KOCHI: Nothing can bring more joy than being able to stand alongside your favourite stars. In a rare opportunity, 22 students of the School for the Blind at Aluva escorted players of Kerala Blasters FC and Hyderabad FC onto the field on Sunday. This marked Blasters’ final league match.
“It was always my dream to meet players who weave magic on the football ground,” said Mohammed Adnan, a class 5 student. A fan of footballer Rahul K P, Mohammed and his 21 friends arrived early at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium at Kaloor to prepare for the event. “We had rehearsals before the actual player escort,” he said.
“Football has always fascinated me. The adrenaline rush one gets when their team nets the goal is something one can’t express in words,” said Mohammed. Jiji Varghese, the headmistress of the school, said the children were excited from the moment they came across the news of the ISL officials’ invite for them to escort the players.
“They couldn’t believe they would be holding hands with the players and standing next to them on the pitch,” she said. The students had been dreaming of such interactions since the Qatar FIFA World Cup Football, which saw a specially-abled person’s appearance as a chief guest for its inaugural event.