With the soccer craze reaching fever pitch at the World Cup 2010, imagine a Telugu bidda playing, right there in the mid-field with hundreds of thousands cheering - Fantastic even to imagine.
The fantasy had turned real, nearly real, when Vikash Dhorasoo stepped on the field for the World Cup 2006 in Germany, playing for France alongside such greats as Zinadine Zidane and Henri Theirry against Switzerland and South Korea. Vikash. The name sounds distinctly Indian, although he was born in France. His roots can be traced to Andhra Pradesh.
Vikash's Telugu-speaking forefathers hailed from Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh (then part of Madras Presidency), migrated to Shiraz in Iran and then to Mauritius to work on the sugarcane plantations of the paradise islands. Vikash's parents and siblings moved to France where Vikash was born as the fourth child. Born in Harfleur in the province of Normandy, Dhorasoo, after graduating in economics began his football career with Le Havre AC in 1993. He made a name for himself as a promising midfielder and one of the best dribblers. He joined Olympique Lyonnais in 1998 and won French League-1 championship in 2003 and 2004. He left France for Italy to join the famous AC Milan in 2004. He was an unused substitute in the 2005 UEFA Champions League final, when Liverpool beat AC Milan. He made his international debut for France against Ukraine in 1999.
World Cup stint
Dhorasoo returned to France in 2005, signing for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and played a key role in the club winning the 2006 French Cup with a superb 25 yarder in the final against its arch rival Olympique de Marseille. Meantime, he was selected for the French squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup where he had to contend with limited playing time – just 16 minutes - during the tournament. He became famous as ‘the guy who replaced Zidane' following a controversial Zidane head-butting of a player in the World Cup. He was sacked by the PSG after he criticised the club manager in a media interview in September 2006.
Dhorasoo comes across as a sensitive and temperamental individual as evident from the manner in which he persistently courted controversies.Barring a brief appearance, Dhorasoo was kept as a substitute for the most part of the 2006 World Cup. He had figured in all matches France played in the qualifying rounds. Vikash found himself marginalised when the actual tournament started. It was frustrating for him ‘to sit tight in the hotel room waiting for the call'. The result was a documentary, Substitute , depicting the agony and frustration of substitute players. Vikash himself wielded the camera for most part. The documentary drew angry warnings and demand for withdrawal from angry football bosses, particularly manager and coach Raymond Domenech. Vikash ignored them. It was shown in the international documentary film festival in Amsterdam in 2007. The way he was sidelined troubled him. It was like being trained to climb a mountain, only to discover at the last moment, that the chosen one was the trainer's son. Another Vikash film was released in 2008.
Vikash is an unsparing critic of racial prejudice and discrimination in sports. He championed the ‘ gay' cause and supported Paris Foot Gay, a football club open to gays and lesbians. As one who knew what poverty was, he participated in many programmes aimed at combating poverty in the third world countries.
He is proud of his India and Telugu connections. His wish to visit India was fulfilled last year. He had come not just as a casual tourist but to help promote the game in this country.
Vikash may not be a hero or an icon, but a fine player who deserves our sympathies for his misfortune. Controversies blighted his career. He could not reconcile to watching the 2006 final against Italy as a mere observer, instead of being right in the thick of it all.
