English Football
I updated my Facebook status the other day stating the brutal defeat the Germans subjected the English to during the Football World Cup. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people who shared my sentiments against the English when it came to that match. It isn't the case that we love and support Germany or any of the other teams that played against the English. It is simply that we wanted the English to lose - no matter what!
So I wonder what it is that makes us strongly and adamantly dislike the English football team. Intriguingly, the only other country we share this sentiment for is the neighbouring land partitioned from our own. Maybe even the US of A to some extent. In the case of Pakistan playing cricket, the reasons are rather obvious. With America, in some and many a way, it’s a global feeling. But then - Why the English? The same players we support and cheer for so dearly, become the objects of our vicious wishes when they play for the same team. The English Premier League and the European Champions League draw many of us Indians together to support our favourite football clubs and players. Now, we all know that a majority of them are English clubs and players. But still, when they play together under their national banner, it becomes a different story. England must always be knocked out of the World Cup; and the more embarrassing the defeat, the better!
Is our hatred for England a fall-out of their 150+ year colonial rule of our motherland? Was the emotional and psychological impact of that era so severe that we Indians still thrive on the failures of the English? Some part of me thinks that this is an absurd theory. But the facts lie before us. We Indians have always been against the English when it came to achievements. Something deep inside us irks when we hear of them and we have always wanted them to fall. When Germany toyed with the English football team the other day, we sought a vengeance of sorts in the German victory.
I am a part of the third generation of Independent India and I still have this deep-seated anti-English sentiment some where inside me. Will all the subsequent generations born in India after me continue cherishing this feeling?
So I wonder what it is that makes us strongly and adamantly dislike the English football team. Intriguingly, the only other country we share this sentiment for is the neighbouring land partitioned from our own. Maybe even the US of A to some extent. In the case of Pakistan playing cricket, the reasons are rather obvious. With America, in some and many a way, it’s a global feeling. But then - Why the English? The same players we support and cheer for so dearly, become the objects of our vicious wishes when they play for the same team. The English Premier League and the European Champions League draw many of us Indians together to support our favourite football clubs and players. Now, we all know that a majority of them are English clubs and players. But still, when they play together under their national banner, it becomes a different story. England must always be knocked out of the World Cup; and the more embarrassing the defeat, the better!
Is our hatred for England a fall-out of their 150+ year colonial rule of our motherland? Was the emotional and psychological impact of that era so severe that we Indians still thrive on the failures of the English? Some part of me thinks that this is an absurd theory. But the facts lie before us. We Indians have always been against the English when it came to achievements. Something deep inside us irks when we hear of them and we have always wanted them to fall. When Germany toyed with the English football team the other day, we sought a vengeance of sorts in the German victory.
I am a part of the third generation of Independent India and I still have this deep-seated anti-English sentiment some where inside me. Will all the subsequent generations born in India after me continue cherishing this feeling?
i nvr thougt about it frm this angle.....
ReplyDeletei jst dint lyk dem....reasons unknown...
hmmm....thougt provoking!!!.....
thanku :)
ReplyDelete