In memory of VP Sathyan

By John Cheeran
V P Sathyan and C V Pappachan began their football careers in 1982 with Kerala Police. The reason to remember this point now is Sathyan's suicide on Tuesday.
Yesterday and today I read through agency reports and even the suicide not Sathyan wrote to his wife Anitha. Sathyan was beyond any hope and the root of his despair lay in financial mismanagement.
One of the finest deep defenders India ever had, Sathyan definitely would have thought a lot about ending his life because in the end it matters him and his family alone.
Each suicide should evoke our pity. Sathyan chose to liberate himself from the clutches of life whereas many would have fought on.
A day before World Cup began in Germany I had met CV Pappachan at his home town Thrissur. Pappachan was coming out of a seminar on Indian football that I too had attended. Pappachan spoke about football in an intelligent way. It held my attention.
Our conversation was entering extra-time and a few others were waiting for us to finish so that Pappachan can join them at a near by hotel. I gently reminded him that others are waiting for him at the hotel. Pappachan brushed it off by saying "I'm not interested..They are going for a drink. I want to fetch my child from school."
I then admired Pappachan for getting his priorities right. I now sympathize with Sathyan's family. How the ace Indian footballer lost himself in a series of mispasses.!
To defend, it is important that you should have a safe zone to plant your feet. Kerala Police provided that safe zone for a generation of footbalers like Pappachan and Sathyan so that they could freely play football.
Kerala Police let them play and gave them the comforts of a secure and dignified job in Kerala itself. Pappachan is now DySP in Thrissur. Sathyan could have been the same.
Reacting to Sathyan's tragic end, Pappachan came up with that crucial point of departure that marked their careers. "Sathyan left Kerala Police to play in Calcutta (Mohun Bagan) peeved at not getting a promotion. He came back to Police later and still missed out onanother promotion for breaking the service. Then he left to play for Indian Bank in Chennai."
I think had Sathyan stayed back with Kerala Police he would not have lost control of his life. Sathyan left for Indian Bank when Kerala Police football team had become history. But he could have had an easy time with in the organization.
Though a defender on the football field, Sathyan might have thirsted for the adventure of active sport. One thing was sure. He loved football and his decision to get into coaching shows his deep passion for the game. After all how many of his generation went into coaching the youngsters?
But in the end such moves backfired. Sathyan never touched big money, though he dreamt of it. He regretted not taking up some offers from Qatar and Czech Republic to play there in the 1990s.
Somewhere down the line Sathyan began to lose his self-control and then there was no terra firma for him. In the past Indian footballers have struggled to make a decent living. I must say times have indeed changed for the better for an average footballer and that makes Sathyan's tragedy all the more unbearable.