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What's the story?
Premier Futsal - the five a side league has entered its second season and is being currently played in Bengaluru. Some of the yesteryear legends have been signed up for the two-week extravaganza but recently, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes - the two marquee players of Mumbai Warriors and Bengaluru Royals respectively have angered the Indian fans for not turning up for the matches on Tuesday.
Scholes and Giggs, two Manchester United legends were the star attractions for the first day of the Futsal action in Bengaluru. But the pair were not even on the bench which has not gone well with the local fans. One disgruntled fan was quoted as saying by Firstpost, "The tickets I bought were for 2,000 rupees ($31) a day. I am not wasting any more of my time here. They don't even have the courtesy to announce that the two aren't playing."
In case you didn't know...
Premier Futsal 2017 features six teams and is being played at four venues. The host cities are Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Dubai whereas there were only two venues (Chennai and Goa) last time around. The knockout stages will be played in Dubai with the league featuring marquee players such as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Ronaldinho, Deco, Hernan Crespo and Michel Salgado.
The heart of the matter
The Hindu revealed that the pair in focus was extremely tired which prompted them to give the matches a miss. Spokespersons of the event confirmed the absence of Giggs and Scholes but avoided further questions on the issue. The tickets for the event were extremely costly with prices for the tickets ranging from INR 2000-10000 rupees. The ticket also included a "meet and greet" event with the legends which was also called off because of a no-show from them, further disappointing the supporters.
What's next?
The veterans have not yet spoken about the issue but are expected to address the media ahead of their next respective matches. The indoor version of the exciting game will move to Dubai next week with the organizers taking a big leap by taking the event abroad.
Author's take
Premier Futsal is such a short event and it involves a lot of travel, especially in a country like India. It is acceptable that Giggs and Scholes were extremely tired by all the traveling involved but the duo should have been at least present at the venue and attended the "meet and greet" session. The fans in India do not get such an opportunity every week to meet their favourite stars and the Manchester United legends may have robbed the hundreds of fans in Bengaluru of such a chance.
