As Indians we are all expected to love cricket , nothing wrong in that but what is wrong is the fact that people and friends from abroad seem to think that we can't love any other sport. Most of them seem to think that INDIANS=CRICKET LOVERS, BOLLYWOOD LOVERS, MASALA FOOD LOVERS and what not.........the list goes on and on.......Due to this false conception unintentionally what people are doing is harming and restricting the growth of interest of other people in other fields of life.
This brings us to the growth of interest in football among the Indian youth. Its not that people didn't love football in India, even my Dad loves football to an extent. People always loved Football in India. West Bengal has been the "Football Capital of India" even before we got our independence. But the love for football that we see now among the youths is very different from the love of the previous generations. People of the previous generations followed international football, mainly the World Cups whereas people of my age group follow club football . I can't describe the extent of my frustration whenever the International Football friendlies and the various Euro Cup or World Cup qualifiers come in to disrupt the momentum which my favourite team so painfully gathers. And this frustration goes to a completely different level whenever the morning after an international match i find out that Mr X & Y (key players of my favourite team) gets injured .
Now, why is that ??? why do we love club football more ??? and why do our parents love international football ???
The best answer that i could find has nothing to do with football, rather the answer lies in the deep , dark world of Politics and Finance. As we all seem to know that cable television isn't a thing of the distant past. Its, only in the early 1990s when the doors of our economy was opened that cable television came into our lives. And therein lies the answer. As we all know, rather frustratingly that Doordarshan has for long been an outdated and stagnant channel. The advent of cable television , thanks to our current Prime Minister and the then Finance Minister , exposed us to a whole new world which we never knew existed. ESPNSTAR became the favourite channel of the people , especially the youth, and not just for cricket.........the broadcasting of the English Premier League managed to gather an audience which i am sure even the ESPNSTAR bosses couldn't have predicted. A whole new species of human beings was born.............
Yet, this new species was nothing in comparison to its elder cousin , the cricket fans......Nobody is opposing anybody from following and supporting cricket . Even I am an ardent follower of cricket. But, what we don't want to see is that this "elder cousin" bullying its younger brothers. The progress and commercialisation of cricket has been like "VISH" (poison) for all the other sports in India. Hockey, our National Game (don't know how many people know that nowadays) has gone backwards at a rate which is even faster then a Bullet train. Other sports like Badminton, Tennis , Motor Sports have tried to oppose this "Bully" by giving us superstars like Leander Paes, Saina Nehwal etc. but these games in general are still run in a state of neglect.
But, Football has somehow managed to, slyly and in a very encouraging way, managed to keep itself away from the strongholds of cricket and has now formed such a base whereby i have no doubts that after cricket, football is the biggest sport in India. That in such a short span of time ( since the early 1990s) football managed to attract so many fans is a testament of how great the game truly is. Football isn't the "King of World Sport" for nothing. But still, its not easy being a football fan. Cricket goes on all 12 months of the year but the Football season lasts for only 9 months (aug to may) . These 3 inactive months can test even the most recent footie fan. Although, the transfer market activities are on at full swing and the pre-season matches start from july , the tension, anticipation and pressure can really take a toll on oneself, especially if your favourite team hasn't had a good season last time.
All in all, in our country we can't seem to take defeat nicely when it comes to sport. Football, in that sense has risen above this "Win and Lose" philosophy. Of course, we all get disappointed when we see our team not doing well and this feeling gets 10 times worse when we see our rivals doing well. But, we all know that no matter what happens, there is always the next season.....A new season fills us all with hope and anticipation and we forget all of our disappointments of the previous season. Football, thats why you are great......
This brings us to the growth of interest in football among the Indian youth. Its not that people didn't love football in India, even my Dad loves football to an extent. People always loved Football in India. West Bengal has been the "Football Capital of India" even before we got our independence. But the love for football that we see now among the youths is very different from the love of the previous generations. People of the previous generations followed international football, mainly the World Cups whereas people of my age group follow club football . I can't describe the extent of my frustration whenever the International Football friendlies and the various Euro Cup or World Cup qualifiers come in to disrupt the momentum which my favourite team so painfully gathers. And this frustration goes to a completely different level whenever the morning after an international match i find out that Mr X & Y (key players of my favourite team) gets injured .
Now, why is that ??? why do we love club football more ??? and why do our parents love international football ???
The best answer that i could find has nothing to do with football, rather the answer lies in the deep , dark world of Politics and Finance. As we all seem to know that cable television isn't a thing of the distant past. Its, only in the early 1990s when the doors of our economy was opened that cable television came into our lives. And therein lies the answer. As we all know, rather frustratingly that Doordarshan has for long been an outdated and stagnant channel. The advent of cable television , thanks to our current Prime Minister and the then Finance Minister , exposed us to a whole new world which we never knew existed. ESPNSTAR became the favourite channel of the people , especially the youth, and not just for cricket.........the broadcasting of the English Premier League managed to gather an audience which i am sure even the ESPNSTAR bosses couldn't have predicted. A whole new species of human beings was born.............
Yet, this new species was nothing in comparison to its elder cousin , the cricket fans......Nobody is opposing anybody from following and supporting cricket . Even I am an ardent follower of cricket. But, what we don't want to see is that this "elder cousin" bullying its younger brothers. The progress and commercialisation of cricket has been like "VISH" (poison) for all the other sports in India. Hockey, our National Game (don't know how many people know that nowadays) has gone backwards at a rate which is even faster then a Bullet train. Other sports like Badminton, Tennis , Motor Sports have tried to oppose this "Bully" by giving us superstars like Leander Paes, Saina Nehwal etc. but these games in general are still run in a state of neglect.
But, Football has somehow managed to, slyly and in a very encouraging way, managed to keep itself away from the strongholds of cricket and has now formed such a base whereby i have no doubts that after cricket, football is the biggest sport in India. That in such a short span of time ( since the early 1990s) football managed to attract so many fans is a testament of how great the game truly is. Football isn't the "King of World Sport" for nothing. But still, its not easy being a football fan. Cricket goes on all 12 months of the year but the Football season lasts for only 9 months (aug to may) . These 3 inactive months can test even the most recent footie fan. Although, the transfer market activities are on at full swing and the pre-season matches start from july , the tension, anticipation and pressure can really take a toll on oneself, especially if your favourite team hasn't had a good season last time.
All in all, in our country we can't seem to take defeat nicely when it comes to sport. Football, in that sense has risen above this "Win and Lose" philosophy. Of course, we all get disappointed when we see our team not doing well and this feeling gets 10 times worse when we see our rivals doing well. But, we all know that no matter what happens, there is always the next season.....A new season fills us all with hope and anticipation and we forget all of our disappointments of the previous season. Football, thats why you are great......
No comments:
Post a Comment