The beautiful game

MULLINGS Easterine Kire [dropcap]I[/dropcap] think the Mohun bagan were shocked that Nagaland XI was able to take the pounding they gave and give back just as hard. It was a very closely won victory. The Nagaland team won by one goal. Never has football been fought so intensely before. We were in Class Ten that year and went to watch the game. I enjoyed the additional privileges of having uncles who were football heroes. Older girls bought me chocolate and candy. I easily amassed a year’s supply of Cadbury’s milk chocolate from their female admirers. All I had to do was remember to tell my uncles the names of the girls who had passed their regards to them. Some years ago, the NBSE featured a little essay either in their English textbook or Alternative English textbook called, «My life and the beautiful game.” It was the story of Pele, the legendary footballer and his lifelong affair with football. It was a beautifully written piece that made football dunces understand what the excitement was all about and why people who loved the game did so. I felt new appreciation for football after reading that essay. I certainly gained more understand of the game as an adult. I say that because I grew up in a football mad family and after a while, I think the game eventually became just another member of the family, except that it didn’t partake of family meals. It was otherwise very much present, in football uniforms and schedules, and the never ending stories of matches played and matches lost. My grandfather Pehielie Sekhose played football and after him, his son, Samuel Mezhür, took up the family tradition. They made Naga football history by playing the first match in which both father and son participated. As long as he was able to, Grandfather rarely missed a good football match in the local ground. I hear the spectators enjoyed watching him as much as they enjoyed watching the game, because Grandfather would be so impatient at the players that he would be kicking imaginary footballs from his seat in the podium. Grandfather passed on his love of football to grandsons in turn and one of his grandsons has long been president of the Football association. But it did not stop with the menfolk. Love of football infected the women in the family as well. My mother is a devoted football fan. The World cup is her favourite time of year. During the 2006 World Cup, Mother spent a considerable amount of energy instructing the Italian players how to defend and tackle and other footbally maneuvers she had learned from her father. In her opinion the Eyeties were too lazy. That was her way of watching the game. It was exciting because she could participate full on as a coach from her couch in Kohima. In addition, Mother’s brothers-in-law grew up to be footballers who took on no lesser than the Mohun Bagan team from Calcutta in the early 70s. That was football history in the annals of Naga football. To think that we defeated the elite Mohun Bagan team here at our humble little local ground! The year was 1973 and the matches were played very hard. I think the Mohun bagan were shocked that Nagaland XI was able to take the pounding they gave and give back just as hard. It was a very closely won victory. The Nagaland team won by one goal. Never has football been fought so intensely before. We were in Class Ten that year and went to watch the game. I enjoyed the additional privileges of having uncles who were football heroes. Older girls bought me chocolate and candy. I easily amassed a year’s supply of Cadbury’s milk chocolate from their female admirers. All I had to do was remember to tell my uncles the names of the girls who had passed their regards to them. I’m sure all Nagas know the bootball joke. It was attributed to football legend, Dr.T.Ao. Asked why Nagas played barefoot, he replied, “If it were to be played with boots, it would be called bootball, not football.” One has to travel to West Bengal to see how great a hero Dr.T.Ao was. Even in the late 80s his name was still spoken of with great reverence amongst the football loving crowd of Calcutta. This is a game for which Nagas have a lot of talent. We should do something about it, not just for a season, but on a regular basis. Raise up other players who can take on the baton won by Dr.T.Ao. I am convinced that they would find football in Naga DNA, besides religion and politics. But woe to all those Nagas who do not like football, and dare to express their views. They are considered as pariahs by the rest of the crowd. That is not right. For practical reasons, it is to the advantage of all and sundry that there are some who do not conform to the same likes as the majority. After all, who would be there to pass the files in our government offices if football fever were to afflict every member of the society?