The shops, markets, public transportation and all sports activities are closed as people are stuck in their respective homes and apartments.
At this point of time, national team footballers Biplo Ahmed and Arifur Rahman distributed groceries to rickshawpullers in Sylhet and Comilla respectively and the videos went viral a few days ago.
Soon after this, more footballers and even the national team head coach Jamie Day from London expanded supporting hands from their respective positions toward the less fortunate people amid the countrywide lockdown.
According to reports, Chittagong Abahani Limited winger Mannaf Rabbi walked around his locality in Jessore with bactericidal spray to keep the surfaces protected from virus, and also helped people in need with foods in Chunamonkathi area.
Shahidul Alam Sohel, national team goalkeeper of Abahani Limited, Dhaka, came up with foods for the street people of port area of Patenga in Chittagong as part of the project of his friends titled “One Taka Fund.”
Jamie Day has decided to feed 300 less fortunate people of Bangladesh who are either forced to work or workless amid the countrywide lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.https://t.co/eIyU9n0Rq5#FOOTBALL #BANGLADESH #BANGLADESHFOOTBALL #BFF #JAMIEDAY #JAMIE #DAY
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) April 1, 2020
The news of Lionel Messi, like many other superstars across the world, donating one million euros is anywhere and everywhere.
There are not enough options for the Bangladesh footballers to do the same as none of them earns even half of Messi’s donation throughout their whole career.
The humanitarian efforts of the local footballers coming out to the streets with masks and gloves therefore, should not be taken for granted.
The local players of the Bangladesh Premier League were released by the respective 13 clubs soon after the government decided to suspend all kinds of sports activities on March 16.
Majority of them are staying with family members in their respective cities outside the capital, and some like Biplo and Abahani’s national winger Saad Uddin were also involved spreading video awareness through social media.
Daniel Colindres is not quite fond of talking to the media but the Costa Rican World Cupper was kind enough to meet some curiosities during his isolated days on a foreign land in the times of the Covid-19 pandemic.https://t.co/4zqzWesTkz#COLINDRES #DANIEL #DANIELCOLINDRES #BFF
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) April 1, 2020
“Fantastic,” Day hailed the efforts of his disciples from the United Kingdom Wednesday, “I am pleased that these players have stepped up and are trying to help during this tough time.”
Wahed Ahmed, the former national striker currently living in London, also extended his support to 150 families in Sylhet as his family members reportedly distributed foods in a colony of Shibganj area.
Wednesday, a social group of former national footballers under the banner of “Team 90’s FC” distributed daily food essentials to around 200 people in Dhaka, starting from Nakhalpara to Bangabandhu National Stadium.
“We will try to continue this initiative in different places until the situation gets better,” said Firoz Mahmud Titu, the former national defender and spokesperson of Team 90’s FC, to Dhaka Tribune.
Such initiatives from sports federations, for the support of needy people, first came into attention when Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin on March 27 announced that they would run food distribution programs in front of the BFF House until the end of the lockdown in the country.