And for a Friday in Trivandrum awaiting the World Cup final match, some thoughts….. some musings…..
Come Sunday 8.30 pm, sports lovers and particularly football fans will be glued to their TV sets. Of course, the few thousands of the most privileged will be at the Qatar stadium to watch Argentina take on France for the most coveted Football World Cup 2022. This edition of World Cup has been exceptional for the fact that it is being held in these parts of the world. Though full of controversies, nobody can deny that Qatar did an exceptional job in showcasing the magic of the Petro dollar when combined with the technical and global expertise in converting deserts into green zones for football matches in comforts. The extraordinary human resources from South Asia in general and India in particular, in constructing and delivering all the infrastructure was absolutely phenomenal.
Lionel Messi, the Argentinian Captain is almost God incarnated in football crazy Kerala, Goa, Bengal, North East etc. etc. Young boys and girls are buying up the last of the available “Messi T-Shirts” at double and triple the normal prices to watch their hero in football stadiums and other community TV gatherings. Argentina which came to Qatar as the most favourite (they were unbeaten in their last 36 matches) were rudely jolted by the Saudis who beat them 2-1 in the first match. Saudi King was so excited that he proclaimed a National Holiday and a Rolls Royce car to every player. Football is undoubtedly the world’s most popular sport. The winning team on Sunday will take a prize money of about 400 crores plus all the other bonuses. Compare it to the IPL Cricket whose prize money looks a paltry 2 crores. Cricket legends Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma take home around 15 crores annually as compared to Mbappe, Messi and Neymar who have a walloping 400 to 800 crores. That’s the money power of Football at the highest level.
In a troubled polarised VUCA world, it’s sports events which lets all of us be happy. Let’s enjoy the sports, the involved way, the fun way, the SEEGOS way.