While we get crazy about the World Cup , it is only worth it if ..... Every other street corner in central and northern Kerala villages is festooned with streamers of the green-yellow Brazilian and blue and white Argentine national flags. There are huge flex boards of Messi, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo. Sometimes, you come across the Spanish and German national flag streamers. Things are strikingly similar in Kolkata streets, where Argentina played ball with Lionel Messi leading the show. But where are the tri-colours? The 1986 World Cup in Mexico coincided with the arrival of television in a large number of Indian living rooms. Then there was Diego Maradona. The live telecast of World Cup and various European leagues killed Indian football. The knowledge that football can be played at such high-intensity and sublime levels was a free kick to the Indian fan. He has never recovered from that blow. There was hardly a connect with what he was witnessing at Salt Lake in Kolkata or at the Corporation Stadium in Kozhikode. Whereas marketing mavens sensed an opportunity at the advent of live telecast, Indian football lost its opportunity to grow. It lost its chance when the fan decided to tune into television channels rather than go to post-harvest paddy fields for a kickabout, or cheer his village side, and occasionally his national squad. The Indian football fan need to have a new commandment to love thy neighbourhood club as much as you love Brazil and Argentina .
Posted on: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 23:54:55 +0000
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