Football always has been my favorite sport. My school had a
football field partly grassy, partly bald, and we had vowed to make it fully
bald. Given a chance I would have gone to school, to play just football,
putting my books in the fireplace – ‘ouch that burnt’. Even the harsh Delhi
heat at 45oC couldn’t stop us from playing. I used to be extra happy
on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s; it was the sport’s day. Rest of the days we had to
sit on our benches half-sleepy, half-awake, as if in a state of trance.
We had a basketball court, 2 volley ball courts, full-fledged
gymnasium and a badminton court in the school, but my favorite sport was
football. My signature football gear was a pair of leather ‘Bata’ shoes, shorts
and the school T-Shirt. The leather shoes were a part of the school uniform. During
those days football studs would have been a luxury, I suppose. Today I see kids,
flashing their cool Nike football studs, even though they can't kick properly;
they would be happier playing a video game or two on their mobiles or iPads.
The school football ground was no less than a battleground.
You could actually envision it somewhat akin to the movie 'Saving Private
Ryan'. Just that the target here was to save the goal, and to kick the ball
into the opponent’s net. The bald portion of the ground would give way to a lot
of dust, making it a scene close to that of a bomb blast, and people running
amok. You could also see people kicking each other in the butt, if the ball was
tackled away from them. All in all it was a fun filled game, though a bit aggressive
at times. Yes, we were at full liberty to use our aggression to our advantage,
and to the disadvantage of the enemy.
Many tactics were used - fair / unfair to score a goal,
whether it be pushing, shoving, shouting while getting hold of the ball, or purposefully
hitting someone in the crouch - ouch that hurt (no wonder 'crouch' was called
just that - "crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-ouch").
If by chance I would reach the ground a little late, I would
first enquire the score, and then choose to be on the losing team’s side.
Common sense - losing team is weaker, and would need to push really hard to
score a goal; and there I was, the ‘messiah’ who would bring the losing team
their much anticipated ‘nirvana’. Siding with the losing team would also give
me the opportunity to play my best, whether in defense or in offence position. I
would usually play in the defense, and was considered a formidable wall against
all attacks. But, at times I would play in the attacking positing, and my
attacking was just that - attacking!
We would put in our best to score a goal; sometimes we would
win and sometimes we would lose. If we won we would take the heroic compliments,
for fighting the war so well. If we would lose, we would save the grudge for
another day.
It’s been many years that I am out of school now; but I
still play football with my office folks. Though a lot has changed now; the
patchy bald field has given way to the turf with artificial grass, fancy lights
and stands. The full-fledged football ground has given way to a much smaller 100x50
feet ground (roughly 1/4th of the full-fledged football ground). But, the love
for football is never ending and never dying.
You can take a footballer out of the ground, but you can’t
take football out of a footballer.
And yes, I am not one of those footballers who watch
football on their idiot boxes, like a couch potato, and wear football jerseys supporting
their respective teams. That seems melodramatically disconnected and
disoriented. My love is much more serious, damn serious…
Goallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll...
A true footballer!
