It may come as a surprise you – if you are not a football fan – that a man in Kerala chose to play in a football match than to attend his marriage ceremony. But if you are a fan of the sport, it might come as an even bigger surprise to know that a person chose to play an all-crucial football match and keep his marriage as a second priority.

Ridvan, who is a member of the FIFA Manjeri – a Malappuram 7s League-based team – is the person who did the unthinkable. The defender of the team, Ridvan, faced a very tough choice to select between his marriage ceremony and the football match.

Ridvan said to his bride, “Can you excuse me for five minutes,” before rushing to the 7s League football match. The news even caught the attention of the Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore.

While mentioning Ridvan's story on the microblogging site, he expressed his wish to meet the individual. Rathore, on Twitter, wrote, “Ridvan asked 5 minutes from his bride on his wedding day to play football! What passion! I want to meet him! #5MinuteAur #KheloIndia.”

Here’s what MoS Sports, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore, wrote on his Twitter account:

Recently, the government had organised the second edition of Khelo India Youth Games, with #5MinuteAur as its marketing slogan. The state of Maharastra won the top spot in the Medal’s tally by pipping the likes of Haryana and Delhi. Khelo India Youth Games 2019 Updated Medal Tally: Maharashtra Continues Its Golden Run on Top Spot, Haryana Goes Past Delhi to Grab Second Place.

Speaking about Ridvan’s marriage, the to-be-bride and her family seemed visibly angry with his actions. A shocked bride-to-be then asked Ridvan, “If the game was at noon, would you cancel the marriage for the game?”

How did Ridvan handle the situation is a different story altogether. However, this episode of #5MinuteAur reaffirms our faith in the craziness of football fans in our country, especially ‘God’s Own Country’, i.e. Kerala.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 26, 2019 08:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).