Love at first sight

It was the month of May in last year of the twentieth century and it was vacation time for all school going students. There was a huge hullabaloo about some football game on the sports channels and even my father seemed to be excited about this event. I had just turned 10 and the only game that interested me was Cricket. The ICC cricket World Cup was still a month away and the only programs that were being telecast on TV were re-runs of old cricket matches. Bored with reruns, I decided to watch this football match and gauge what all this excitement was about.

On that special day of May 26^th, I watched my first football match and I have never regretted that moment ever. It was a match between Bayern Munich and Manchester United but for me it was a match between a team wearing red and the other wearing grey. The match began with a player from the grey team kicking the ball into the net and Bayern led 1-0 at the break. As the match progressed, it became a very engrossing affair with one team trying to equalize while the other defending its goal with amazing grit and determination.

Something was happening on the field which was captivating my attention and that was the determination being displayed by the team in red. With every passing minute, they were knocking on the goal of their opponents and it was fascinating to see Bayern thwart their attempts. It was amazing to see their never give up attitude and their desire to grab that equalizer. The Manchester United eleven kept piling the pressure on their opponents. They were trying tirelessly but the time seemed to be slipping away and there was no sense of despair on the players’ faces.

The stipulated 90 minutes were over and an injury-time of four minutes was added. There was a prayer on my lips to give them one last opportunity to get a goal as they deserved to get that one final chance. Just when I had lost all hope for the red team, they struck and there were scenes of tremendous joy and even I jumped out of my chair with great elation. The biggest reason why I fell in love with the red side from Manchester was that they were not satisfied with the equalizer but they went for the winner and scored in the last minute of extra time. They had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and I had never watched something as exciting as this all my life. It converted me to a football fan forever.

It was love at first sight for me with ‘Joga Bonito’ or the beautiful game as they call it and I became a Red Devils fan for life. Not just plain entertainment, Football has also taught me that one should never give up and should do everything with passion, emotion and a never say die attitude.