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THE BIG EVENT

Jul 24, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

I am so glad that the FIFA World Cup 2014 is over. My pleasure at the end of this tournament has nothing to do with who won or who lost. It has nothing to do also with the quality of the football.
The reason I am happy is because finally I can get some relief from all those overnight football experts, both men and women. Boy, I did not know that so many women followed football. Not only did they try to convey the impression that they loved the game but they also seemed to have become masters of football strategy, overnight.
During the World Cup, I tried to watch the matches alone. And after every match, I kept very far from anyone that I knew. Both man and woman!
I kept my distance because I really did not wish to endure a lecture on why this team lost and what they should have done and which player cannot play the game. As far as I am concerned all the players in the FIFA World Cup tournament are top performers. But the way these overnight analysts were going on you would believe that some of them would do better than the professionals who turned out to represent their countries.
I did not know that so many women knew so much about football. It shocked the daylights out of me! But I really could not stand listening to the pre-game projections and the after-game analyses by some of my friends. A lot of what they were telling me sounded very familiar with the comments on Mike and Mike before the games and on the after- game wrap-up. But perhaps it was mere coincidence that the views on these sports shows were the same as those of my friends.
I am glad the football is over because all this analyses was too much for me. At times, I was tempted to ask all those who were talking about football if they could explain to me the offside rule. I heard a lot of people complaining about a few offside decisions that went against the team they were supporting. And every time they complained, I wanted to ask them to explain this rule. But then I said to myself if they can understand football tactics so well, they have to know the rules of the game.
I did not know that so many persons in Guyana loved football. I hope to see them when next there is a local football match involving Western Tigers and Alpha United. Some of the coaches in Guyana could do with the advice. And the sport in Guyana does need a heavy injection of public support. If Guyanese spent one tenth of what they spent watching the FIFA World Cup 2014, football in Guyana would be in a sound financial state.
In all of the hype over FIFA World Cup many people in Guyana missed the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament. The tournament, which was held during the time when the World Cup was being staged, suffered as a result of all the attention of the games in Brazil. Perhaps we have seen the last of Roger Federer at a Grand Slam final.
What I found truly amazing though was Argentina, who has won the FIFA World Cup on two occasions. They were in this year’s finals but lost to Germany. When the defeated team returned home, the President of the country greeted them at the airport and confessed that she is not a soccer fan and in fact did not watch a single game in the tournament, not even the final. If that statement was made by the President of Brazil she would have had to resign  immediately.
The same local fanaticism with the big games event that I saw in Guyana during the FIA World Cup 2014 is the same thing I am seeing in terms of the Caribbean Premier League. The National Stadium was sold out during the three matches that were hosted here.
The response of Guyanese was overwhelming. But did all of those who went to those matches really love cricket as much as you would think? Or it is the big event or the need to be part of it that led to the massive spectator attendance.
I trust that now that the dust has settled that local cricket fans will turn out in their numbers to support the national Under 19 cricket team just as how they turned out to support the Amazon Warriors in the CPL.
Something tells me however that they will not!

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