Tackling the World Cup

As football madness goes global again, it’s best to relax and ride with the roars. 

I KNOW what some of you out there are thinking. Why would anybody sacrifice free time to watch 22 grown men running around a field in pursuit of a ball? More to the point, why would they rather do that than spend time with ... me?

This is the mantra repeated time and time again throughout the year, but it reaches its climax every four years. And this week, the madness has started again – the World Cup is back.

This quadrennial event pits the best national football teams from around the world against each other in an effort to find the world champion. This year, it takes place in South Africa, where between June 11 and July 11, 32 nations will compete in 64 games in a somewhat complicated tournament format.

More importantly, it is a spectator show that draws people from all around the world to a single focal point.

Ever since the World Cup was first televised in 1954, watching it has become a worldwide phenomenon. The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) estimates that about 2.2 billion people watched some part of the 2006 event, , with a staggering 715 million people catching the final itself.

Given a world population of about 6.6 billion and several assumptions (including the unlikely one that football viewing patterns don’t change significantly after a person is married or gets a boyfriend girlfriend – we’ll just assume that the World Cup is a great exception), we can estimate that four out of nine couples will have one partner who will watch the World Cup.

And taking a cue from the statistic that only 14% of English soccer’s premier league spectators are women, we say that it’s mostly wives and girlfriends who will be wondering what the fuss is about.

So, this is my appeal to all the women out there: Give your man a break. More than that, give your man support.

This is the world’s greatest sporting event and it only happens once every four years. It is a (mostly) non-violent sport, exhibiting artistry and technique, evoking the greatest in commitment and competitiveness from players and spectators alike.

These are all noble ideals, and to all those who have complained that the Industrial Revolution marked a decline in humanism, and a rise in materialism, I will hereby argue that the rise of commercialism in football has demonstrated that the two can dovetail neatly.

There are many benefits to watching football:

* When your significant other invites friends and family to the house to eat and watch a game, it is a reminder that we don’t need an open house as an excuse to get together, and that there are other things besides religion and nationalism that bind us – as long as we support the same team.

* You will know where your man is and what he is doing at all times. And depending on how loudly he cheers, you will also know what he is thinking.

* Allegedly, condom sales increase during the World Cup. This could be a good or bad thing, depending on your situation. Share in the passion, that’s what I say.

There will be a few downsides, too:

* For about a month, the only decent conversation you can have will be related to either a game that had been played, a game being played, or a game that’s about to be played. Instead of fighting this, it is more beneficial to reword your conversations to reflect this. “Remember how you admired Ronaldo the other night when he tracked back to pick the ball up in defence? Well, don’t forget to pick up your anak from tuition afterwards, okay?”

* Set ground rules before the game begins (“Clean up after yourselves”, and “Don’t wake up the baby” are probably the most common). They will probably be pushed to the back of the mind during the game (the limbic system has a tendency to dominate thoughts), but that’s temporary. You will find football fans quite receptive at half-time or after a game. That is, as long as their team is winning, or has won.

* Passion is infectious and uncontrolled, and food and drinks are commonplace at football viewing parties. Remove all fragile items from the living room, and replace all the nice tablecloths and carpets with cheaper versions.

* For this World Cup, some of the best games will be played at 2.30am. Don’t be shocked to wake up in the middle of the night and wonder why the house is about to cave in. You can go to bed early so you don’t lose out on sleep. Or, better still, tell your significant other you want to check out that new boutique hotel in town. Your partner might even pay for your stay.

At the end of the day, it is important to realise that when your partner wants to watch football (even if it is three times a day for a fortnight), what he is doing is particiaptin a global event that brings people together, while catering to the primal need for competitiveness. In the old days, tribes had to go to war to fulfill those basic instincts. Now the war paint has been replaced by coloured scarves, and instead of bile and blood being shed, there are just yellow and red cards.

And once the month is over, so will the madness – for another three years and 11 months. Unless he’s a die-hard Premier League fan, in which case you’ll only have about 30 days.

CONTRADICTHEORY, By DZOFF AZMI

Logic is the antithesis of emotion but mathematician-turned-scriptwriter Dzof Azmi’s theory is that people need both to make of life’s vagaries and contradictions.

Fifa World Cup - Time to give Malaysian team a sporting chance

Scandal robs interest in local soccer

JUST imagine this conversation taking place in a cafe. “We are going to win the World Cup! No question about it,” says Football Fan One.

“You cannot talk about 1966 forever. With our strength in penalties, we will take it,” says Football Fan Two.
But says Football Fan Three, “Our squad is not as strong as when we won the last World Cup. I don’t really fancy our chances this time.”

Chances are you might have overheard or even been involved in such a conversation. Football fans will recognise the “we” in the conversation as England, Germany and Italy respectively.

Golden team: The Malaysian football team redeemed itself when it beat Vietnam 1-0 to win the Sea Games gold medal after 20 years. — S.S.KANESAN/ The Star

 

An outside observer might think that the trio involved in the conversation were born in London, Berlin or Rome – but in fact, these people are from Gunung Rapat, Banting and Besut, 100% born and bred Malaysians.

“I find it amusing when people say “we” when talking about teams located thousand of miles away from where they were born,” says Kenny Lee*.

A Liverpool fan, Lee admits that he is guilty of the same when talking about his favourite team. But he realises that he should be following the local football scene instead.

Many local football fans affiliate themselves with foreign teams, especially those from the English Premier League, and some are hard-core supporters of these teams.

Now, with the 2010 FIFA World Cup around the corner, many are proclaiming themselves to be Brazilians, Italians, Germans, Argentinians or Spaniards.

Many Malaysians can rattle off the starting eleven of a famous team, but ask them to name the starting 11 of the Malaysian team and many would struggle to name a single player.

When the Malaysian team played two friendly football matches against Manchester United earlier last year, the red of the English team outnumbered the yellow of the national team among fans at the stadium.

This prompted J.D. of Red FM’s Breakfast Show to come out with a public service announcement urging Malaysians to support their local football team.

“Although people were wearing the MU jersey, they were supporting Malaysia, and this was a cool experience,” he says.

He was encouraged by Malaysia’s performance against Manchester United and said he would support the team if they gave their all in every game.

J.D, says he always reads news of his state team, Perak, and watches a game when he has the opportunity.
As for Lee, he follows the progress of the national team. He was happy that Malaysia won the SEA Games gold medal in Laos last year after 20 years.

He watched almost every game live and made it a point to go out and watch the final.
“Very few people were watching the game. If it were a Liverpool vs Man United game, the whole place would have been packed,” he says.

Lee says that he does not follow the local leagues as much today compared to the early 90s, citing the lack of quality on display as the reason.

The national team hit its peak in the 1960s and 70s, and the older generation always talks about how the players of this era played with their heart and soul. One always mentions Mokhtar Dahari, Santokh Singh, Soh Chin Aun and R. Arumugam, and the national team qualifying for the 1972 and 1980 Olympic Games as the heights of Malaysian football.

Local soccer experts say many Malaysians lost interest in local football after the bribery scandal in 1994/95, and attention was diverted to the European leagues.

Datuk M. Jegathesan, the Olympic Council of Malaysia deputy president, believes people adopt teams for a sense of belonging. He points out the recent Thomas Cup finals where Malaysians packed the stadium to watch their heroes play.

“There was a great frenzy and tickets were sold out. A winning team captures the imagination of people,” he says.

That is the reason why people support the more successful clubs.
“If you watch only for the technicalities, there are no emotions. But if they pick a team, there is a surge of adrenaline. That 90 minutes distracts them from their other cares in life,” he says.

He points out that the various local cup finals still attract a fair bit of on-off support.
“There just isn’t enough to sustain it from day to day to rival what is being offered. They have to compete with the market forces,” he says, adding that local sports needs mass support to propel it to greater heights.

As for the World Cup, Jegathesan will be watching it from a technical point of view.
“I am watching to appreciate the game. I don’t have a stake in any of those teams,” he says.

Ravind Ramesh, 33, considers himself to be a patriot. This avid football fan is not planning to follow the World Cup until the later stages.

“Basically, I don’t have anyone to support,” he says.
While he supports Arsenal, he still follows the fortunes of his home club Kedah. He recently attended the FA Cup Final which saw Kedah lose to Negri Sembilan. And whenever Malaysia is playing, he makes it a point to go for the games.

James Wong* also follows the fortunes of Perak, despite the lack of excitement and quality. He attends games and follows the highlights when he has a chance.

“I feel that they need more support now because a club can’t survive without its fans,” says Wong, who is an avid Tottenham Hotspurs fan.

But not everyone shares the same passion. V. Prasad, 37, used to watch Malaysian and Selangor games live until the 1994/95 football bribery scandal.

“I felt cheated,” says the Tottenham Spurs fan.
He says that his interest in Malaysian football waned after that, and the last Malaysian game he watched live was a World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia in 1993.

Prasad says that in the past, there wasn’t such a big gap in dignity and prestige between supporting a foreign team and a local one.

“No one would have laughed at you then if you said you supported Malacca,” he says.
One of his fondest memories of local football was when Malaysia defeated South Korea in 1979 to qualify for the 1980 Olympic Games.

“I remember hearing that live on radio. It was no different from watching Ricky Villa dribble past a handful of Manchester City players to score the winning goal in the 1981 FA Cup final,” he says.

Those are the two most memorable goals I remember in my first few years of following football,” adds Prasad.

So when will he start following the local scene again?
“If we do well in the next Asian Cup and qualify for the World Cup, we will have millions of Malaysian fans. We would all be painting our faces,” he says.

Blogger Rizal Hashim (rizalhashim.blogspot.com) believes that cable television has played a huge role in influencing Malaysians. He says that growing up in the 70s, the coverage of foreign football could not compare to today’s.

“The perception is that local football is in the doldrums,” says the former sports writer.
“Try to know our own team at least. Whatever you say about them, they are still our representatives. I do not like it when people say they cannot name the starting 11 of the national team. Because of technological advances, there is no excuse for it – it’s a matter of wanting to know,” he says.

He says that winning the Sea Games gold medal was a good start, and Malaysians should be supportive of their own team.

He points out that neighbouring Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam have good support. It has to be noted, though, that these countries are not setting the world of football alight either.

“But their national team is a source of pride for them,” he says.
K. Rajagopal, coach of the national team, says that while people can support the foreign teams, they should support the national team as well.

“Come and support the national team. Not just for football but for all the sports. It is important for the future of sports,” he says.

*Names have been changed for anonymity.

Warming up for Fifa Wordl Cup football fever

Punters and eateries get the ball rolling

Once every four years, an unusual pandemic afflicts the entire world. This scourge is commonly known as football fever. With the 2010 FIFA World Cup just five days away, productivity is expected to go down and relationships put on hold.

P. GOBIND* recalls how an ex-girlfriend – who was not a football fan – simply could not understand why he had to watch every match possible during the 1998 World Cup. He and a group of friends had gone to the extent of renting a small apartment for a month for the sole purpose of watching the tournament.

“As fresh graduates, some of us were renting rooms. So we decided to have a place for ourselves where we could watch matches at ungodly hours and make all the noise we wanted,” he says.

His mistake was keeping the place a secret from his girlfriend – he did not want to justify why he was spending money on an apartment when he already had a place to stay.

“What I didn’t know was that a close friend of hers stayed at the same apartment block, and she noticed me coming late at night and leaving early in the morning a few times,” he says.

Setting the mood: Choo has made significant upgrades to his establishment to target the niche market for the tournament.

 

Gobind says that his girlfriend initially thought he was being unfaithful, but eventually accepted his explanation. But that, he says, was the start of the decline in the relationship.

“She simply could not understand why football – and this tournament in particular – was so important to me. No matter what I said, she could not see the sense in it,” says Gobind who is now married to a football fan who fully understands his passion.

Working offside

Another avid football fan, James Chua*, cannot wait for the tournament to start, and is planning on watching as many matches as possible.

During the 2006 tournament, he skipped work a couple of times to recover from a night of football.
“I was sick because of football,” he says.

The process engineer says the World Cup is a welcome distraction, and his work would not be affected.
This time around, the games will kick-off earlier, and Chua says the challenge will now be beating traffic jams in the evening to catch the 7.30pm games.

However, some games start at 2.30am, and some will be tempted to take a day off. That’s usually the case during major football tournaments such as the World Cup or the European Championships.

Choo: ‘We have standing orders for table bookings even though the tournament has yet to start’.

M. Vivekanandan, the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) general manager of industrial relations, says that during the major football tournaments, there is usually a marked increase in absenteeism.

“There will usually be a spike in the number of people who take sick leave,” he says.

In a typical year, the employee loss days (ELD) from work per year averages about four days. But when the World Cup is on, it goes up to five to six days.

Vivekanandan believes that this year will not be as bad as games start earlier.
Vivekanandan believes that shift duties might see a sizeable increase in absenteeism and operations could be affected.

A manager of a semiconductor company believes his company won’t be affected because their employees are mostly female. The only concern will be the technicians, who are predominantly male.

“We will switch off the televisions in the cafeterias and take out the satellite decoder cards, so they will not be tempted to take long breaks,” he says.

“I have been here for the past two World Cups and there have not been many problems,” he adds.
According to a physiotherapist in a hospital, there is a big spike in the number of people who have ligament reconstruction surgeries.

“It’s good timing because you usually get two months off work,” she says.
One person whose life will not change much is ex-national player and TV pundit Serbegeth “Shebby” Singh – an essential part of his job, after all, is to watch football.

“It is kind of weird trying to think about lifestyle changes (over the tournament) as this is my lifestyle! All I can say is that the first three days are the most difficult as the body receives a shock – the transition from day to night and night to day takes some getting used to. And the week following the tournament is horrible as the body re-acclimatises!” he says.

Shebby informs that he has watched 100% of live World Cup telecasts since the 1974 tournament, and his family is aware of his passion.

“I have never needed any excuses (to watch football) – my family knows better than to make me choose,” he says.

Henry Tan: ‘We are already deploying more installers to meet the demand’

For this edition of the World Cup, Shebby will be showcasing his talents to the nation of India – but only in the studio, and not the football pitch.

“I will be working on ESPN Star Sports broadcast to India, and will be based in Singapore. I am really excited as there are only about one billion people,” he says.

The ball is round

For those not backing a specific team, a good way to spice things up would be a small wager. Punting on football matches happens all the time, but during the bigger tournaments, the betting frenzy increases exponentially.

“Everyone wants to get into the action,” says K. Marimuthu*, an avid punter.
Marimuthu is backing Brazil to win its sixth title and will not bet on any of their games because of superstition.
For the other games though, he will wager at least RM100 on each game. He has his bookie on speed dial and will place bets after studying the latest team news.

“It can only make the game more exciting and I will have more at stake when I’m watching it,” he says adding that he usually breaks even at the end.

Another regular punter, John Liew* says that he will be betting on specific matches only. During the last Euro tournament, he lost up to RM5,000 and he says that he has learnt his lesson and will set aside only RM2,000 this time.

“If I lose that amount, I will stop betting. I will be more careful and only choose a team I am sure will win,” he says.

Liew will make his bets online through an account set by his bookie.
It is estimated that billions of dollars will change hands during this World Cup. The police have said that they have set up a task force to stop illegal book-making syndicates.

The police have also warned that action would be taken against anyone involved in illegal betting, whether he was accepting or making the bets.

If you were to assume that sales of televisions go up before the World Cup year, you’d be right.
According to Tan Boon Ming SB managing director L.K. Tan, TV sales increase about 30%-40%. He notes that sales this year started to increase from April, and the majority are buying flat-panel (plasma and LCD) TVs.

Tan says sales this year have been very encouraging, and shows about a 15% increase over the corresponding period four years ago.

He notes that the viewer experience is going to be better this time around.
“Four years ago, flat-panel TVs were expensive, and people were buying conventional CRT TVs. Prices have now dropped and most TVs are high-definition types,” he says, adding that there is ample supply of TVs.

Broadcaster Astro has major plans for this tournament.
According to chief operating officer Henry Tan, 55% of its total customer base already has the sports package.

“We are delighted to bring the coverage of the World Cup to Malaysians. All 64 matches will be broadcast live, and available in HD as well,” he says.

Henry notes that this tournament is notable as it can be followed on multiple platforms. It is available on multi screens – TV, online, radio, mobile and on the ground, he says, adding that commentary will be available in both Bahasa Malaysia and Cantonese.

Henry also informs that he has friends asking him to expedite their subscriptions.
“Installation may take up to a week. Malaysians are notorious for doing things at the last minute, and we saw that happening during the Olympics last year. We are already deploying more installers to meet the demand, but we would like to urge customers to sign up now to make it in time,” says Henry

Henry also notes Malaysians are luckier compared to their counterparts in neighbouring countries.
“Astro offers the lowest-priced sports package in the region. A customer only pays RM66.95 or RM86.95 (for HD). In a neighbouring country we understand that the World Cup will cost viewers RM319.20,” says Tan.

Attack and defend

Fred Choo, the owner of Souled Out restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, says that their business model changes during the tournament.

“The lunch crowd, in particular, is reduced, as people are recovering from the late night matches. It drops by as much as 50%,” he says.

However, on the whole, business volume goes up as many people flock to the establishment to catch the live matches at night.

“We hit record sales during the last tournament (in 2006), and we already have standing orders for table bookings even though the tournament has yet to start,” he says.

Choo says that he has made significant upgrades to his establishment to target this niche market for the tournament.

“We have spent about RM200,000, and will be showing all live games in high-definition. In fact, we can even show two matches simultaneously in different sections of the restaurant,” he says.

Similarly, Martin Beins, executive director of Chaswood Resources Sdn Bhd, with outlets such as TGIF, Laundry Bar and The Apartment, is expecting routine to change during the tournament.

“Productivity does drop a little bit, as some employees stay up to watch the late games, and business drops for the lunch crowd,” he says.

He notes, however, that there has been an increase in the number of football fans – especially from the fairer sex.

“A lot of people get involved during the World Cup, and we see more women getting excited about it.”
Beins informs that business picks up during the latter stages of the tournament, and patrons still turn up for late games.

“During the last tournament, we were packed to the brim, even at the semi-final stage. People get a little more boisterous and it is fun to watch a game with a big crowd,” he says.

* Actual/real names withheld on request

By JOSEPH LOH and RASHVINJEET S. BEDI