Superstar provokes
Dispute over Ronaldo statue in India: “These people hate football”
Cristiano Ronaldo is a very living monument
© Owen Humphreys / DPA
Ronaldo provoked: A statue of the footballer in the Indian province of Goa has sparked protests. Critics complain that no local footballers are honored. In addition, the superstar is from Portugal, the former colonial power of the federal state.
Football superstar Ronaldo has many fans around the world. That’s why they wanted to honor the Manchester United goalscorer in India too. In the state of Goa they put up a statue for him for this purpose, in gold of course. The memorial, which is said to have cost around 14,000 euros and was planned before the pandemic, does not go down well with everyone in Goa.
The statue is actually supposed to promote the love of football and inspire young people to play better football, wrote Michael Lobo, a minister in the said state of Goa, grandly on Twitter.
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Ronaldo statue: protests with black flags
But instead of sheer admiration, there were protests with black flags on site one day after the inauguration of the more than 400 kilo statue of the Portuguese superstar. The Indian news agency IANS reported on Wednesday.
The protesters have criticized the fact that non-local football players are being honored. They also viewed the statue as an insult because Goa was a Portuguese colony until 60 years ago that only gained freedom years after the end of the British occupation of India.
India is a cricket country
Minister Lobo told IANS that these people simply hate football. Cricket is by far the most popular sport in India, but football is more popular in some areas, including Goa. Despite its size – with more than 1.3 billion inhabitants – the country is worse at football than many other countries, Lobo told the Indian press agency ANI.
