THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Red-tape has done what matchless forwards could not—beat Manuel Fredericks. The man who guarded the nation’s net for years is today fraught with agony.
Kerala, which is his home state, has refused to recognise the man who won open appreciation from the then Pakistan President General Zia Ul Haq. Bureaucracy can surely take pride—they have reduced to tears a man who earned the moniker ‘Tiger’ for his skill to stop the sharpest of penalty strokes.
The state, which celebrated the crowning of its new hero Sreejesh (and quite rightly so), has pushed its first and only Olympic medalist to oblivion, once again. While the new age goalkeeper basks in Padma glory, the state’s warhorse is being lobbed around.
Manuel’s teams—club, state or national—were happy to hold on to draws, for once it came to shootouts they could bank on ‘Tiger’ to pounce on penalty strokes. But he has no more tricks left to untie ‘sarkari knots’. No, Manuel does not have a craving for the aura of Padma anymore. Just snip that red-tape and let him build his dream home in Kannur.
Isn’t it a fair dream for a man who has pledged his life for hockey? All it takes is political will or, maybe, one call from the CM—Kannur’s own Pinarayi —or a word from Sports Minister A C Moideen. After years of neglect, poor Manuel thought justice was finally delivered when the Kerala government awarded him land in Kannur in 2014. He built a compound wall too.
But the ever ‘vigilant’ officers of Kannur Municipal Corporation stepped in promptly to tell him he cannot build a house there as the land falls under their ‘master plan area’. The man from Kannur, who migrated to Bengaluru, has been neither here nor there. He toiled on without complaint, coaching kids for a living.
Just before elections, he was allotted `20 lakh to build a house. That too is gathering dust at the office of the District Collector. He spent money from the Suresh Babu award to construct a compound wall. Got a plan made to build a house at Payyambalam. The rest is what no state should do to its worthy sons.
If you have doubts, ask him next time he waits for your mercy and he might just flash the medal at you as he carries his most cherished treasure close to his heart wherever he goes.