It was a different face of Kannur that the soccer hero of the world, Diego Maradona, witnessed on Wednesday morning.
Thousands of football fans had turned up at the historic Municipal Jawahar Stadium well before dawn to have a closer look at the football legend visiting Kerala for the first time. Even as the crowds swelled up, the sun turned unbearably hot. But that didn’t deter the football-crazy gathering waiting to see the soccer hero of the world.
Evidently, the entire district headquarters here was taken over by football-loving public for nearly five hours till Wednesday afternoon. And, the soccer magic started working after 10.30 am as scheduled. Not to be left out, politicians too joined the fray chanting ‘hallelujah’ for Maradona, whom many of them were seeing for the first time in person.
The Jawahar Stadium that had played host to many a crowd-pulling VVIPs in the past was overflowing with soccer fans on Wednesday too, but outside the stadium where giant screens were erected by the organisers of the programme to help the public see it all, the audience was scanty. Obviously, the police and the law enforcement agencies had over-reacted to the expected flow of people to the district headquarters. The stringent regulations imposed by the authorities on traffic and the excessive coverage given to these restrictions by the media, only served to discourage the people from attending the football hero’s programme.