Despite the late-night and early-morning kick-off times for the football World Cup matches in the United States, Canada and Mexico, fans of the sport in Bengaluru, a city steeped in football culture and history, are lapping up the special atmosphere the tournament brings every four years in their own ways.
S S Shreekumar, an author, journalist, commentator, former footballer, and referee, states that the World Cup showcases the passion, history, and significance of football in the city.
He highlights that two football clubs in Bengaluru – Bangalore Blues and Bangalore Muslims – produced 14 Olympians between 1948 and 1960, including three who competed in multiple Olympics.
Physical reminders mark the history of football in Bengaluru. One notable example is the statue of Pele, which was created by the local community after Brazil won the 1970 World Cup. This statue still stands today in a small field in the lower-middle-class Gowthamapuram region of East Bengaluru.
Gowthamapuram has produced many footballers who have represented Karnataka and India over the years. Following the International Olympic Committee’s declaration of Pele as the sportsperson of the century, the people of Gowthamapuram decided to pay their own tribute.
“Behind the statue, there is a ground where internationals still gather,” Shreekumar said.
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In 1989, São Paulo, one of Brazil’s greatest clubs, came to Bangalore, and the crowd that turned up was enormous. “That people came out in those numbers for a football match in Bangalore in 1989 means the city’s passion predates the IPL era,” Shreekumar pointed out.
The World Cup has always animated the city, with hotels renaming menu items after teams and players to reflect the sport’s passion, he said. “Interest builds in the group stage and reaches its peak by the quarter-finals and semi-finals,” he added.
Demand for jerseys
The fact that the World Cup has grabbed attention in Bengaluru is also evident in unprecedented spikes in demand for football-related clothing and accessories at sports stores.
The stores attribute this to a convergence between the World Cup trend and jerseys blending into mainstream fashion. The top three sellers are Argentina, Portugal, and Brazil, driven almost entirely by Messi, Ronaldo, and Neymar.
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“Everyone wants their ’ goats’ jersey, since it’s their last World Cup,” said a store worker.
Another popular item at sports stores this World Cup season is the Spanish national team’s away jersey. “You can wear it when you are going to any party, you can wear it in the gym, you can wear it at any function,” the sports store claimed.
For Vardhan, secretary of the Liverpool FC Supporters Club, Bangalore, and most of the club’s core membership, their World Cup allegiances are inherited by whichever national teams Liverpool players represent.
In a city where European club football is followed almost religiously due to the significantly more frequent clashes, the engagement with the respective clubs accumulates a deeper connection than with the countries in the World Cup.
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Bangalore has official fan clubs for Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, and FC Barcelona, and, like Vardhan, the devoted among them pledge their allegiances to the countries of origin of their club’s players.
“One member supports Argentina partly because of Mac Allister, partly because of Messi. Messi is just too good a player not to support,” Vardhan concedes.
“Our bigger purpose is our love for the football club. So nothing else matters,” he said.
The real craze for football nestles in the old Tamil-speaking lower middle class colonies of East Bengaluru, like Gowthamapuram, Austin Town, Murphy Town, and Pillana Garden, where the football culture is older and deeper than any of the new affiliations toward European clubs triggered by the advent of live coverage of leagues in England, Spain, Italy or Germany.
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“In Austin Town, there is a ground where children play in the mornings and evenings, where names that mean something in Indian football, Xavier Vijay Kumar, Satish Kumar, first emerged. These are the ones that churn out real good football talent,” said Shreekumar.