Football through the eyes of a cricket fan

BENGALURU: Amidst the cricket tourneys that spring up like unwanted mushrooms, the FIFA World Cup is a breath of fresh air. It gives us a break from the drone-like commentary of Sunil Gavaskar and Sanjay Manjarekar – which has served me as an excellent panacea for insomnia. I am not a die-hard football fan. My friends have been supporting clubs for years now. But I find that life is too short to support one team for a decade. Much to the chagrin of my friends, I keep supporting a new club every year.

Unlike the cricket World Cup, you don’t see a million hoardings selling everything from live streaming to life insurance during football World Cup. Every brand from inhalers to toothpastes draw out an asinine connection to cricket to peddle their wares. I like the detached enthusiasm that a football World Cup brings. I say this as someone scarred by the ‘Biscuit Khao World Cup Jao’ campaign that took place 20 years ago. As a kid, I believed that God had plans for me in life. I was convinced that I would win the contest and fly to London to watch the World Cup. I was unbothered by realities like the lack of a passport or visa. I spent the next two months eating biscuits. I requested my neighbours to save their wrappers for me. At the end of the vacation, I had won a grand total of one booklet and three chewing gums!

A football World Cup is saner. The craze in India peaks once every four years. It’s interesting that the only two states where football reigns supreme are the Communist states – West Bengal and Kerala. I have wondered why Indian communists took to football in such a big way. Perhaps it’s the socialist nature of the sport. The team is valued more than the talent of an individual. Unlike cricket, which is mostly only played by nations that were colonised by the British, football is played by all nations. On one side you have the colonisers like England, France and Germany. On the other hand, you have nations from Africa and South America that had to pay the cruel price of colonisation. Perhaps communists view football as a level-playing field, a way to revolt against their oppressors.

The biggest reason for my love for the football World Cup is that I can watch it as a neutral. The mix of sports and jingoism has ruined the experience of cricket. Failure on the field, or speaking cordially to an opponent is looked at as betrayal. If only we questioned our politicians as much as we did our cricketers, we could have become a superpower. The football World Cup gives me an option to watch a sport without bringing emotions into the matter. I was initially supporting Germany, but they crashed out of the tournament. I didn’t spend the rest of the day in despair. I quietly had dinner and decided to support France from the next day. Following a cricket World Cup requires the unbridled passion of Che Guevara. Whereas a football World Cup needs the stoic grace of Marcus Aurelius!

Hriday Ranjan

(Writer, comedian)

(The writer’s views are his own)