Messi tour: Min visibility leads to max chaos in Kolkata venue

Fans who failed to get glimpse of Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi, as their view was blocked by VIPs, vandalised parts of Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium

Fans who failed to get a glimpse of their hero, Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi, as their view was blocked by VIPs, vandalised parts of Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday, hurling chairs, bottles and storming onto the pitch, leading to the arrest of the event’s organiser and triggering a public apology from chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Argentine World Cup-winning captain’s much-anticipated visit to Kolkata, as part of the “GOAT [greatest of all time] tour”, lasted just 22 minutes (Samir Jana/ Hindustan Times)

According to people familiar with the matter, the first signs of trouble came around 15 minutes after Messi and his Inter Miami teammates, Luis Suárez and Rodrigo de Paul, arrived at the Salt Lake Stadium around 11.30am in a white SUV. As fans’ view of Messi remained blocked, chants of “we want to see Messi” reverberated around the stands, which had approximately over 50,000 people, most of whom had purchased tickets priced between ₹4,500 and ₹18,000.

Within minutes, Messi found himself hemmed in by politicians, police, VIPs and their entourages, forming a living wall that left spectators with a view of everything except the man they had come to see.

“I came from Kerala to see Messi. It was a total disaster. I couldn’t see him,” said a spectator, who didn’t want to be identified. Another spectator added: “I spent ₹15,000 to purchase a ticket in the VIP gallery. All I could see was the face of a state minister on the stage.”

The tour organiser, Satadru Dutta, was heard repeatedly asking the people around Messi and his friends to move away. “People have paid a lot of money to come and see Messi,” Dutta was heard saying in Bangla on the public address system. “Messi will leave the stadium if people around him are not cleared,” he added.

But in the rush to be in the vicinity of a legend and the need to validate that with a selfie, Dutta’s pleas were ignored. All people in the stands could see that Messi was what was shown on the giant screen. Some not even that.

Eventually, Messi had to be escorted out of the stadium well before his one-hour intended stay as his team decided to cancel the event, triggering chaos. The Salt Lake stadium was ransacked, with fans destroying property and decorations. The abrupt curtailment of the programme also led to several invited dignitaries, including Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly and chief minister Mamata Banerjee, unable to participate as planned. Khan later met Messi at the hotel.

CM apologises, organiser held

In a post on X, CM Mamata Banerjee apologised to Messi and “sports lovers and fans for the unfortunate incident.” “I am deeply disturbed and shocked by the mismanagement witnessed today at Salt Lake Stadium,” she said, adding that an “enquiry committee headed by a retired judge has been set up to “fix responsibility, and recommend measures to prevent such occurrences in the future”.

The inquiry committee will be chaired by retired Calcutta high court judge Justice Ashim Kumar Ray, with the chief secretary and the additional chief secretary of the Home and Hill Affairs Department as members.The panel will fix responsibility and recommend measures to prevent such incidents in the future, the CM.

Director general of police Rajeev Kumar said Dutta, the prime organiser of the event had been detained in connection with the incident. “The plan was that he would come, wave, meet certain people and leave. The government has already constituted a committee which will look into all aspects, including whether there was any mismanagement on the organiser’s side,” Kumar said, adding that the organiser had given an assurance in writing that he would refund the ticket prices sold to spectators.

ADG (law and order) of state police, Jawed Shamim, said “the investigation has started” to identify those around Messi’s entourage.

Political slugfest ensues

The incident has triggered a political slugfest in a state where elections are due next year.

“It proves once again that vulgarity is just another name for TMC. It could have been a proud moment for West Bengal that a footballer of such a repute came to Kolkata. But TMC leaders tried to hijack the event and it turned out to be a total mess. The police too failed,” said Union minister and BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar.

In a post on X, the Lok Bhavan (formerly Raj Bhavan) said: “While the organisers of the event are to be blamed squarely for the situation that unfolded, it is also the police that has failed the Government, the people and the Chief Minister who is also the Home Minister. Due to their inaction this day can be said to be a dark day for the sports loving people of Kolkata.”

TMC state spokesperson Debangshu Bhattacharya, however, dismissed any involvement of the state government, saying: “The incident is a result of the failure of the organisers. The state government or the TMC are in no way associated with this. Aroop Biswas, being the state sports minister, went there as a guest on invitation.”