Up until the Learjet 35 touched down at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Timehri at mid-afternoon last Saturday cynics held fast to their suspicion that the earlier news that football’s most celebrated icon would grace these shores might have been a marketing gimmick by the Kashif and Shanghai Organization to ‘hype up’ their twentieth annual tournament in an economically difficult year. What they probably did not know was that there had been a prior attempt attempt to bring King Pele to Guyana earlier this year.
Pele’s eventual arrival here may have had most of the elements of protocol and ceremony associated with a state visit but the atmosphere itself was less austere, more electric, far more befitting an internationally celebrated sportsman; and when the aircraft taxied to the edge of the runway the small but animated crowd gathered there knew for sure that they were about to catch its first glimpse of football royalty in the form of the man whom they had for years idolized as a living legend for decades without ever having seen in the flesh.
Earlier speculation had revolved around whether Pele, now 69, still possesses the energy to at least afford us glimpses of his famed athleticism. At the airport, a group of men of his generation who had gathered close to the exit from the VIP Lounge from which they knew he would emerge wondered aloud about whether there would still be a spring in his step, about whether they might catch a glimpse of the rhythmic gait that had once enchanted the football world.
Pele did not disappoint. He is a small, even diminutive man and even in his brisk stroll you can still catch the rhythm of the artist, the master ball-weaver. His movements are still deliberate, unhurried, not brisk but calculating and not surprisingly, Guyanese reserved their loudest applause for the moment at the National Stadium on Sunday when he broke into a leisurely jog, away from the mid-pitch ceremony and towards the stands to wave to the fans who had assembled to catch a glimpse of him.
At Timehri, once he had caught the beat of the steel band laid-on for his arrival he headed for the direction from which the sound was coming and, having quickly caught the beat of the music, broke into a slow, purposeful, seamless sway evoking memories of the body movements which, in his heyday had deceived the best defenders assembled to check his lethal advances. The athleticism may be diminished but the artistry has endured.
The man himself is grace personified. His smile preceded him onto the red carpet and there was only the faintest hint of protocol in his disappearance beneath a sea of hugs and handshakes by the VIPs gathered on the edge of the tarmac who simply surrendered themselves to the significance of the moment. It was not a welcome that would have been countenanced for a visiting Head-of-State; but Heads-of-State are only Heads-of-State; this was the King himself and the jockeying for photographs with an embrace by him made a mockery of the airport formalities.
His humility belies his greatness. Long before the assembled dignitaries had gotten through their hugs and handshakes King Pele was holding the hands of two small children who, somehow, had found their way onto the edge of the tarmac and the eagerness with which he embraced them, chatted with them was a dead giveaway. This was not part of the planned protocol.
The security detail too surrendered itself to the moment. It seemed as though they had correctly interpreted the disposition of the man. He simply refused to ignore the people who looked up to him.
The Government of Guyana and the Kashif and Shanghai Organization, his hosts, had planned a programme for him which had been timed to begin at least an hour before he eventually arrived in Guyana. All of that had to be held up for a brief ceremony at the airport and for more hugs, handshakes and smiles for small groups of youngsters dressed for football and gathered a discreet distance from the VIP’s and security detail surrounding him. He headed unerringly for the youngsters and the light in their eyes while hugging and shaking hands with the man designated Sportsman of the Twentieth Century told you that their wait to catch a glimpse of him was more than worth the while.
The visit may have been the finest moment for the Kashif and Shanghai Organization but no less, it was a grand moment for Guyana, for football and for King Pele himself. The notion of being neighbours has long been dimmed by the vastness of Brazil, by its comparative development and by the fact that the excellence of its football has not “rubbed off” on Guyana. In a sense, King Pele’s visit made that distance seem shorter and, hopefully, he will leave behind some measure of inspiration from which both our football and our relations with our giant neighbour to the south can derive a modicum of gain. That at least was the sentiment expressed by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds during his address at the stadium ceremony.
Before he departed Guyana King Pele got a chance to catch a glimpse of the skills of our own aspirants in the second game on the opening night of the Twentieth Annual Kashif and Shanghai Football Tournament. The game significantly, matched Santos, the name of his own former club in Brazil with Pele. The latter, the defending Kashif and Shanghai champions were clearly more inspired by the presence of the great man. By the time he was ready to depart the stadium at half time Santos, clearly outgunned had conceded four goals and seemed destined to be the second team to exit the tournament. Pele, we were told, had picked a winner but in the true spirit of the occasion we were not told which side he had favored.
