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The iconic Salt Lake stadium turned into an utter chaos on Saturday the moment Lionel Messi, along with his Inter Miami teammates Luis Suarez and Rodrigo de Paul left the venue, leaving fans questioning the themselves what they have paid thousands of rupees for.
In what was expected to be a ‘dream come true moment’ for more than 70000-strong crowd, Messi stayed at the ground for 25-odd minutes before being whisked away due to security reasons just before the 12 PM mark.
The Inter Miami trio entered the field with promoter Satadru Dutta and sports minister Aroop Biswas (who belongs to ruling party Trinamool Congress) at around 11:35 PM. In events like this, the less number of people, the more it is better for the fans to witness their icon.
Selfie cameras comes out instead of security
But what Kolkata witnessed on Saturday, was the VVIP culture that thronged the field of play at a time when they were not to be present there. Besides the Z-plus security for Messi and Biswas, a bunch of extra security personnel from the state government were also deployed to protect the footballers.
Till that time it was okay, but when these security personnel and the minister himself turn into selfie hunters, things turn worse at that time. In multiple videos that are available on social media, Biswas was caught asking his photographers to click pictures with Messi.
In one video, Biswas called one of his accomplices to be photographed with Messi. In fact, one of the security personnel from the state government, who were deployed to protect the football icon grabbed De Paul's shoulder for a selfie, the video of which went viral on social media.
Although Messi initially obliged, but the frequency of the photographs irked the Argentine later on as the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner was heard saying, “What is happening?”, first reported by Livemint. Although Satadru shouted on the mic to vacate the ground, but to no avail.
What organisers could have done better?
Events like these are always fan-centric as they come to the ground by spending thousands of hard-earned money. Instead of tossing Messi, Suarez and De Paul from here and there on the ground, a celebratory lap around the stadium in a open jeep would have been the piece of history what the fans all wanted.
The promotional activities could have followed thereafter. A similar crowd had welcomed legendary Argentine Diego Maradona in 2008 at the same Salt Lake stadium with a much better management. The last time Messi visited this venue in 2011, things were certainly in control.
It must be noted that the organisers did their best to convince Team Messi to stay on the ground, but it was visiting contingent, that didn't want to take the risk. Reportedly, Sourav Ganguly, who was also present at the stadium, tried to convince the Messi entourage too.
The real fans were defeated by those in power.
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