Nivin Pauly and I. M. Vijayan enter the VIP galley to watch the final. Photo: ManoramaKochi: Former Indian captain I.M. Vijayan was treated shabbily by the Kerala Football Association (KFA) which gave him an ordinary ticket to watch the ISL final at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium on Sunday.
Vijayan said he felt slighted and ignored as the match was played in Kochi and if it was played in Kolkata he would have got an opportunity to watch the final with ATK co-owner Sourav Ganguly.
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Following Vijayan’s emotional outburst, Kerala Blasters’ youth ambassador film star Nivin Pauly contacted Vijayan and told him that he should watch the final. The footballer watched the final from the VIP gallery seated alongside Nivin Pauly.
“It was on Saturday that I received ticket from KFA. They had given me tickets for E-sector which I later found out were ordinary tickets. When I contacted the KFA officials they replied that it was the best they could do for me. They told me that I can’t watch the match from VIP gallery along with Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. I have watched many football matches from the VIP gallery.
"Majority of the fans, who genuinely love football, couldn’t get tickets for the fnal. I understand that the ticket sales were outsourced to an event management company. The tickets which were supposed to be sold through counters were sold in the black market. It is just business for them. I heard that tickets costing Rs 300 were sold for as much as Rs 3,000,’’ said Vijayan
However, KFA secretary P. Anil Kumar countered Vijayan’s allegation saying that he had given two VIP tickets to the former star player. “I had specifically told Vijayan that they were VIP tickets and I don’t know how he raised such a complaint,” said Anil Kumar.
Meanwhile, some top police officers had expressed their displeasure in giving VIP tickets to Vijayan, who is a Circle Inspector. Many higher-ranked officers were manning the security at the gates while Vijayan watched the final from the VIP gallery and they were unhappy.
However, fans through social media have strongly criticized the manner in which Vijayan was shabbily treated by the KFA.
