Comedy of errors
The local organising committee of the FIFA U-17 World Cup and the Union Sports Ministry had decided that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would felicitate 12 Indian football legends. A commendable idea but for a major misunderstanding during the felicitation ceremony. The name of Bhaskar Ganguly—goalkeeper and captain of the Indian football team in 1982 Asian Games—was announced but it was Magan Singh whom Modi felicitated. AIFF president Praful Patel was by the prime minister's side but neither he nor anyone from the local organising committee corrected the error. Ganguly had come all the way to Delhi especially for the felicitation ceremony.
VVIP headaches
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's impending arrival ahead of host India's first World Cup match at the FIFA Under 17 World Cup had its usual downsides. The biggest issue, as always, when a VVIP comes for any match in New Delhi is security. The general public, wary of restrictions on travel and basic amenities like food and water inside the stadium, tend to stay away. This is precisely what happened on day 1 of the football extravaganza hosted by India. School kids who came from faraway towns in Haryana like Sonipat and Bahadurgarh were desperate for water and food. When their lunch packs were finally allowed in after security approval, a mini riot ensued at the food counters. Teachers looked worried and hassled as it would be late by the time the kids returned home. "What's the use of coming here when the arrangements are so bad," lamented a schoolteacher.
No place for Delhi kids
School kids were present in large numbers amongst the 15,000-odd motley crowd present to witness first day's matches at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The capacity of the stadium is 50,000. The crowd increased somewhat ahead of India's match against the United States at 8pm but rows of empty seats were a glaring reality. Interestingly, the school kids who came to the stadium were mostly from outside Delhi. Sources revealed that the Union government, which had reportedly bought a bulk of tickets in Delhi to distribute later as complimentaries, had given a huge number of them to Haryana on the state Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's request.
What was more glaring was the absence of Delhi school kids and college students. Reportedly, tickets were to be distributed to some state government schools but the Centre blocked it at the last moment. Was it because Delhi is ruled by the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government?
