FOOTBALL ENSURES ‘YOU WILL NEVER WALK ALONE’

For almost three weeks now, some regions in India have had sleepless nights… No… not because of the Gujarat or the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections. These people have had nothing to do with these polls (at least remotely). They have been staying awake for football’s biggest extravaganza, the FIFA World Cup 2022!Primarily, West Bengal, Kerala, Goa and the northeastern states have been India’s main “cheerleaders” for the football world cup. And for a month, there has been a sharp divide between people over supporting several teams and the main opposition has come from the Argentina and the Brazil camps. Initially, when Argentina was defeated by Saudi Arabia, the Brazil fans had mocked the team (Argentina) and now when they (Brazil) are out of the tournament after Croatia drubbing during the penalties, Argentina fans are grinning but keeping their fingers crossed. And mind you, all this excitement albeit the fact India may be 105th in world ranking. The Indian men’s national team maintained their 105th rank in the latest FIFA men’s rankings released (again) recently. There has also been a sharp divide between the cricket and football fans. Understandably, Indian cricket fans have had nothing to cheer about since mid-November as far as cricket is concerned and that is the time when the FIFA World Cup started. Since November, Team India have lost mostly everything they played. To be precise, we lost the T20 World Cup (needless to say how pathetically) and we also lost the ODI series to Bangladesh!

Our Men in Blue, of late, has had the habit of waking up after the requirement it seems. In a nonconsequential third ODI that was played for the record’s sake, Team India defeated Bangladesh but handed over the trophy to them! And for this entire month that is between midNovember and mid-December, if you have had an encounter with an Argentine fan and by “mistake” if you have praised the OUR Men in Blue, you have had it… The sharp retort would come in the following manner… “Chhere din dada, oi toh barota desh khele, tar aabar World Cup” (Just forget it brother, only 12 countries play cricket so what’s the big deal about its World Cup). Bengalis swear by football even as the race’s biggest international sporting icon, Sourav Ganguly, has been a cricketer! Bengali’s passion for the game has been such that it sees a Bengali-yana in all teams. We may be 105th in world ranking but note the way Bengalis feel about the Bengali-yana even in the names of the following players and the way these names are pronounced.

FROM DENMARK
Oliver Christen-sen, Joachim Ander-sen, Andreas Christen-sen, Rasmus Kristensen, Jens Stryger Lar-sen

FROM BELGIUM
Kevin-De, Romelu Lu-kaku

FROM ENGLAND
Luke Shaw (pronounced as Luke Saha…!)
Bukayo Saka (Upbeat Bengali fans also pronounce Saka as Saha)

LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST…
Lionel Messi from Argentina (whose name is pronounced by the aam Bengali in the following manner Lion Mashi)

IF YOU THOUGHT THAT THIS WAS IT, READ ON…
Ask any Bengali about the description of the ball used for the matches, the type of surface of the playing arena… etc 90 per cent of them will give you near perfect answers
Football is indeed a great game as far as its “attachment” with Queen’s language is concerned
The game has given several idioms etc to the language… sample this
Referee blows the whistle… and the term that has entered our parlance WHISTLEBLOWER
Kick-off, a football term is widely used in our daily lives
To be on the ball…
And Shifting the Goal post needs no explanation
This is a fun piece and no-offence meant

It is meant ONLY for fun reading!

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

ROBIN ROY The writer is Senior Journalist and former Managing Editor, First India