Sing the internationale...

When Brazil lost a couple of days back, ripples of sorrow spread far, across a couple of continents and people in Kolkata shed as much tears as did any Brazilian….the waterworks were all the more copious because the team that competes with Brazil (and comes a close second) for the share of people’s heart and support in Bengali land, Argentina, lost a bare 24 hours ago in a heart-wrenching quarter-final…..



If an uninitiated person were to come to know of this and happens to be in Kolkata at this time, he would be forgiven for believing that half of the Bengalis have descended from Brazilians and half from Argentina (or vice versa)….the hypothesis will be given strength from the fact the streets of Kolkata are festooned with Brazilian and Argentinian flags (and some other countries as well, like Germany- seems all our favourite teams have been knocked out this time, except for France), and not only flags, side streets will be painted with murals of the football heroes from Ronaldinhio to Ronaldo to Zidane to Ballack, almost as if they were standing for the local elections!!!!



The fact that we are about as related to the Brazilians or the Argentines as we are to the Red Indians will come as something of a shock to him….but it is something that will not come as a surprise anymore to anyone who has been following international football for the last decade or so…..



Two things have happened at the same time…



Firstly, the spread of satellite television has brought the beautiful game to millions around the world, and the game has been assimilated by all people even if their own country don’t have a chance in a 100 years to make it to the world cup (as in India for example, unless something analogous to a Meiji Restoration happens in Indian football)….hence a vociferous fan base developed whose loyalty wasn’t limited to countries but to clubs as well….the fan in India is about as knowledgeable about his favourite club as anyone in the club’s native place….and the progress of the club in the championship is followed as closely and with as much bated breath as those of their native fans….and a large proportion of the sorrow and triumph is shared around the world via the boundary shattering internet….



The second is, that with a post-coldwar globalization shakeup, mobility of labour (read footballers) became very common…previous restrictions and quota systems of European clubs were lifted by an act in 1995 and a veritable rush of footballing talent rushed in from Africa, Asia and Latin America, each bringing its own footballing style on the world stage….the result of this, we could see during the shock defeat of France by Senegal in 2002…not many knew at that time that the majority of the Senegalese (including the goal scorer) played in the French clubs….then the South Koreans defeated the Italians…and the goal-scorer was an employee of an Italian club….the transfer of knowledge and technique was admixtured with the already existing football styles of the different continents…..



The setup of teams is also an indication of this positive side of globalization…thus the hero of France, Zidane is of Algerian descent (Algeria fought a bloody war of independence from France, its colonizer and there has always been a history of animosity between the two countries after that) and the majority of the ‘Les Blues’ are black (Le Pen, the French rightist presidential candidate mocked this and was defeated….the French team appealing against his remarks to the French public had no small effect), majority of the Australian wonder team of 2006 had players of Croatian descent and yet the Aussies celebrated them as Australians….the fact that people have accepted this side of football is a further proof that xenophobia is usually manufactured and not innate….



Today many footballing nations, especially those who are struggling to become equals (and becoming more and more successful with each outing) have foreign coaches and even some moderately successful ones have one too….the Portuguese have Scholari this time….



This transfer of knowledge and people have ensured that more and more people believe that they have a stake in the game, and with participation in the World Cup becoming more and more diverse and with different, exciting styles of the game in display and with results that would have been met with disbelief only a few years ago (Cameroon defeating Argentina in 1990 was a shocker, Ghana beating the Czech republic a little less so this time around….maybe in a decade or so, it would be a result at par with Germany defeating Italy or vice versa……)



Thus the world football is a newborn baby with many wonders yet to be seen and who doesn’t take interest in such a baby?….the intermingling of cultures and people and the exciting cosmopolitan nature of the game today is making it a game that even grandmothers take an avid interest in….



The global appeal of the game can be gauged from the fact that during the world cup carnival, the Indians winning a series in West Indies has almost passed unnoticed (cricket being the only game that Indians are competent in, perhaps because so few teams play, but maybe I being too harsh but if we look at hockey….)



So if people need to look at how globalization should work, they need to look no further than their TV sets today….its a living, evolving example of the success of one of the most contentious issues of our time…..



And why did I start with the example of Kolkata?? Because I wanted to show that the Bengalis have been international citizens long before the world woke up to it!!!!! The fact that the Bengalis have been die-hard supporters of Brazil since the late sixties (along with the murals and flags fluttering on the streets of West Bengal) is an ample proof of that….but then I have considered Bengalis to be one of the greatest people of modern times, but then again, I have always been a true-blooded Bengali.