India's Gandhian footballer who played without spikes

He was neither the David Beckham nor the Cristiano Ronaldo of his times – flashy, rich and a style statement. Nor was he traded for millions of dollars to play club football. Yet he made a mark on the field—barefooted—and took India to the only football glory that the country ever made till date. On 27 February this year, this saint on the football field—Sailen Manna—got the final whistle from heaven at the age of 87. [caption id=“attachment_248391” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The loss of a legend. Reuters”]  [/caption] “Under his captaincy, it won its first international football gold medal at the Asian games in 1951. For a very short while, in his time, it walked in the sun as a world-class footballing nation. And it walked barefoot, because, in those years, that was how Mr Manna and his colleagues played,” writes The Economist in their obituary to the football legend. “The reasons for the naked feet varied, even in his own mind. Like most Bengali boys, he could not dream of affording boots. There was no money in football then…” But he made up for his lack of equipment with sheer zeal. Unbelievable though, Manna is called a saint not without a reason. This gentleman on the football ground in his entire career never fouled, was never booked and never shoved. Read the complete article here.