Although Bangladesh ranks pretty low in FIFA rankings, the country has a passionate fanbase of football fans. The craze of football fans in Bangladesh often gets the limelight of the international media during the FIFA World Cups. A portion of that craze is visible in the beautiful photographs taken by @rashedul-alam in his post: Football madness in Bangladesh.
But this craze doesn’t get withered away after the world cups. Football fans cherish their support for their favorite football teams all year until the next world cup. But along with the support, there come the rivalries. Argentina and Brazil have the largest football fanbases in Bangladesh. During the world cup, fans of both teams compete with each other regarding the number and size of the team flags. This also involves heated discussions among the fans and shaming the fans when their team loses.
This bitter-sweet rivalry keeps on going even after the world cup. Students at schools, colleges and universities play football by teaming up with the fans of certain teams. During the holidays such as Eid, Puja or winter vacation, when people return to their native villages, different programs are arranged to increase social interaction and to provide entertainment to the villagers. The friendly football match is one of these programs.
These football matches are arranged between different types of groups such as the seniors vs the juniors, the married vs the unmarried, Argentina football fans vs Brazil football fans etc. After Eid-Ul-Adha on 29 June, I got a chance to spectate a friendly football match in Nanduhar-Iluhar United Institution field in Swarupkathi, Pirojpur, between Argentina football fans vs Brazil football fans, on 30 June.
Two matches were arranged in the afternoon on the local school field. One match was between the seniors and the other was between the juniors. The fellow fans of the respective teams gathered in the field to spectate the match and to support the teams. The players and the spectators were provided with yellow Brazilian jerseys and blue-white Argentinian jerseys by the organizers.
The first match was among the seniors. They are mostly married youths, so they hardly played football for a long time and didn’t get to practice much. But they had skills and tactics which made the game interesting. Again, the field was full of water as it rained frequently for the last few days due to the onset of the monsoon season. So, the football match in the soaking wet field was a fun sight to watch. The match was contested but ended in a 0-0 draw.
The second match was between the juniors, who were mostly teenage students. As they played more frequently than the seniors, they had more speed and stamina than the seniors. During the juniors’ match, the Argentinian fans team managed to score 2 goals and won the match with a score of 2-0, which delighted the Argentinian supporters.
Caption: A glimpse of the football match between the Argentinian fans and Brazilian fans. Video: @SadmanRafid
At the end of the match, the winning team was awarded with crests and tree saplings. Thousands of football lovers from Nanduhar and Iluhar villages and neighboring villages gathered to enjoy the football match and had a good time indeed.
Thank you for reading. Have you enjoyed a local football match recently? Let us know in the comments!
Click here to see more images and videos of the football match which I have shared on Facebook.