I have always been a very keen follower of football, and cricket. Let's just stick to football for now because, well...world cup - Duh!
As I was saying, when I started watching football seriously I was only 5. And obviously I don't exactly remember everything from that age, but I remember it was my father who encouraged this as a hobby. He would wake me up at 2 in the morning to watch football matches. I was 5! Needless to say my mother wasn't very happy about it LOL! But my father's enthusiasm is what got me so much into football, and sports in general.
So while my peers at school were arguing their brains out about which Powerpuff girl was the best, my hobby was to discuss football games with my father. By the time my peers got to understanding a bit about football and learned there were countries called Argentina and brazil that play football, I had already watched many seasons of the English premier league and the Spanish La Liga. So even now, when I say to people at my age or maybe slightly older than me that you don't really understand football as well as I do - they get offended. They think I'm trying to belittle them. But I really am not, and I really do understand a lot better than most people at my age, and better than a lot who are a few years older than me.
The way they talk about football in ridiculous logic enrages me. And it enrages me further when I batter them down with logic and they are unable to see reason and logic, and just explode into meaningless argument. I think nothing infuriates me more than a person who does not understand logic. But I have, over the years, learned to deal with (aka, ignore) these "kids" who watch football every 4 years and become professional pundits.
I am sorry, I was not meaning to turn this post into a rant.
Anyways, what I did want to say as I started writing this post is, I used to be very, very enthusiastic about football. I used to stay up till 3-4 a.m. to watch the champions league group matches. I didn't miss watching the champions league finals even when it was during my O Level exams.
But then one day everything changed as I moved abroad for Med school. Everything I enjoyed and loved so much slowly started to become secondary. I had no time for watching football. And even when I did have the time, I just didn't have it in me to try and find a good streaming link (we didn't have a TV in our dormitory). And hence I gradually started to move further apart from the one thing I truly was excited about every week. By my fourth year, I was so detached that I only found out that Leicester had won the premier league when I returned home for summer vacation. I knew I had killed my passion. It was a very sad day for me. I realized how I took myself away from something I was truly passionate about.
The timing of the Qatar world cup has been debated extensively over the past few years. It was controversial at best and 90% of people disagree that this is the right time to host the world cup, in the middle of the league seasons. World cups are usually held in June/July. But for me the world cup couldn't have been at a more opportune time. I have just recently finished an exam and have ample free time at hand.
I am once again staying up late almost every other night to watch football matches. And I feel no regret I am wasting valuable time, it actually once again seems - yeah, that's what I am actually supposed to do this month. And that feels so f*king good!
hey nice mate. I've had a similar journey where I would watch EPL games between 11pm-5am Australian time religiously. I was in my teens and didn't have familial obligations like I do now which makes it next to impossible. Unfortunately money in the EPL changed it a little bit for me and I've become somewhat disillusioned with the way money controls football nowadays.
Ah man the mismatch of balance because of the money is quite disgraceful. It's sort of become you can just "buy" titles and Man City have proved it over and over again last few seasons. Don't get me wrong, I like Guardiola a lot but the amount of money Man City has been able to spend - no one can compete. Only Liverpool had kept the league interesting, else It's just another farmer's league in my eyes.
But this world cup has turned tables on everyone's heads! I mean, teams had no regard for the so called "powerhouses" and it has been refreshing to watch. You can count nobody out and that's what football was always about!
I was used to be around people who really just love playing basketball and there's no person to talk to about football. When I explain things to them how complicated football is than basketball, I used to see harsh criticisms that the game (football) is only for rich people and a very boring game.
Man that is harsh. I'm from a third world country, and the craze about football is so much here that the Argentine National Team Coach himself addressed our love for the game! Kids in slum areas will be seen running around with a football all day long, using maybe couple pieces of bricks, or their own footwear to mark the goalposts. Taking setup into consideration, basketball setup actually costs more lol 😅
Makes a lot of sense but in other third world countries. You only need a basketball ring and a piece of wood. Then a ball, then you can play with 4-10 players.
But yeah, despite the tough conditions, our love for the game prevailed :)