Euro 2012: Scariest fans in the world

The off-season is the most frustrating time for a football fan anywhere. The weekend is just something that comes after Friday and staying up late in the middle of the week will be considered as ‘suspicious’ and questions like ‘why is he awake’ and ‘where is my gun’ may float across the minds of disturbed neighbours.

Of course, one may argue that this could be the window of time when your creativity has the chance to nourish and be nurtured to satisfy the cognitive needs of the human mind. A time when you can open new doors and enter different worlds to expose yourself to new ideas, experience new avenues of life and begin the next season a new human being. A human being who reasons with opposing sides, not argue and scream. Instead, the Euro 2012 starts.

The Euro 2012 acts as a massive sigh of relief for fanatics everywhere. The prospect of spending three months of not looking forward to weekend fixtures, mourning about the lack of activity on the weekend, concentrating on atrocious activities like work and studies and ending up contemplating the meaning of life sends shivers down the spine. The common football fan needs his/her fodder on a regular basis.

The enthusiasm for the game in our country is at an all-time high. The game is fast gaining popularity and many, if not most already, prefer football over anything else, cricket included. The buzz around at the start of this year’s tournament is deafening. Facebook statuses and Twitter updates are dedicated to their favourite players and teams and it won’t be a surprise if the UEFA consider choosing India as a venue for a Euro sooner or later.

India’s poor standing in the football universe is quite a dampener for fans here but that doesn’t extinguish the love for the game. Which is why the Euro will garner a huge number of eyeballs from this part of the world. But then it got very scary when a friend of mine screamed at me because I thought the Spanish team was ‘just okay’.

Now, the words of that conversation may not be suitable to be printed on any material created by man or alien, but what really worried me were the eyes. Eyes, they say, are windows to the soul and the soul I was seeing was very reminiscent of how the devil would look if I had said hell was ‘just okay’.

Of course, I could’ve thrown open an atlas and asked said person to point out where Spain was but I cared for things like my limbs and my life. Football fans in India may be the most angry in the world. Any small comment made with a slightest bit of malice, expect a barrage of swear words pertaining mostly to your mother. Just the other day I said ‘the weather in Germany seems fine’ and a Ronaldo fan exclaimed ‘so you’re saying they’re better than Portugal, are you?’. I’ve given many exams in my life, faced my mother on a million occasions, but that may just be the most difficult question I’ve faced.

Our passion for the game could lead to wars, but between two different countries albeit without involving the population of those two countries. Passion for your team is one thing. Fanaticism is another.

The arguments on Facebook have begun. Portugal fans seem to be taking the first beatings and somewhere, Lionel Messi’s name comes up for no rhyme or reason. It’s great to see people being so passionate about the game. Let’s just stay alive until the start of the next season, yes?