Football match

Ok, so enough philosophizing for now. Let’s talk about something more of the folks back home will care about- sporting events! I attended my first football match in India on Saturday evening. It was a match between the “Tibetan National Team” (not sure exactly what that means though… exile national team?) and “an Indian Football Club.” It was a walk from the main area to the “field” (a big dirt arena looking space at the biggest school in the area, TCV), but hundreds, if not thousands had turned up for the match. Now most events that go on in McLeod are often full of westerners and tourists. I don’t know if the locals just aren’t as interested in the events going on as foreigners or if they don’t have time, etc, but again, many of the events are crawling with foreigners. But, for this event, there were hardly any westerners present- the stadium was loaded with locals, mostly Tibetans.

The match was a charity match (as indicated by the chalked circle in the center of the field, reading “Yushu Charity Match”) and all the entry donations made were doing to help the victims of the earthquake in the Tibetan area of China just a short time ago (see this http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8619135.stm for more information). With all the people attending, they must have made a lot of money, money that was all going to the victims of the earthquake. Very cool. And really says something about these people I am living amongst.

So I’m sure people would wonder, what is a football match like in India? How is it different? I hate to be disappointing, but any words that I will use to describe the match could probably be used to describe almost any other sporting event. The crowd cheered with gusto as players made great plays, booed at the errors and faulty plays, made noises to distract the other team, and laughed at the silly errors of both times (although I think laughter comes much easier and louder for Tibetans). Some things, including crowd reactions at sporting events, seem to be universal, and the same everywhere. Little kids mimicked the cool moves the players did, people yelled out at the players, gave side commentaries like “nice play!” people ate snacks, and did many of the exact same things I have done at sporting events. I think one of the only moments that I was aware that I was in India was when a cow made an entrance onto the field in the middle of the match. The crowd roared with laughter as the cow ran through the stadium. I never have seen something like that in the states.

Goal! And the crowd goes wild!

At the end, the players from both teams gathered in the center and appeared to shake hands (much like our “high five” “good game” huddles). Then all the players made a big circle and waved to the crowd, maybe as if to say thanks for coming and goodbye (I’m not sure).

A quirky moment happened right after. A man who I had noticed before (he had a big shaggy beard, not common among Tibetans, and a big pair of sunglasses) ran down to the field and started dancing. People watched and laughed loudly at him. As he continued, a crowd of young kids came down to watch him and gathered around him.

He even climbed the goal post and goofed around. It just made me stop and wonder, would we have the same reaction to a goofy man at the end of a match? Would have the same reaction, just watch and laugh? Or just think man, that guy had way too much to drink during the match?

(He's the man to the far right, in the green shirt with sunglasses)

And yes, even monks enjoying watching the football match!