Lionel Messi retired from
international football at the remarkably tender age of 29. For the last few
days, newspapers and social media alike are eulogizing the farewell of this
Argentine star, who commands a sizeable chunk of fans in Kerala. This is not
surprising, since its society is generally left-leaning and this has prompted a
few politicians to associate Messi and fellow Argentines with Che Guvera and
the failed communist revolts in Latin America. When their hopes were pitiably
dashed in Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, they adopted the martyred Che as
their messiah!
How the Keralites became so fond of
Argentina and Brazil in world football? One obvious reason is that the home
country, India, is a nobody in football. Our obsession with cricket has
relegated all other games to the background. Watching a game, any game for that
matter, without a favourite to cheer on is boring for spectators. But why
Argentina? The origin of this worship goes back to 1986 and the Mexico World
Cup, where Argentina snatched the cup riding on the mesmerizing performance of
a short-statured genius – Diego Armando Maradona. The Mexico games were the
first World Cup football tournament ever to show live on TV in Kerala. After
all, TV came to the state only in 1982, in the run up to Asian Games held at
New Delhi that year. Many people, including teen-aged myself, saw firsthand on
TV the heroic action we had earlier read only as narratives in newspaper
reports. That fascination we Keralites had felt for the Argentine team has not
still worn off, even though we see the next generation glued to TV now.
But what about Messi? Did he make such
a sacrifice in retiring from international football? The answer is a resounding
‘No’. He will continue to play in club football in Europe, which is raining money
on to his pockets. And football is essentially a club game! International games
are so scheduled as not to clash with club fixtures. They are generally held in
the months of June and July, which is the vacation period of European clubs.
According to FIFA’s rules, if you are selected by the national team, you have
to play anyway – with only a fraction of the remuneration you used to collect
from clubs – and that too, at a time when you are to be resting and relaxing
for the next club season. This is the real reason behind the ‘poor form’ of
many star players who were consistently performing spectacularly in club
football till a few weeks before. So, what this means is that Messi want to
concentrate only in making money from now onward, and he is not to be pestered
with demands from the national team. I think Brazil’s Neymar would soon follow
him.
