On my way to Malappuram, I saw this wonderful set of banners, ten of them in a junction. This was the first time I saw such a long banner series, later heard from some kids that some where in Malappuram there is a series of 32 banners, a banner each for all World cup football finalists!
There were banners for Brazil, Argentina, Holland, Italy, North Korea, France, England, Portugal, Spain and Germany.
So as usual I started taking pictures of the banners, by the time some students of a nearby high school gathered and were watching curiously. So I started my usual chat with the kids about the World Cup celebration. One guy almost screamed in excitement and said that Brazil beat Argentina 4-3. I was bit confused. Because the World Cup group stages was yet to get over and how come Brazil win against Argentina? Then the details started coming in.
The match was a locally organized one for the fans of Brazil and Argentina. These types of matches are a usual occurrence during World cup season in these parts.Players wear various nations’ jerseys and play exhibition matches. So MP Sakeer, who captained Viva Kerala in the 2009-10 season was the captain of the Brazil team and Asif Zahir, the ex-Kerala and State Bank of Travancore (SBT) player captained Argentina. The match was very thrilling it seems. Around 500 people came for the match.
A local club called the Legends Club at Makkaraparamba organized the game.
The members of the Legends Club with their favourite team's flags!
And the winner gets the Cup, though not the original one, but a replica, this cup was carved in cement by a person named Sukumaran. Later at Araecode, I had an acquaintance with Sukumaran, but that's a different story!
The victorious Brazilian team with the World Cup! Believe me this will happen only in Kerala, that too in Malabar!
To be continued....
Sandeep Varma writes for FootballKerala.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Saturday 3 July 2010, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.