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Journalism of Courage
The keen anticipation that had built up for the Manchester United legends versus Arsenal legends games at the Cooperage Stadium in Mumbai and then at Goa’s Fatorda Stadium will have to wait till the first week of September. The previous schedule had the former host the veterans on June 3, followed by a June 7 kick off at Margao with the organisers talking it up by rattling off names as venerated as the Invincibles of 2003-4 and Red Devils’ greats like Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
Though the organizers are confident to conduct the match in September, assembling the galaxy of stars for one week will continue to be their biggest challenge, considering most of them have club or media commitments during the Premier League.
Reasons for the postponment were put down to weather concerns. Former Arsenal player Jimmy Carter has been visiting the two venues and had suggested an alteration.
“The weather in Goa has been around 40 odd degrees and it hasn’t been too pleasant in Mumbai either. The last thing we want is a heat-related injury. So it was natural to shift it to September when the climate is slightly better,” said Saurav Chakravarthi, from the Indo Global Foundation – the promoters of the legends game.
New date, September
The change suited the sponsors too, he added. “The sponsors had asked for some extra time to generate the funds needed for the event. So they too were hoping for a new date,” Chakravarthi adds.
With the roster now tentatively set for within the first week of September, attention now shifts toward securing participation of former players of the two rival English football clubs for the event.
Arsenal’s Invincibles from the 2003-04 season are the organisers’ main targets – particularly Thierry Henry. Yet at the same time, the Manchester United stars have been the ones Chakravarthi and his team have had difficulty in convincing, since most of them have coaching roles and will be occupied at the time of the game.
Yet interestingly enough, Scholes has been among the first to confirm his presence. “Scholes was happy with coming even for the June date. So he’s as good as confirmed. For Arsenal, Sol Campbell has shown a lot of interest ever since the dates were changed,” he claimed. Former United skipper Gary Neville meanwhile, has taken to Twitter to claim he will not be travelling to India, albeit, that was for the June date.
September in turn has another tentative clash with the second Indian Super League season scheduled in the same month.
“We need to make sure our games are done within the first week of September to avoid any clash. I’m sure that will be fine with the legends too, because some of them would probably like to watch a few ISL games in India,” Chakravarthi adds.
