What the IPL means to me

120 seconds was all it took to change the power balance in the city of Manchester, England. Fans went nuts in Italy, Juventus had won the league in Italy. The streets of Madrid transformed into a carnival, the La Liga was finally back in Real Madrid. These were just few of the events in the past few days which indicate the emotional attachment a football fan has towards his club. In Argentina, apparently one of the major reasons for divorces is football-rivalry. The rivalry between Boca Juniors and River Plate in Argentina is legendary, and it has been documented that many couples have parted ways after a Boca-River Plate clash. When the plane carrying players went down, a part of Manchester died with them.

This all seems a bit too extreme, but I have always wondered what drives this madness. Is it money? Stardom? Celebrities? Believe me, I have thought about this. The answer lies in the history. These football clubs were started by ordinary people. People who look like any other ordinary mortal, people who earned just a little more than what their families needed, people who wanted a chance to escape from the world they lived in. When the world was going through a dark phase with waves of unemployment, poverty and hunger; people came together to start something that would bring the whole city together. This provided a chance for people of all classes, all religions to come together. When the club goes into a match, it is like going into war. It is like your brother on the pitch. You pray, you hope, you laugh, you cry, you celebrate and you live. The city lives. You might have worked 12hours a day on the docks and earned just enough to feed you and your family; but on saturday, you pray for Portsmouth. No matter how rich you are, no matter who you are; you cheer for your team. You cheer for your city. From Arsenal's website: "In late 1886, a gaggle of workers from the Woolwich Arsenal Armament Factory decided to form a football team." Coming to think of it: when a club plays football; it is not just any football game, it is a club which your great grandfather built or a club which gave you something to cheer for during your darkest hour. That does seem to be a strong enough reason to cheer for, isn't it? This also explains why even the 3rd division clubs have their stadiums full. The world of football is not about the Manchesters and the Real Madrids, it is about the fans. it is about the spirit of football, and how it influences the culture. If you think football is a sport, you are wrong. It is a culture, and it has no boundaries, no barriers. 

I always wished I could feel for a team as my own. Although I love Manchester United, I never feel as if I am a part of the club. It just does not seem to be mine. I always wanted a team to be "my team". And then RCB happened. The skeptics say "IPL is all about money", "IPL is only about profit". So what? Nobody told that it would be a charity event. I atleast have a team which I can call it my own. The IPL may mean so many things to people. Glamour, money, cricket, evil. But for me, I can finally support my city. On the match day, just for a little while; the city is united. A business executive sits with an auto driver and watches the match, a elite school student asks the paper-boy on the road "is RCB batting?". This is what sport can do to people, this is also what sport can do to the spirit of a city. Just for those 4hrs you forget the differences, the wrong-doings and all the short-comings of people around you. You just live the game. It also teaches you that you can love a West-Indian as much as you love an Indian, that you can love a Sri Lankan just as much as you can love a New Zelander. I am a romantic and a fantasist; I believe it teaches you the way life is supposed to lived.

Maybe it can never build a culture as deep as that of football; since our teams are built by liquor barons. But that does not matter, what matters is that you live the life the way you are supposed to. You love people for who they are rather than judging them because of what the founder of his country did.

Go on. Give your heart to sport. Be it a football team, a cricket team or a tennis player; just give your heart and mind to sport once in a while. It just might teach you how to live.