The FIFA World Cup – a Lankan experience
View(s):Rukmal Perera is one individual from this tiny island nation to be an insider at a FIFA World Cup event — a dream and a fantasy of a soccer lover.
Perera, the media communication head at the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) had the rare opportunity of witnessing French footballer Zinadane Zidane’s head-butt on Italy’s Matarazi in the final held in Berlin, Germany in 2006. He was just metres away from the incident, outside the playing field as one of the five FIFA media officers appointed for the final.
Rukmal Perera, as a media officer in Berlin, right next to the football’s greatest trophy
A former football captain of De Mazenod College Kandana, Rukmal later went on to reach higher echelons in football, not as a player but as an administrative officer. He became a FIFA Community Instructor and a Media Officer. He was assigned to work for the FIFA World Cup in 2006 in Germany and was one of the five FIFA media officers at Berlin and Leipzig, where more than 18 games and the final were played.
“It was unbelievable when FIFA picked me to work for the final match and then assigned me to work with the Italian team. Italy was led by Canavaru and they became World Champions. My job as their media manager was made easier after the Italians were overjoyed beating the star-studded France with Zidane, Henry Theory, Riberry and Makelly, to name a few,” Perera recalled his experience.
During the month-long football extravaganza Perera had the opportunity of working with world stars from different teams. Among the well known stars were Christano Ronaldo and Decco from Portugal, Ballack and Clouse from Germany, Messi and Crespo from Argentina, Zhevishenko from Ukraine, Zidane and Henry of France, Buffon, Toni and Totti from Italy, Roony and Lampard from England, Xavi and Iniesta from Spain. Besides these players Perera’s list of football stars, with whom he had to work together with, goes on.
“The opening match for FIFA World Cup 2014 is between Brazil and Croatia. It is a repetition of the World Cup in 2006 in Leipzig where the star studded Brazil with my many favorites namely Ronaldo, Ronaldhino, Roberto Carlos, Kaka and Aldriano had to struggle without scoring until the last minute. Eventually they beat Croatia by just 1-0. It will be interesting to see how Brazil takes on Croatia this time in the opener in front of their home crowd,” Perera said.
He also had to experience the odds during his time of duty and Perera related one such incident. “The most shocking time was when I worked with the German team against Argentina in the pre-quarterfinal where Lionel Messi, was kept in the bench and Argentina having led 1-0 and then loosing in a penalty tie breaker to home team Germany with Lehman the goalkeeper saving two penalties to send Argentina home with over 50,000 people singing ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina. The sounds still echoes in my ear.”
In addition the FIFA World Cup 2006 also produced some eventful happenings towards the final stage of the competition. One such incident was players being sin-binned and the pre-quarterfinal clash between Portugal and the Netherlands, played on June 25. During the game the referee showed 16 yellow cards and four red cards.
“I was assigned to work with the Dutch team and the post match media management was tough to handle because they lost the game. Another unforgettable moment besides all happenings that I experienced came during the England vs Portugal match, where two stars of Manchester United Wayne Rooney and Chistiano Ronaldo were playing against each other. It was a quarter-final clash and Rooney was sent out with a red card; England lost on penalties”.
The FIFA World Cup is considered an event with global interest in spite of football being not so big in some countries. According to Perera a World Cup competition draws around 15000 accreditated media personnel. At least 2000 pressmen mark their presence for a game in addition to the 150 plus photographers on pitch. He says flash interviews and studio interviews with world star footballers and media conferences conducted in nine different languages simultaneously is really a challenging experience for him especially as a Sri Lankan. “The World Cup final where Italy took on France had everything on offer. Having led by a penalty through Zidane France could not hold on to their lead. Italy leveled the score and the unexpected happened within a matter of a blink of an eye. Zidane head butted Matarazi and I could not believe my eyes as I was on the pitch yards away from the incident. I saw it on a replay much to the amusement and the French lost the World Cup to Italy on penalties. All in all it was such a memorable event where I met the football legends like Pele, Maradona, Frank Beckanbuewa, Michael Platini and Roger Milla and it’s something that any football follower could dream of happening. I was really privileged and proud for being able to work in an event of this magnitude and with just days away for the big event in Brazil let’s hope the World Cup could bring us more memorable happenings,” he stated. – NA