When Asians Fell In Love With Football.

You sit among a thousand people unknown,
All the hearts here beat in sync. Yours is not alone.
Team anthem unites you, you wear the same colour,
The crowd roars as one, as it hails the goal scorer.
Stadiums deluged by fans and their emotions,
That is when you realize
"Football is just a sport" - One of those big fat lies.

Thousand? Tis a family of maybe a couple billion,
One brother is African, one sister is Asian.
Had your supper, now you head for the match,
While of your brothers has a flight to catch.
Thousands of you sing the anthem of the tribe,
While the rest, miles away, feel this euphoric vibe.
It is a way of life; not just a sport afterall,
Our family: Divided by distance, united by Football.

Being a brown child is not so easy afterall. You might be the lone child (well this was hardly the case in the dying 20th century!). We brown people are very much particular about some of our stuff, namely food, festivals, god and cricket. A new splash of colour is being added to the canvas - Football. People stereotype Football fans as Europeans. I mean seriously?! I am a big time Football Fan. I know all the struggles I and my friends bear, just to watch some quality football. In my opinion, the efforts we put in are just an inch above magnificent, and then some channels just don't cooperate with us.

I am the only person in my joint family, who watches football. For me 1:30A.M. is a match time. But for my parents, it is sheer wastage of my sleep hours. Everytime a player scores a screamer, I have to hoot silently because "Night is meant for sleeping, not for being a nyctophile". I have to hush my oven, else my neighbors would report a burglary. These are just some petty issues. Real problems are "real" problems.

You know what the worst part is? Indian television network buys the viewership rights of selected leagues. There are five tier-1 leagues and Indian channels broadcast only two, or sometimes even three.

Viewership rights issue created a havoc on 7 February, 28 February and March 3 this year. These three dates witnessed the Football world's most famous rivalry: El Clasico. Cricket lovers who don't know what did those Spanish words denote, it is the name given to the match between the best two clubs of Spain and arguably the bests in the world, FC Barcelona v Real Madrid CF. Asian fans had to take recourse to Facebook live and Youtube Live, thanks to Indian channels who were busy showing highlights of 2012 South Africa v West Indies cricket game.

And how can I forget in-school rivalries. I remember beating a senior in a debate on whether Lionel Messi is better or Cristiano Ronaldo. Now I realise that this is that one question to which, not only world football but even gods are finding an answer. From boys copying Neymar’s hairstyle and Cristiano’s celebration, to girls still drooling over David Beckham, we are no less than the Football trend setting masses. Most surreal yet the most heartening thing that Asian fans could have done was witnessed in Kerala last year. Yes, in India only. Almost all the houses in North Kerala were painted in the colours of the 32 participants of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Then these fancy jersey’s catch your site! If you are stepping on the field with a football, make sure you are in a proper kit. In street football, two players would hardly ever wear the same team’s kit. But again, this shows that no matter which team you support, our love revolves around that one ball. And then, after scoring a goal, you enact the celebration of the name you wear on your back. Buying merchandises of that particular club.

I am a Barcelona fan, or as they call themselves “Cules”. For me, every match is like “More Messi show, More Stagen saves, More Pique tweets.” Camp Nou is undoubtedly in my Wanderlust list. Mes que un club – the club motto, which means More than a Club, somewhere makes me yet another member of the Barca family. Sitting at home, I watch them sing the club anthem, for that matter, whenever I watch any club anthem being sung at the stadium, it’s not like the spectators in the stadium or the viewers at their homes are together. Feels like two families are supporting their members, just to give this world 90 minutes of pure love, smiles, cheers and tears. It never makes me feel like I am any less than a Spanish boy sitting in the stands. Safe to say, for any Asian fan, a 90-minute game is possibly the best trade-off for an hour-and-a-half long sleep. Being an Asian Football fan makes me no less a Football Fan.

A battle with no blood, A war with no knife.
Football: More than just a sport, it is a part of our life.