Football Mania

By: Prem Prasad Sigdel

The final match of Euro cup 2016 is going to be held on 10^th July 2016. It has greatly affected the Nepalese youths and medias. The final match players are Portugal and France. The supporters of different teams set bet for their team. Mostly the youths have desire to look final match by sitting till late at night. According to Nepali time it is midnight and I have listened that most of the youths have decided to stay till the match has been ended.

I have looked this idea from the eye of neocolonization. The political colonization of the West was ended many years before. Nowadays they have been able to colonize the East and other Africans from other ways which is known as neocolonization. These days football has become one of the best ways of colonization. Mostly, the youths have been exploited and they have become the fan of some players, team, country etc.

The sport shops and the medias have got a good profit with the sale of their goods and pages. From young children to the youths have helped them for the expansion of market. The shopkeepers have even advertised in the newspaper that they are going to offer a heavy discount on t-shirts. Not only that they offer some other items if the customer would buy the printed t-shirt of the players.

Moreover, the television and newspapers have also given much space for the match. Kantipur television has asked question in People’s voice which team would be the winner. Similarly, all the newspapers have given full page for the same match ignoring other all sports news of national and regional level.

So it is another kind of colonization other than the politics from the eye of the criticizer. The Europeans have got fans through football match. They have greatly influenced the youths who would ultimately turn to their devotees or followers. It would ultimately corrupt them and they would be tempted to follow their style which wouldn’t suit to our society.

The children in school also fond of playing football whether they have skills or not. They would often pronounce the name of these players rather than the players from Nepal. Even the weak student in reading would know the dozen names of the players by heart. So the influence of neocolonization is so acute that it will be difficult for them to come out from this stage.

Mostly the social media has become the assistant partner for football mania. They have posted some emotional subjects which would attract the youth to follow them. Some of the youths have even tempted to earn money from bet. It made them more inclined to follow the team and the player. There is the possibility that it would lead them towards crime ultimately. It is better to watch match on television but the things what are going on in our society would lead us towards dooms.

Finally, football mania has several negatives rather than positive effects. It becomes an easy way of youths to be attracted. So the social context has also take a turn with the match which has several negative effects.