A bored 9-year-old sat in front of the television after dinner. No good cartoon programmes were on, so he decided to channel surf. Decided to watch something different, so he switched to sports. He decided to watch some football (or soccer, if you will). Luckily, there happened to be a match being played live. Red shirts against white shirts, played out in a stadium that was largely dominated by a sea of supporters sporting the former colour.
The scoreline read: MUN 0-1 TOT. 30 minutes on the clock. But it wouldn’t stay the same for long. The white shirts scored again. 0-2.
There was no way the red guys are coming back from this, the boy thought. That’s where he’d be proven horribly wrong. He decided to watch the remainder of the match. By the time the first half ended, there was no doubt in his mind that the white shirts would be the victors. But then, something special happened.
The Reds surged forward, relentless in their pursuit of a goal to half the deficit. That opportunity came when a penalty was awarded to the Reds. The penalty taker was a lean, young man, who had a muscular frame. He converted from the spot. By this time, the young boy was getting a little more interested in the game’s proceedings. The Reds charged on, tearing apart the White shirts’ backline in the process. Again, ten minutes after the first goal, the Reds scored. The boy tried to catch the name of the scorer: ROONEY – 10.
And again, a minute later, the lean, young man got the Reds a third by heading in a cross from Rooney. RONALDO – 7.
The boy started to take a liking to this team wearing Red, comprising of Rooney, Ronaldo and Co. But he didn’t have time to stop and think further. The Reds were winning, but they showed no signs of stopping.
By the time the match was done, the scoreline read: MUN 5 – 2 TOT.
Manchester United. That was the name of this team that had torn the team in white to shreds. I took an instant liking to this team, and it’s #10, Rooney, in particular.
The team crest looked nice to the boy as well, which served to increase his fancy for this club.
This was how I was (properly) introduced to the sport of football. This was how this Obsession of mine for the Beautiful Game started.
I’m a 21-year-old college kid from India, waiting to graduate with his Engineering degree, after which I’ll be choosing a field as far from Engineering as possible. I’ve seen my club, Manchester United in it’s heyday with the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson, the sudden crumble during the Moyes era, the frustrating van Gaal stint, and Jose’s Mourinho’s period of *slow* transition. Safe to say United is a club that’ll test your heart rate and send your emotions spiraling every which way, ranging from uncontrollable euphoria to inconsolable anguish. I guess that’s what makes us football fans so passionate about the sport. It brings out the good and bad sides of us. Clubs and countries battling it out for sport’s biggest prizes, while the whole world watches. Like Nokia, football also has its ways of Connecting People. But y’all football fans don’t need me to tell you this again.
As long as football goes on, us fan(atic)s will always be out there giving the team all kinds of stick, or defending the team as if our lives depend on it, or just let everyone know what we think about, plain and simple. So I’ll be putting out updates regularly; mainly European football (and Manchester United, obviously), but also a wide scope of other random topics ranging from Herbert Chapman’s Arsenal to Johann Cruyff’s legacy to Phil Jones’ hysterical faces.
So this was just an introduction. Hope you like what I publish, and feel free to share (*please*) my content with others.
Sarma out.
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