If you keep faith in the Beautiful Game, the FIFA World Cup would arrive every four years as manna from heaven, a cornucopia that is soul food as well as sensual indulgence. While Indian football fans have not thrown up a team their countrymen could root for, they have absorbed, nay inhered, world football through the decades. The natÂÂure of fandom has changed too바카라from those who fought over broadsheets to read about 바카라what happened last night바카라 to those who can now plug a pair of earphones into their smartphones and transport themselves into a live game. Football has been changing too, with the technology revolution laying its hand on the techniÂques of football, as on everything else. Yet, in its essence, it바카라s still what a lay observer will say it is: 22 indÂÂividuals on a lush field running after a leather orb.
FIFA World Cup Fever In India: Gali Gali Football Shootball
Following matches through radio static to plugging in바카라Indian fans have been steadfast as ever. But has the dazzle of European soccer held us in enthralled stupor?
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It is not that simple though, isn바카라t it? The origins of provincial partisanship are layered enoÂugh. The Indian fan from Bengal always had the 바카라big three바카라 of East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and MohÂammedan Sporting to expÂend their energy on, though greats like Hungary바카라s Ferenc Puskas were also celebrated. With the dwindling of Indian footballing prowess on the world stage from the 바카라60s, the fan바카라s assÂociation with the game has gone through a radical shift. Experts beliÂeve the game-changer in the post-War World Cup era to be the allÂure of watching MarÂÂaÂÂdÂÂona running defences ragged in Mexico on colour TV in 1986.
Telstar was the first official World Cup ball supplied by Adidas in 1970 and they have been doing it ever since. The Jabulani used in 2010 was very controversial, while the one used in Brazil in 2014 was called the Brazuca.
바카라It started in 1958, with Pele and Garrincha,바카라 says football writer Novy Kapadia. He says that prior to that the WC had been won by 바카라predominantly White teams바카라 and the common belief was that 바카라Blacks don바카라t have the temperament to last a full world cup바카라, something that was said about the West Indies cricket team of that era as well. 바카라Brazil shattered that.바카라
The Indian fan바카라s identification바카라at an elemental, visceral level바카라with the Latin American magicians, says Kapadia, started in Calcutta, 바카라which alwÂays had a passion for football, besides being a revolutionary city with a shared passion for Marxism. So, Brazil became a anti-colonial force, showing the White man his place. It was also the kind of football Calcutta clubs used to play, for we couldn바카라t play the physical game.바카라 Referencing anoÂther football hub, Kapadia says Goa, too, has backed Brazil with their 바카라PortuÂguese past바카라. 바카라In the 바카라50s and the 바카라60s, when I was growing up, India supported only one country, and that was Brazil,바카라 he says.
The WC invades a restaurant kitchen in Delhi바카라s Humayunpur
Football writer Jaydeep Basu mostly agrees. 바카라We did have some love for Brazil. It was in those pre-바카라92 days. Those days, we still had some sympathy for the downtrodden,바카라 he says, adding that India바카라s Third World status and Brazil바카라s success led us to have a 바카라soft corner for them바카라.
The radio had a stranglehold바카라with imagination in lieu of colour and picture바카라over the earliest generation of football fans following the action on a corner of a foreign pitch. Basu mentions that the first live World Cup game he saw was in 1982, while earlier he used to follow them on BBC. 바카라WC was not exactly a great event till 1982, when they started telecasting it,바카라 he says, mentioning that it became a 바카라rage바카라 on TV. In 1982, there was more coverage, but the World Cup was first telecast, from the semis, in 1978. In 1986, then PM Rajiv Gandhi바카라s intÂervention ensured the Mexico World Cup was telecast in full, and in colour.
Women at a kickabout on a paddy field in Baska, Assam
Kapadia refers to the BBC World Service as a 바카라saviour바카라, saying, 바카라My generation never saw the World Cup, we only heard it on radio. Prior to that we used to go to the British Council to read.바카라 He recalls how they relied on two-minute newsreels made by the Films Division, where they saw Geoff Hurst바카라s hattrick win the 1966 edition for England and that goal by Carlos Alberto from Pele바카라s pass. 바카라I think the first WC Doordardshan broadcast, five days after the final, was Germany vs Netherlands in 1974, close to 11 at night, which football lovers watched on black-and-white,바카라 he reminisces. Kapadia says his first live WC games were in 1982, while the next 바카라big change바카라 was the heavenly marriage of Maradona and colour TV. 바카라It was the first time urban India had colour TV and almost all of the WC was live. There was also the genius of Maradona and that바카라s how people became Argentina fans. Now, Calcutta itself is divided betwÂeen Brazil and Argentina.바카라
바카라1986 was my first live WC; God바카라s World Cup as I call it. We didn바카라t have a TV at home and the WC was in Mexico, so the games would kick off at two at night. We바카라d go to someone바카라s house who had a colour TV,바카라 says a football enthusiast.
Fans pose before a Neymar grafitti in Calcutta
Diego바카라s double-take on EngÂland in 바카라86 will probably be etcÂhed in the minds of generations to come바카라it was the beginning of the explosion of the football indÂuÂstry, with media and live coverage that is unmatched in any other world sport. The 바카라90s broÂught European club football courtesy satellite TV and names like Manchester United, LiverÂpool, Barcelona and Real MadÂrid entered our football lexicon.
With that started football바카라s slow saturation over the IndÂian landscape. Earlier, it was the 바카라hubs바카라 that watched it바카라West Bengal, the Northeast, Kerala and Goa. After satellite TV바카라s massive ingress, India started becoming a football natÂion. Not in terms of infrastructure, or ability on the pitch, but in terms of interacting with the game. Current fans바카라there are legÂions of them바카라are gluttons for EurÂopean club soccer. Devvrat Badoni, 27, a teacher and football fan whose first expÂerience of the a live WC game was in 1998, concurs, and thus exhibits how our old, South AmeÂÂrican loyalties were now on slippery ground. 바카라Between 1998 and 2008, Indians revolved mostly around England, as we were expÂosed to the Premier League. The 2002 WC was all Ronaldo and Beckham for us,바카라 says BadÂoni, mentioning that loyalties again shifted when the La Liga from Spain and other European leagues were telecast, not to mention the mothership바카라the Champions League. 바카라Now the Indian fan is more divided and plays more football,바카라 he opines.
A pair of jackfruits get a partisan jacket in Kozhikode, Kerala
바카라My first brush with the World Cup was in 2002,바카라 says Sachin Kumar, a marketing professiÂonal. He says he 바카라kind of바카라 bacÂked England in 2006 바카라due to Steven Gerrard바카라 (then of Liverpool), saying the game-changer was the 2005 ChaÂmpions League final, where a Liverpool side came back from 0-3 down against AC Milan to win it. His loyalties again lay with England in 2010, while in 2014, he just wanted to watch 바카라good football바카라. Badoni mentions that he switched from backing England in 2002 to the NetÂÂÂÂhÂÂerÂÂÂlands, 바카라who sadly didn바카라t qualify바카라 for Russia.
Shivang Sah, a marketing professional based in Dubai who started watching the EPL in 2002, and so supported England in 2006, says he wants either of Brazil or Argentina to win. 바카라I want good football,바카라 he says.
A Brazil fan stamps his scooter with his team바카라s stars in Kozhikode
Dedicated sports channels and saturation media coverage have meant protracted exposure to the highest standards of play. A teenager now knows what a fully-Âfit Mohamed Salah brings to the table for Egypt after following his exploits for Liverpool in England and Europe. Basu reckons that while this is beneficial in terms of exposing an audience to a level of play, it may be detrimental in the long run.
바카라If the novelty of WC was lost, it wasn바카라t because of the TV coverage; it was because of the money that came into EuroÂpÂean football. Lots of great players, including Pele, played in their home country바카라that was the maximum they could earn. Now, every top Latin American player is in Europe,바카라 says Basu. As a result, 바카라there is little difference바카라once almÂost civilisational바카라betÂween the South American and European styles of football. Now if people talk about the Latin American style, it is only rhetoric. It is completely European now.바카라
In Icchapore, near Calcutta, residence, tea shop and supporters parade Argentinian stripes
Basu also isn바카라t a fan of the culture that this exposure has spawned. 바카라The biggest problem in Southeast and East Asia are repÂeat telecasts of matches, which sends you into a make-Âbelieve world. Result: football from India doesn바카라t get space. The Barcelona or EPL standard has been reaÂched after nearly 100 years of hard work and 50 years of terrific youth development. We are dazzled by the amazing skill on show, but no one is telling us how this was achieved. So, when a 10-year-old wears Rs 8,000 boots and a Real Madrid jersey, he thinks that will take him to that level. There are 100 steps in-between.바카라
Basu바카라s penetrating, if depÂrÂesÂsÂing, insight, wouldn바카라t have occuÂred to the average passionate Indian fan on a crescendo of football fever. For we are more than viewers; in our chosen colours we would embody, over the next four weeks, the purest patriotism there ever can be.