KOCHI: Pele never came to Kerala during his life span and no one from the state could watch the Brazilian’s exploits at the World Cups live as television was still a distant dream for them then. Yet, he should be credited for making a majority of Keralites fall in love with the ‘beautiful game’.
The Kerala state syllabus had a dedicated portion on the life of the Brazil football legend in the late 70s and early 80s, which was one of the primary reasons behind Pele developing an iconic image here in the state. Pele’s life was part of a three-page lesson in Class V Malayalam language textbook. “A generation started worshipping Pele by not actually watching him play, but by reading about him, especially in our school textbook,” recollects Abdul Saleem EK, the former Kerala Police football custodian.
