Maradona ...My Father's Hero

 

  The  year was 1990, our television was black & white, the newspapers were black & white, then how do I know Cameron was wearing green & red  and Argentina was wearing blue & white ?

 

My first memory of watching a football match live on TV was the opening match of 1990 World Cup between underdog Cameroon and defending champion Argentina. We remember waiting for our uncle to finish watching his favourite 8.30pm news bulletin on DD. Permission to bring his TV to our bed room was already granted in the morning. Before our uncle and aunty went to sleep, we brought the TV to our room. My elder sister carried the portable TV carefully and I followed her  holding the miniature flexible antenna attached to the set. We placed it carefully on my study table, keeping aside all my books below.

 

We were part of a huge joint family and my father’s eldest brother ( Moina Borta)  used to have a television in his room. The only way to watch the matches was to bring the TV to our room, before uncle goes to sleep, watch the match during the night and re installed the TV back in the morning on time for the 7.30 am local bulletin.

 

We probably could not adjust the antenna in the perfect angle, there were those white milky spots, but it was comfortable  for us. Both the team took to the ground. My father a big football fan and a former player himself shouted in excitement    “Look Look , Maradona  Maradona, the 10 nos ”. Maradona took the ball, did some amazing juggling with his head, chest and legs and handed it over to the referee. The crowed seemed to go mad at every action of Maradona . The game begun amidst the thundering sounds of spectators. Atmosphere, both on the ground as well as in our bedroom was enchanting.   Maradona tried his best to recreate his old magic but the Cameroon defender were in no mood to give him any space. Every time Maradona fell into the ground…..there was Aaaaaaaaaaaa, Issssssssss, Wooooooooo.

 

 When  Maradona is in action, It does not make any difference, the TV is colour or black & white !  

 

My father was not very happy with the aggressive playing style adopted by Cameron players to check Maradona.  We could see the pain in his face every time his favourite star  was pushed aside or foul kicked. That night we became a permanent fan of Argentina. Two red card shown and Cameroon were down to 9 players. My sister was ready with a pen and paper, noting down the name of the players shown red cards. At the end of every match the anchor of the show used to ask interesting question related to the matches and my sister would answer those question through a post card of 25 paisa. There were lots of prizes announced. The competition was tough without Google and mobile, but we succeeded in answering most of them. Prizes never reached our home, but we were happy to have answered them correct.

 

That day the final score was Cameroon 1, Argentina 0. We became sad. But with more matches remaining our hope was alive. After the much hyped first match lost to Cameroon, Argentina team restructured themselves and somehow managed to reach the knockout stage. I don’t remember much of the remaining matches as I usually fall asleep by the time matches starts.

 

During the world cup, I used to listen to our elders discussing name of Roger Milla, Rudi Voller, Canniggia, Klinsman, Ruid Gullit, Schillaci, Lotthar Matthaus and many more as the best players of the world. I used to memorise those names and proudly lecture in front of my school friends, as if I am a great football fan. Finally, Argentina was in the finals, I slept in the afternoon to watch the complete final match at night. I wanted to catch all the excitement and discuss it with my school friends the next day. The world champion and God of football, lost to West Germany in the finals. We became sad again.

 

Two days later at school, our mathematics teacher asked us what was the colour of Argentina’s jersey?. All my friends looked up to me for the answer. My limited borrowed football knowledge was exposed.

 

During the tiffin break my friends made fun of me. I defended myself by saying “how would I know Argentina was wearing blue & white, when I watched the world cup on a black & white television”  

 

 

After that embarrassing incident, I started following sports seriously. I was astonished to know that Maradona was loved and admired by people beyond the boundaries of Argentina. Later my father told  me that  for  sportsmen   there are  no boundaries  nor  do sportsmen have any enemy , they  only have opponents. No matter which language you speak or what race you belong to, sports always bind us together through a common universal passion.

 

I found comfort in sports and so choose sports over everything. Today, I am happy to have made the right decision. Through sports I have learned that losing and winning are not permanent, they are just temporary phases in life. The only permanent thing is the sportsmen spirit   which has always helped me to appreciate life in the right perspective.

 

Abhijit Bhattacharya

Tezpur