From Calcutta to Celtic Park

PASSION PASSION - ITS A GAME( its in the uk guardian 28th nov edition )

A ball which can make millions smile, cry , ecstatic, drum to its beat , jump up, go tub thumping , fight, kill , abuse, faint, love, hate , live , die.
The following of that ball is beyond the fact that 22 players playing and a few million watching have a few hours of entertainment.
Football has the same kind of passion in this part of the world as i see for cricket in the sub continent.It just makes us reallize again, how every part of the globe has the same feelings running for different things . Cricket or the second religion for most of us in that part of the world is not just a game but a fight of our pride our identity our existense and gives us a sense of belonging to our respective countries. It is a sport played with a lot of passion , and the result could be found on every face you see after the game.
Football and cricket have nothing in common except both are played with 11 players on each side and there is a ball in each of the games , but wait there is much more i reallized. I can see the love for the game which i used to see in the sub continent .
When i came here to the UK i noticed the same thing , just that the sport was different.
It was the match between Scotland and france and everyone was talking about it.Our professor left the class early to watch the match made me realize, the following and importance this sport had for the people living in this country.Another close british friend of mine used an expression which caught my attention, she said "All hells can break loose" and i could relate to what she meant by that, having experienced the same feeling for a lot of games , just that the place and the game was very different.
Another common aspect which could be seen in the two absolutely different games is the religious aspect of the following . when celtic played rangers, i could feel the adrenalin pumping, tension rising, it felt like war and yes it was a very familiar feeling , the same when india plays pakistan in any cricket match.It feels like the only goal of life is to win on that day , an emotion felt by a few millions together makes the whole environment electric.
Both the sports are very unique and have a huge following , are great entertainers and are played with a lot of zest. An amazing thing which both the sports possess and can do is that they can unite the whole country together , they can make everyone talk the same language , feel the same emotions , dress up in the same clothes and laugh or cry at the same time.
Its amazing how one sport can get the whole country together and a win can make everyone celebrate like it is some big festival, but thats the magic of sports . It can unite the whole country and make them celebrate and forget all the problems in thier respective lives and live them for that moment , together.