I was surprised to notice that people around me, my football-loving friends included, were less excited or did not even know that Fifa had allowed Bangladesh direct entry into the Fifa World Cup 2018 qualifiers for the first time.
However, the same group of people kept a very keen tab on what our politicians have been up to. Thanks to the media, who seemingly have taken an oath that “bad news is breaking news.”
A nation which gets divided over BNP and Awami League also goes gaga over Brazil and Argentina. But no one seems to be excited over the news of Bangladesh being granted direct entry to the World Cup qualifiers. So, I am assuming that these days, the only thing that excites us is news about burnt vehicles and bombs.
So, according to the new regulations, the first 34 ranked teams of the current 46 members of Asian Football Confederation will play in the Fifa World Cup 2018 qualifiers directly. The remaining 12 teams will have to participate in the play-offs first, and the six winners will join the aforesaid 34 to complete the 40-team qualifier process.
This gives us a great opportunity to start planning and building a great team for 2018.
When the youth of Bangladesh think of politics, the temptation is to think of boring old men and women sitting around and pointing fingers at each other. When they think of football, well, they find the local football boring as well.
They think of the glitz and glamour of the Premier League or LaLiga – young millionaires driving fast cars and living the life most people can only dream of. This is where we have failed. Over the decades, we have popularised dirty politics and have let the excitement of our local football go down the drain.
Football and politics may seem a million miles apart, and in all reality they are. Yet the relationship between football and politics is unique. Football and politics share more similarities than some may at first assume.
Both have audiences of millions. Both generate extreme tribalism. Both share expectations, revel in triumphs and, yes, in rivals’ defeats. Like in all teams, there is infighting and disagreement along the way as well. There are tantrums and disciplinary proceedings.
In football, you keep passing the ball. In Bangladeshi politics, we keep passing the buck.
In football, players commit fouls. In Bangladeshi politics, fouls are called “violations of the constitution.” If there is a foul in football, the referee can warn or send a player out of the ground. In politics, the parliament is the referee.
In football you have critics who have never kicked a ball or set foot on a field but tend to getreally critical about strategies, game plans, and players’ abilities. In politics, by virtue of all the talk shows, we now get all these critics and intellectuals doling out ideas and criticising the strategies of politicians. If you ask them to take a penalty, in front of a crowd of 50,000, they will surely have a nervous breakdown.
Football can get dirty with rough tackles and fouls. So can politics.
Bangladesh needs to reinvent its football so that we can once again celebrate all that is good about this game, and through it, celebrate all that is good about the ordinary people up and down the country who are passionate about the game.
Let the politicians play their game of politics – it’s time for us to get serious about football.
