Week 30: Main Report – India and Football

[print_link] | Subscribe: Main Report Last week, I visited Mumbai, India. Mumbai is arguably the most cosmopolitan city in India, the business centre, and home to 12 million Mumbaikers. While I was there I saw people walking around sporting Manchester United and AC Milan fake tops, Beckham T-shirts, and in the shop windows there are Chelsea, Man United, and Real Madrid school bags. Despite this, I hardly saw anybody playing football in the streets or in the many parks and beaches in the city. And there was nothing about local football in the newspapers. Why don't most Indians play or follow football? The current India squad is ranked 132nd in the world by FIFA but has not been successful in any major footballing tournament for nearly 50 years. While there is a national league, the I-League, most people I asked didn't know any of the teams or players. This is contrast to their huge Asian neighbour, China with a comparable population and even less tradition in the sport. China has a thriving national league, despite all the scandals that we've talked about on languagecaster, and they are now the reigning East Asian champions, winning the crown ahead of Japan and South Korea, teams that have qualified for the World Cup on several occasions. The reason football is such a minor sport here is simple - cricket. Brought by the British, this sport is so huge hear there is no room for football. Here are the views from some young teenagers playing beach cricket. Damon: OK I'm at Juhu beach with some Indian men Boys: Yeah. Yeah. Damon: And they're playing cricket. Now, which is best? Cricket or football? Boys: (All) Cricket! Damon: Why? Why? Boy 1: Because I like it. Damon: You like it? Boy 2: Most playing game cricket. Boy 3: But, most important ... is football because many countries play that... Damon: OK. Do you have a favourite football team? Boys: Yeah I have / Manchester United / Man U Damon: Man U? Boys: yeah. Damon: What about Liverpool. Boy 3: Yeah, it's good, but we like Man U. Damon: Man United? OK. What about Barcelona? Boys: (All) laughing / (One) I don't know. Damon: You don't know? Boy 3: We know about AC Milan Boy 4: Barcelona, AC Milan and Real Madrid. Damon: Big teams. Boy 3: Yeah big teams Boy 5: ... Beckham! Damon: Beckham? OK! He's wearing a David Beckham shirt. OK, what about Indian football teams? Boy 5: No. Boy 3: It is not so famous... Damon: Mumbai's football team? Boys: No. Damon. Nothing. OK. Today, India vs South Africa in cricket. Who will win? Boys: (All) India! Football is on their radar but for most kids it is simply a brand to wear, just like Adidas and Nike clothes, and for the older generation, it's a new, foreign sport they know about but don't connect to. However, on one early evening I sat watching one of many impromptu cricket games when a group of fifteen or so five- and six-year olds, scrambling after a ball while being watched by their teacher, kicked the ball into the area where a cricket game was going on. The kids' teacher and the cricketers argued about where the boundaries of each game were and finally withdrew back to their games - the young children in Man U, Liverpool and Chelsea tops on one side and the men in jeans and polo shirts to their side. I wonder what will happen when those six-year olds grow up. Will they move on to cricket or continue playing football? Vocabulary mumbaiker: a resident of Mumbai (Londoner - London, Scouser - Liverpool, Manc - Macnhester) to sport: to wear, display thriving: if something is thriving, it is doing well reigning: current champions, holders of a title on the radar: be aware of, know about impromptu: casual, started with little planning, spontaneous to scramble: to run (chaotically)