Football on a cricket tour

I have seen three diverse games of football since arriving in Sri Lanka, and it has barely been five days. The first one was obviously the final of the World Cup, the second and third were more enjoyable.

I appreciated the human drama on display during the biggest match of the year. I also appreciated that I was watching it in a foreign country amid people from various other countries. Don’t think anyone gathered around the big screen by the pool until close to 3 am was from either Spain or the Netherlands. But I don’t follow the game enough to appreciate the need for unattractive football in a final. Will take third-place playoffs any day.

The hero of the second game, which I saw while typing from the press box at the Colts Cricket Club Ground in Colombo, was Rahul Dravid. The Indian team erected two stumps to mark goals on either side, and went at it. One of them is nicknamed Pele too, not quite sure who. Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel guarded one goal and Dravid the other, at the near end. Since the goal is small, the goalkeeper is not allowed to use hands in this game.

With his feet, just by anticipation, Dravid made at least six saves from pretty close range in a game that must have gone some 20 minutes. And Dravid, being Dravid, merely smiled as he walked off to applause from his mates. He won’t make a good footballer, will Dravid. Doesn’t cry when he loses, doesn’t thump his chest when he wins.

The third game, on a beach in Galle, showed why football is such a popular sport in the world. It was just a motley group of kids having fun, but with skill enough to play a decent game and attract a crowd of more than 10. The goals were two wooden poles with fishing net between them. The touchlines weren’t marked, but they knew when the ball was out. No one fought over it.

One thing is for sure, the water wasn’t the touchline: they dribbled and tackled in the water too. Throw-ins were taken in knee-deep water. They played barefoot, but didn’t step on each other, and nobody got hurt. There was no referee with yellow and red cards, there was no need for one either. How Howard Webb would have loved to be in Galle.