The untimely death of football great Diego Maradona on Wednesday has sent shockwaves around the whole world. One of the sports’ brightest children, Maradona was loved by all for his footballing achievements and the good deeds he did on the field.
The Argentinean visited the City of Joy twice – the first time in 2008 and the latest I 2017 when he came at the Aditya Academy in Barasat. Recalling Maradona’s visit three years back, Aditya Group chairman Anirban Aditya took us back to the time about how they brought Maradona in Kolkata for the second time.
“Firstly, this is very shocking news for every one of us, a few days back also we had a chat with Diego Maradona’s manager so he replied on their language but we translated it and understood that ‘he is unwell but don’t worry he will be fine’,” Anirban told Sportslight Media in an exclusive interaction.
“But yesterday’s news was very shocking. He couldn’t even reach to the hospital. He demised in a tragic way in his house. Before I speak about the incident when he came to Kolkata, I have to share about a few backstories. We went to Dubai, at that time Diego was with a club in Dubai as a manager, I couldn’t remember the exact name of the club but after that, we went to his house at night and when we reached to his pavilion he couldn’t able to meet with us as he was not well.
“Diego just said that, ‘yes I will surely come to Kolkata but the date might get change’. So we have to change the date numerous times due to his sickness. Then, when finally we able to present him in Aditya School of Sports Stadium, we finished the whole construction of the stadium in four months just because Maradona will come.
“After the stadium got completed it was for the first time in India that Maradona attended the first match and the workshop and played for the first time in our Aditya School of Sports Stadium. With that our beloved Sourav Ganguly was also attached. So it was Diego vs Dada on December 12, 2017. He hosted this match followed by a workshop where there were around 150 kids who attended this workshop with him included with girls.
“At that moment, he asked me, ‘Kolkata has this much craze for football?’ I replied, there is obviously a craze for football but this craze of almost 30,000 spectators was for you. When he came to Kolkata he was in a hotel located in New Town, Kolkata. He travelled from there and on the other hand, he was not well when he saw from the dressing room that there were so many kids waiting for him, he left out everything and ran away straight to the ground to play with the kids.
“There was a childness and madness portrayed on him and his behaviour. He was supposed to stay there for half-an-hour but he spent almost more than two hours with all the kids and there were also Alvito D’Cunha, Dibyendu Biswas Da they all were there on the ground. This was all how it was that day,” he said.
Asked if anything has been planned to play a tribute to him, Anirban said they have a plan. “Yes, we are planning something and we have already planned something for today also but due to the bandh today it was quite difficult for the kids to attends, so a special arrangement that was made virtually as online classes are going on in Aditya Academy so in every 40 minutes class we are going to provide a five-minute slot to those children those who have attended that workshop with Maradona.
On that slot, those students will be sharing their story and experience of the workshop and what they achieved from Diego Maradona. So, in today’s class routine, we have already included that the five minutes the students who were in that workshop will be the teachers on those five minutes.
Besides this, with a day or two, we will prepare a marching event in the stadium, where all the kids will be present at the stadium for remembering ‘God’. This is how we planned and next, we are thinking that December 12, 2020, will be 3 years from that workshop of 2017. On that day we are planning another re-match.
“We are planning with Satadru Dutta as he was the one who brought him here in Kolkata, so we are planning it with him and soon we will announce this. This is something big that will happen,” Anirban concluded.
