Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, On December 3 last year, 12,000 fans gathered at a venue in New Delhi to watch a football match; in Mumbai, another 5,000 got together to watch the same match that day. Yes, these 17,000-odd fans were watching a match on giant screens; they were fans of Barcelona FC and Real Madrid, the Spanish giants who played their La Liga match that day.
Two days ago in Mumbai, 2,569 fans turned up at the ground to watch India beat Chinese Taipei 5-0 in the first match of the Intercontinental Cup.
These numbers make one fact very clear: The Indian football fans — fierce supporters of Barcelona or Real Madrid or Manchester United — are not too keen about the Indian national team.
India, ranked 97th in the world, beat Chinese Taipei 5-0 on Friday, captain Sunil Chhetri scoring a hat-trick. He was delighted with his performance and the win, but he was very upset, too. After the game, he practically begged fans to “come out and watch us”.
“To all of you, who have lost hope or don’t have any hope in Indian football, we request you to come and watch us in the stadium,” Chhetri said. “It’s not fun to criticise and abuse on internet. Come to the stadium, scream at us, shout at us.”
Euro fans?
In countries such as England or Spain, many die-hard club supporters have disdain for fans from other countries such as India; they believe that these foreign fans are just “glory-hunters” who look to support only winning teams.
But the foreign fans don’t care, they’re hooked. Indians have got used to watching a higher level of football on TV, and they don’t care too much for the Indian football scene. Chhetri too referred to this. “Sometimes you guys think the level is not the same (as European teams), so why waste your time?” said Chhetri. “I agree the level is not the same, not even close… But with our desire and determination, we will try our best to make your time worth it.”
Kohli support
Chhetri found a backer in Virat Kohli, the Indian cricket team captain. “I want to request everyone to go to watch the Indian team play,” Kohli said in a video message posted online today. “Anyone who loves any kind of sport, go and cheer for the team in the stadium… Because they’re working hard.”
“This will go towards creating a sporting culture that is the vision for all of us to see in our country,” he added. “To be called a proud sporting nation, we must accept and support all the sports equally.”
Online support only?
Incidentally, Chhetri’s hat-trick against Chinese Taipei helped him achieve a proud feat: He’s now third on the list of international goal-scorers currently active. He’s got 59 international goals… And the two men ahead of him? Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Chhetri today said he’s got a lot of messages of support on his phone. “I got some 1000 messages on Whatsapp,” he said. “So whatever reaction I am getting, most of them are positive. If you somebody thinks that I was pleading, I don’t feel ashamed.”
Let’s see if the Whatsapp/keyboard supporters turn up at India’s next game, against Kenya tomorrow night.
