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Kolkata: Chaos erupted at the Milan Mela Prangon during 2022 FIFA World Cup-winner Emiliano Martinez’s visit on Tuesday after the Gold ticket members were not given signed jerseys by the Argentine goalkeeper as promised.
The Aston Villa star is in the City of Joy for a three-day trip from July 4 to 6. Earlier he visited Bangladesh on July 3 before heading to Kolkata. Martinez reached the Milan Mela Prangon at 12:30 in the noon to be a part of the ‘Their Story’ chat show.
Soon after he left the venue, the gold ticket members demanded signed jerseys from the Argentine as they had hoped to get it from the man himself at the stage. Hoping they were being cheated, the gold ticket members protested in front of one of the members from the organising committee. It is to be noted that, Satadru Dutta, who is the main brain behind bringing Martinez to Bangladesh and India had also left the venue by then.
Such was the scenario that police had to intervene to bring the whole crowd in control. “One of the gold ticket members was heard saying, “We want nothing but a signed jersey. We bought the costly tickets to get the signed jersey from Emiliano Martinez.”
Soon after the incident, Dutta made a Facebook post stating that the gold ticket holders will be getting signed jerseys the next day from the hotel that Martinez is staying at. However, he deleted the post and posted a video of Martinez signing the jerseys.
Gold Card ticket holders will get signed jersey tomorrow (Wednesday) at 5 PM from JW Marriot. Emi will be signing all the jerseys today ad tomorrow morning,” Dutta had written on Facebook before deleting it.
However in the evening, many signed jerseys were given to the gold ticket holders at Marriot and even at the Milan Mela Prangan, who all came to see the talk show. The rest will get it tomorrow.
Meanwhile, during the 40-minute event, the 30-year-old was felicitated by the both Mohun Bagan Super Giants and East Bengal officials.
When Emiliano Martinez wore our Club colours & said #JoyEastBengal! ❤️💛#EmamiEastBengal #EmiMartinezInKolkata pic.twitter.com/lLRv5fEIrg
— East Bengal FC (@eastbengal_fc) July 4, 2023
The Red and Gold officials also honoured the world champion by making him a ‘Life Member’ at the club before presenting him with the prestigious jersey. Martinez said ‘Joy East Bengal’ and ‘Joy Mohun Bagan’ during the event. Later on the day, Martinez is scheduled to inaugurate the Pele Maradona Sobers Gate at Mohun Bagan club tent.
Mohun Bagan Executive Committee Members felicitated Emiliano Martinez at “Tahader Kotha” Event at Milan Mela.#JoyMohunBagan #Mariners #MBAC #MB #GloriousPastVibrantFuture #MohunBagan #MohunBaganAC #MohunBaganAthleticClub #EmilianoMartinez #MohunBaganGate #GateInauguration pic.twitter.com/jOR1Zi760h
— Mohun Bagan (@Mohun_Bagan) July 4, 2023
He is also scheduled to meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and former India captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly. However the date of the meeting is yet to be known.
Meanwhile, the whole event saw a total mismanagement by the organsisers as Martinez had to be escorted out in a police car out of the venue. The incident took place after the organisers displayed the logo of ATK Mohun Bagan despite the name has been changed to Mohun Bagan Super Giants. Also, East Bengal FC was displayed as SC East Bengal.
This irked the fans present at the venue as they broke the barricades. Also the organisers didn’t deploy enough security and as a result it turned into total chaos. Martinez will be in the city for two more days and it will be interesting to see how the organisers manage his security.
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