Despite the dominance and unquestionable popularity of cricket in Bangladesh’s sports arena, it’d be futile to argue against the fact that it is actually World Cup football, which takes place every four years, is more appealing and exerts its irresistible global supremacy across all nations on earth, including Bangladesh. Therefore, it’s hardly a surprise that the same old phenomenon in the form of football fever has gripped the nation this time also and issues of debate in every corner are related to Brazil or Argentina, Messi or Neymar, Germany or Spain. Needless to say, this fever will continue until the final whistle is blown on July 13’s finale at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
However, there has been something uniquely strange this time as far as the football fans of Bangladesh are concerned. Although the fans from this country are traditionally divided between Argentina or Brazil, a certain number of them who support either Brazil or Argentina, formed a humorous Facebook group (Honduras Football Team Supporters of Bangladesh) and crated an event page (We’re crazy fans of Honduras football team from Bangladesh) to show their support to Honduras, the lowest ranked team in World Cup 2014. Although the event, where more than 47 thousand of football fans from Bangladesh belong to, initially carried a deliberate satirical undertone, it managed to catch the attention of Honduran people who mistook it for a positive gesture towards their team from the people of Bangladesh.
So this apparent love for Honduras in the virtual world found another form of expression as fans started ransacking the market for Honduras’s jerseys and flags. The shop owners in the capital’s Gulistan were also aware of the demands of this new species of customers and wisely stocked more jerseys of Honduras than many other participating countries in the World Cup and the details of this jersey business may surprise you.
Palash, who sells sports goods and body fitness equipments in a shop named ‘Life Care’ in the hockey stadium market in Gulistan, said they had so far sold more than 400 Honduras jerseys during the World Cup and the number was increasing everyday. Their shop has both the home and away jerseys like most of the sport shops around them. He also added that the blue away jersey was the popular one as it outsold the home one which is white in color. Majority of his customers belonged to young generation of Dhaka, but Palash winked and chuckled while adding, “There are many girls too.”
Fahad, a BBA student who was looking for a Honduras jersey in the footpath of Gulistan, is a Manchester United fan who started supporting England for David Beckham and now supports Honduras also. “They are probably the weakest team in the World Cup but their jersey is cool,” said Fahad.
The jersey business has been so booming that apart from the shops selling sports equipments, electronics shops have also brought in jerseys exclusively for the World Cup. One such shop is Pacific Electronics located in the same area, which sells Honduras jerseys and told to this reporter that around 7-8 Honduras jerseys are sold everyday.
