Kolkata: On the eve of East Bengal’s foundation day, social media enthusiasts urged cricket legend Kapil Dev to boycott the club’s function where he will be conferred their highest honour, Bharat Gaurav. Twitter was awash with “#KapilDevBoycottEB” trending for long periods Wednesday morning.
Twitter users referred to East Bengal’s poor handling of footballers, the latest being the unprofessional behavior against Joby Justin. Mentions were also made of title sponsors Quess Corp severing ties with the club after a fall-out between them and the outfit’s board members.
“Never thought legend like @therealkapildev sir will ruin his own reputation by associating with these goons ??!!” a Twitter user wrote using the hashtag “#KapilDevBoycottEB”.
“Cricket legend @therealKapilDev sinking himself to a new low if he associates himself with a club that is an embarrassment to the nation & sports,” tweeted another user.
Kapil, who led India to its first ever World Cup in 1983 and is one of the greatest all-rounders to have ever played the game, is scheduled to land in the city Thursday morning.
“Kapil Dev is coming. He will be here by tomorrow morning. We don’t know about any Twitter trend. We would prefer to ignore them,” a top East Bengal official told IANS.
Kapil had signed for East Bengal June 22, 1992, and played for 27 minutes six days later as a substitute forward in an exhibition match against arch-rivals Mohun Bagan.