My Mother Loves Football; Does Yours?

The Football fever is in air. Germany kick started with a 4-2 win over Costa Rica (I never knew they were officially CRC; My wife had trouble locating them on world map; FIFA however solved the problem by giving two teams different colours. That helped). The atmosphere is charged with 'Goal' screams.

The modern sports audience is more driven by marketing skills of the Sports federations than the interest. Some people argue it is win-win situation either way. In India, a traditional cricketing country, Football fever has caught on. Even I am considering buying a Brazil T-shirt (you would argue that, it is more to support the Brazilian bikini clad supporters than the team, but hey, not everybody knows that Ronaldo and Ronhaldino are two different people!).

A game, with historical lineage going back to 2nd century BC in China, has become a worlwide phenomenon today. Traditionally known as 'game of peasants', caught on with most of the developing nations. The only game that can be played by poor, rich, smart and not-so-smart (according to EMA scheme in England, the football players are the dumber than most other sportsmen, except Snooker players who are the dumbest). It is unfortunate that the game has not caught on that much in India (even when we have many not-so-smart people!). However like many other things we are getting there, starting with buying T-shirts for Football (this alone should let us through qualifying rounds in world cup). The commercial football in India is still in nascent stages. I recall the football games in my college days, which included more fights than required in the sports of this nature. Of course, commercial sense has not entered in the sports then. I am sure that would have brought some sense to the proceedings at the time.

I had rather unusual partner watching the game yesterday, my mother! I could not find the reason for her interest. I suspect it was more out of protest to my father's addiction to cricket. She said it was more to do with 90mins and speed of the game. Whatever the case is, she enjoyed it to the boot (pun intended). The timespan of Football game is indeed admirable (and really, you can not get 20 grown men to play with one synthetic ball for more than 90 mins, no matter what the rewards are). It takes all the ingenuity of a willow, stumps, small leather balls, stodgy umpires, complicated rules to keep 22 men engaged for more than 5days. Even then only British and their colonial subjects can enjoy it. Football on the other hand has much broader fan base. All it takes is good running skills, and ability to kick (the ball or opponent, depending on the preference at the moment). Cricket requires ability to fudge the seams of the ball, fool batsman with LBWs, match-fixing, good deal of shouting to threaten umpires and white clothes (this last one is real stupid, somebody has to tell them).

The game yesterday was real treat, with Germany scoring 4 goals. I asked my mother what she liked most apart from the speed and spirit of the game. Her answer though predictable, was rather unusual. She said, 'All players played well, but the goal by Torsten Frings was fantastic'. I did not know the name of Klose or Frings before the game yesterday. Looks like I have to work hard on my football fan skills. After all I have to keep up with my mother..