’s Peripheral vision was exceptional. Dr Hilton Gosling, Botafogo Doctor , tested the peripheral vision of all the players. He found that peripheral of Pele is 109 degree!!!!!

SDG: Which is according to you the best team you have seen?

RM :With players like Pele, Zito, Mauro, Pepe, Coutinho Santos team, in 1960s,without any doubt.

SDG: Which is according you is the best World XII?

RM :Lev Yashin , Nilton Santos, Facheti, Baresi, Jalma Santos ,Beckenbauer, Rivelino, Pele, Maradona, Cryuff.

SDG :Who according to you is the best coach you have seen?

RM :Zagallo. He was very intelligent. He played for Botafogo. He in fact invented 4-3-3 system . Zito was in the midfield. He played in the left out, but in little withdrawal position. So he opened the space (in absence of 4 th player in the upfront in 4-2-4 system) and drew the opponent player.

SDG: Is football losing popularity to other sports in brazil?

RM :No. But in Brazil beach volleyball is very popular. Brazil has been twice Olympic champion as well as World cup champion. Apart from that motor racing and tennis is also popular.

SDG : Tell me something about Brazilians schools, education and attitude of parents towards their ward taking football as their profession?

RM: In Brazil public schools are very expensive, although there are many categories. But public schools are free. So poor people mostly study in public schools. But medium of education and course is same everywhere: that is Portuguese, unlike a country like India .These days education is given even to remote places through TV . English is studied for 1 yr only.

At the university level, there are Pvt universities, State universities, Federal universities.

In Brazilian education system Physical education is very important. If you do not pass physical education you can’t pass. To pass you have to pass in physical education ,just like passing ,say, Mathematics. The Brazilians parents are very open to their ward choosing sports as their career

SDG: Is it not paradoxical that brazil is a poor country but still it produced so many formula I,II etc champions?

RM :Statistics often give wrong figures. Brazil has a big middle class. Even many people staying in favelas have got cars. Before working one has to sign work book. Statistics are based on this work book. There are many people who are staying favelas who does not sign the work book, so the statistics never the real picture.

However interior of Brazil is different. People over there are really poor. But again a miniscule percentage of population stay in the interiors. The capital of Brazil ,Brasilia, in the interior of Brazil was built to ease the population density around the costal areas and also for even development of parts of Brazil.

SDG: Is it true that people move out of Brasilia during weekends?

RM : Previously People(govt servants) used to go to Rio and adjoining areas from Brasilia by plain during week ends due to lack of entertainment .Now it is different. Now there very many supermarkets and lot of entertainments. Now people no longer go to other places for entertainment. We were in Brazil from 1980-87,but we have hardly gone to Rio from Brasilia.

SDG: What is the perception of India among the common Brazilians?

RM :India as such is not well known in Brazil. But some people come to India for Sai Baba, Rajneesh. They are very popular among the mystic population .In fact I came to India first in 1970.We were invited by Sarabhai (in Mumbai).In fact I gave a big speech on India in Rio de Janeiro. People were spellbound during my lecture. They used to say ,Oh India!!! We have to visit India! In fact there are beers named Brahma and Krishna in Brazil!

SDG: Which part of India have you visited ? Is there any place which you have really liked?

RM :I have visited Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore , Agra, Jaipurs, Kochi, Bhubaneswar. But I really liked Mumbai. It is somewhat like Brazil. However life in Delhi is very easy.

SDG: What are the things you really disliked in India?

RM :Nothing ,as such, apart from the traffic and corruption. But I must say one thing. The way the foreign tourists are being treated in India is really unpardonable. India Govt charge $20 from Indian tourist whereas it is only Rs 20 from Indian tourist i.e. they are charging 50 times more from a foreign tourist. Once I went to Bhubaneswar with my wife(ambassador) to see a temple. It is a simple temple. It took only 10 minutes to see the temple. There were no plates /signboards explaining the history ,architecture describing the temple. They charged Rs 250/- per head from us. But from an Indian tourist they charged only Rs 1/- per head !!!! We were really disgusted. You have to understand one thing that most of the tourists are not millionaire .The other day we went to see the Humayun Tomb, Qutub Minar, there is no clean bathroom, guides are charging exorbitantly. If you want to buy a book , to know the history it is not there. If you want to buy a T shirt it is not available. There is no restaurant. You don’t know how to sell. If you go to a distance of 250 Km(e.g. Jim Corbett Park) it will take 5.5 hrs to reach there, because roads are in terrible shape.. If you go to any tourist place in West all these are available. Moreover hotel tariffs are exorbitant. Just beside our Embassy there is Taj Mahal hotel, which is 5 star hotel. A room costs $ 250.Since we are regularly putting up our guests over there we have a special deal of $150.Most of the time there is occupancy of 30%. Although India has a fascinating history you have not been able to market your country, which is shown in the occupancy rates. Few years back we went to Bangkok, Cambodia. We stayed in a beautiful hotel in the middle of a lake, near Ankor Wat, for $60 with free breakfast and dinner!!

Similarly I fail to understand the Govt policy. All the Taxis in Brazil were asked to convert into CNG ,but not by force ,unlike what happened in Delhi. Now the taxi drivers in Delhi are having sleepless nights because of the long queue in front of gas station. You enforce a law and now suddenly realize that there is not enough gas stations. In Brazil it was not made compulsory. Just because it was cheap everybody voluntarily converted it into CNG. Then car owners were asked to convert .So the process was gradual.

Of course I do not like cricket!! A game should be maximum 2 hrs. This game was brought to India by Britishers, since they did not have much work to do in India. After few hours ,you take lunch. In between there is drinks. Then you go for a short nap in the name of tea and again come back for further few hours of the game. Do you call it a game? I said this to my good friend Abbas Ali Baig. He told me to comment on the game you have to understand the game. I told him I know the rules of cricket, but I really do not understand the game .

SDG: What are the things you like?

RM : I really like Indian classical music, Indian history. Shobha Narayan and Sonal Man Singh are our personal friends.

Bengali's fanatical love for Football

Sonar Bangla to South Africa - by Jaideep Mazumdar

There are football fans. And there are Bengal’s football fans. If you still need to know which of the two stretches the word ‘passion’ into extra time, you need an education... Pradip Dey, Chaitali Chatterjee, Pannalal Chatterjee and Pankaj Ghosh are going to watch World Cup Football 2010 in South Africa.

Hadn’t it been for football, they’d have perhaps never even dreamt of stepping out of India. But such is their craze for the sport, the Fifa World Cup to be specific, that they scrimp and save for four years to fly to distant shores and watch soccer’s mega event. About a hundred soccer enthusiasts from India go to watch the World Cup. The largest group is from Kolkata, and most are of modest means. Some run up huge debts, many take loans, and almost everyone has a ‘World Cup fund’ that they put a portion of their earnings in, because they just live to go to the next World Cup.

Pankaj Ghosh coaches the state junior football team and earns just a few thousand rupees a month. The 58-year-old has gone to the last four Cups and is flying to South Africa later this month. He puts aside more than half his monthly earnings in his ‘Cup fund’. But even that isn’t enough. “I’ve already taken a loan of Rs 73,000 from a bank and have applied for another loan. I can’t live without going to the World Cup,” he says.

Ghosh ascribes it all to his “mental strength and courage”. He went to the Beijing Olympics after taking a loan of Rs 1.8 lakh that he has just finished repaying. His trip to South Africa—he’ll watch seven matches, including the semi-finals and the final—will cost him nearly Rs 3.2 lakh. Apart from his ‘Cup fund’, Ghosh has no savings: “The only future I think of is the next World Cup.”

Pradip Kumar Dey, 47, a petty businessman, makes a few thousand a month from the small businesses he runs with friends and associates. “But I have always saved as much as I can,” he says. “Before the last Cup, a football administrator of Kolkata I knew asked me if I would like to go watch the matches in Germany. He told me it’d cost me about Rs 2 lakh. I rushed home, took out my bank passbook, and saw I could manage it. I had never even dreamt that I would travel by air!” On landing in Germany, though, he discovered he had been cheated by the agency that was to get match tickets. “I returned without watching a single match.” But that acute dismay could not keep him from planning for South Africa this time. He got in touch with Leisure Sports Management, the company that has been taking Kolkatans to international sporting events for decades now. Over the past four years, he has saved Rs 100 everyday for the Cup. He’s also taken a loan. “I’ll work even harder when I return to pay off this loan and start saving for the 2014 World Cup.”

Of all the World Cup travellers in Kolkata, the most well known perhaps is Pannalal Chatterjee, 77, and his wife Chaitali, 67. The couple has been going to all the World Cups since Spain in 1982. “I played football for many clubs. My wife has also been a football fan since childhood. My soccer guru told me in 1980 that if I really wanted to see good football, I should go to the World Cup. Ever since then, my wife and I have been going to all World Cups,” says Pannalal. “We live on my pension and save the rent we receive from our tenants for the Cup,” says Chaitali.

They save whichever way they can, says Pannalal: “I’m a founder member of the Sikkim Football Association and get air fare to go to Gangtok a few times a year. I go by sleeper class in train and save the money for the Cup.” This time, the couple will watch five matches. Rajat Saha, a decorator, tells Open that being a businessman, he can hardly save. “I do try to save for funding my World Cup journeys, but I use it all up for my business. And every time, there’s a last minute scramble for funds before the World Cup. I’m taking a loan this time too,” says the 43-year-old, who has been going since 1994. Prasenjit Banerjee, a paediatrician, has a separate bank account into which he puts money every week. “I was born into a very poor family and I could never dream that one day, I’d be watching World Cup.”

They cut a lot of corners too. “We always put up at guest houses with kitchen facilities where we cook. We go in a group to save costs,” says Banerjee. Many take dry food like puffed and flattened rice, biscuits, tea bags and other foodstuff. “We usually gorge on breakfast, which is complimentary, and make do with inexpensive snacks or the foodstuff we take from home,” says Kansari Kayal, a small-time businessman who’s looking forward to his fourth World Cup. “I mostly have just a meal a day. I don’t need to eat, football fills my appetite,” says Pankaj Ghosh.

But even all the savings and cutting corners would not have taken these enthusiasts to the World Cups had it not been for the Kolkata-based Leisure Sports Management. This travel house takes groups from all parts of India to international sporting events. “But it’s only in Kolkata that we find such enthusiasts. People who don’t have the means of travelling even outside Bengal approach us. We have to help them in whatever way we can,” says Leisure Sports Management’s executive director Soumen Sinha Roy.

And, of course, the entire Kolkata contingent are die-hard fans of Brazil.

{http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/sports/sonar-bangla-to-south-africa}

Couple ready to score 9th World Cup goal

Sumati Yengkhom,TNN | Mar 12, 2014, 05.30 AM IST

KOLKATA: They haven't missed going to a football World Cup since 1982 and now in their twilight years, they are as keen as ever to make it to Brazil. Even if it means going without fish for months - or maybe even going to bed on a half-empty stomach.

Meet Pannalal (81) and Chaitali Chatterjee (70) of Kidderpore. They have already been to eight World Cups and are preparing for their ninth date with it in Brazil this June.

Achieving their World Cup dreams does not come easy for the Chatterjees. With their middle-class means, the couple has to save hard for their tour in the four years between two World Cups. As a retired clerk of Kolkata Port Trust, Pannalal gets a monthly pension of Rs 7,500 (1 Dollar is  Rs 60 on 1.5.14. approx). Wife Chaitali is a homemaker. The couple has no children.

"Come what may, we have to be there even if it means having to go without fish for months and spending the least on our food. We have to save for each World Cup," smiled Chaitali.

The couple's tryst with World Cup began in 1982 in Spain. Having played at the club level, passion for the game came naturally to Pannalal. Chaitali, too, grew up in a family of Mohun Bagan supporters. So when the two married, football was a binding force.

Despite having osteoarthritis, Chaitali manages the house mostly on her own to save the money that'd be spent on domestic helps. She also sells saris in her spare time. Pannalal, who also renders voluntary service to Sikkim Football Association, also saves on his own.

"I am often engaged to organize football tournaments in Sikkim. Though I am allotted airfare to travel between Kolkata and Bagdogra, I travel by train in sleeper class to save the rest," said Pannalal, who is also member of the All India Football Federation's technical committee.

Impressed by the couple's passion for football, organizations like Club Seven help them with subsidized air tickets to be paid in instalments. Leather Sports Management has sponsored their match ticket for the quarter finals. After appealing to FIFA, the organization also agreed to allot them free accommodation in Brazil. The trip would cost about Rs 5 lakh for the couple and they are hopeful of being able to raise the amount before leaving for the tour.

"On our previous tours, we'd share a plate of food to cut down on expenses. This time, if we cannot arrange enough funds, we will carry muri, chire and other foodstuff. But come what may, we have to be there at the Mecca of football. Who knows if we'll even live till the next World Cup," said Chaitali.

Whenever the couple feels helpless about funds, they talk to each other about witnessing the 'hand of God' goal by Maradona in 1986 and meeting Pele after the match. Or, they run their eyes over treasures like pictures clicked with Pele and Maradona.

So, who supports which team? "Like any other couple, we also have our share of arguments. But when it comes to football, our opinions always match. This time, both of us will be cheering for Brazil," said Pannalal.

PS: I am taking this couple to Brazil in 2014 !

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Football and me

My love for football is legendary.

I can talk about soccer with anybody, anywhere and any time. I have some amazing collection of CDs. Anybody interested can contact me.

One of the most interesting one, was given by husband of Brazilian ambassador - CD of Garrincha. When I was in Delhi I was invited by Brazilian ambassador(because of my passionate letter to her) to watch the world cup matches in the embassy!! My name and picture was published in Indian express.

my letter published in outlook magazine :
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?205791