Circa 1989. Kerala were taking on Tamil Nadu in the national inter-state football championship. Kerala were awarded a corner kick and it was taken by right wing-back K Rajesh. He kicked the ball into the rival box, but the ball curved so precisely and sharply towards the second post before nestling in the back of the net, leaving the goalkeeper and the Tamil Nadu team dumbstruck.
That stunning goal brought Rajesh fame and fortune as he was eventually chosen to play for the Kerala Police team. When he constructed a house in Malappuram, he did not think twice to name it ‘Goal’, obviously to keep the memories of that golden kick alive.
Rajesh, who was an integral part of the Kerala Police team which ruled Indian Football in early 1990s, currently is a Circle Inspector attached to the Malabar Special Police (MSP) unit.
There is an ellipsis at the end of his house’s name ‘Goal’ to indicate that something continues. Rajesh shares an interesting story behind that three dots.
“Football was everything to me and I was confident that I could play the game well. I became a police officer at the age of 20 while doing my graduation at Farook College in Kozhikode. It was during that period I received a marriage proposal. But the girl’s parents did not want her daughter to be married off to a police or army man.
However, they changed their mind when they came to know that the boy is a footballer because the entire family was crazy about the game. That was how Preetha, who hails from Cheruvannur in Kozhikode, became my life partner,” Rajesh, a native of Beypore, says.
Rajesh has passed his passion for football on to his children as well. His son Vishnu Rajesh, a Plus 1 student of NNM Higher Secondary School, Chelembra, Malappuram, has given a glimpse of his immense talent in school-level tournaments. But unlike his father, he is a left wing-back. Rajesh’s daughter Vaishnavi, who is also soccer enthusiast, is a student of the Cochin University of Science and Technology.
“The three dots indicate the boundless blessings showered upon me by football. I got a job, a partner with similar tastes and passions, and a son who is ready to take the legacy forwards, all because of football,” Rajesh says.
