P. Nagesh

Chennai: P. Nagesh who enthralled a legion of fans with his enchanting style of football as a scintillating striker for ICF and Port Trust in the 1960s and 1970s, passed away here on Friday. He was 65.

Nagesh was a rock star of Chennai football when it enjoyed enviable patronage from fans. No one was loved more at the stands of the old Corporation Stadium, where the Nehru Stadium stands today. Gaana songs were sung in his honour. Those who have watched Nagesh play aver that he was a magician when the ball was at his feet.

He was a complete player. From delightful dribbling to razor-sharp passing, he had everything. Equally effective with both feet, Nagesh was a monster inside the box with an unerring eye for goals. His die-hard fans can recall many of his goals as if they had watched them only yesterday. When entertainment was at a premium in the city, Nagesh lit up their dreary days with his bewitching skills.

After every match in the Chennai Football Association senior division league during his career, a group of fans would accompany him home. It was a gesture of gratitude for transforming their mundane evenings into something meaningful. Nagesh was an emperor among commoners. For someone who won no Santosh Trophy despite representing Tamil Nadu for nearly a decade, his fame was astounding. Actor Nagesh, himself a genius, was a fan of his football namesake, as was his colleague on celluloid, Muthuraman.

For a player as gifted as Nagesh, a long and fruitful career with the Indian team should have been a formality. But the dynamic forward never represented the country because he lived and played as he wished. Like all athletes blessed with supreme natural talent, Nagesh also hated a regimented life.

The rules other players abided by hardly applied to him; he played football by his own book. It wasn’t a bad book. Fans loved the Nagesh they saw on the pitch a bundle of talent hell bent on entertaining them. He was like the great Brazilian winger, Garrincha. As talented as Pele if not more, Garrincha played football like a wide-eyed child in wonderment of the beautiful game.

Nagesh not only enraptured fans in Chennai; he was also a blockbuster draw in Kerala’s numerous sevens tournaments. The cash register worked overtime in Malappuram and Kozhikode whenever a tournament involved Nagesh. Cut-outs for the skinny Tamil lad weren’t uncommon as football-mad Malayalees celebrated a hero from their neighbouring state with gusto.

A hedonistic lifestyle took its toll on the health of Nagesh. People who saw the gaunt man after his retirement would have found it difficult to believe that he had been the star who set football fields afire with his brilliance. But he remained a thorough gentleman until his death. After retiring from Port Trust, Nagesh remained in touch with football through veterans’ teams. A regular fixture during senior division league, he diligently observed players to select the best every match. At the end of the season, he would provide a list of names to be called for the Santosh Trophy camp.

Nagesh was particularly interested in teaching the game to girls. Fittingly, his last brush with football was a practice match with the Tamil Nadu senior women’s team a couple of days ago. On the day Nagesh died, the Tamil Nadu U-19 girls’ team won the national championship in Goa. The title was a fine farewell gift to one of the greatest players of the state.