Reds get the blues

If you’re an avid sports fan, you would know that there is a lot of difference between watching a high voltage match all by yourself at home and watching it among a big, knowledgeable and passionate group of sportsbuffs.

And the difference, as Sumit Goenka would testify, is all the more pronounced if you are happen to be a fervid Manchester United fan (there are no other kind of Man United fans, by the way).

By day, Goenka, 22, is a deputy manager in the accounts department of a bank. In the night, often around 2am, he is the leading light of the Manchester United Fan Club of Mumbai (MUFCM), organising screenings of all key matches at Hotel Avon Ruby in Dadar (E).

During the recent Champions League final between Man United and Barcelona, the conference room at Avon Ruby was a sea of red jerseys, chanting, cheering and howling — mostly howling, given the way Man U played. Unbelievably, in the audience was also a Barcelona fan.

“Just wait, Messi will breach United’s defense and score,” he said to his friend, over the noise. At once, he realised his mistake. The chanting and the singing suddenly froze, as 119 men in red jerseys turned to face him, the man in the Barcelona jersey smiled apologetically.

The crowd, pacified for the moment, gets back to the match. As the game progresses, so do the chairs, closer and closer to the 70-inch screen, every ‘cross’ and ‘miss’ eliciting ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’. By half-time, most of the audience is standing on the chairs.
Following the match intently, and with a proprietorial eye over the crowd is Sunil Goenka. Beside him are Sunil Thakur and Srikkanth Kannan, both looking very pleased. “This is our dream coming true,” says Goenka. The dream was to create a Man United fan group and now, three years after they started the group, they are going strong with 50 members.

Kannan, a financial research associate, shudders when he thinks of the times he used to watch the matches alone. “Every time Man United scored, I would exult all alone, while my mother would look on disapprovingly,” he says.

Recalls Goenka, “Initially, the group comprised just the two of us — Kannan and I — but with time, we managed to build a large enough group and attract large crowds for match screenings.” Starting this clan was also his way of finding an answer to a question that had been bothering him for long. “I have always wondered if I was the only football fanatic in the city. Now I know I’m not,” he says, smiling.

However, the MUFCM’s agenda isn’t restricted only to watching games. They also organise a tournament (other participants include Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool fan clubs in the city) of their own. Thakur, a hotelier by profession, is the manager of the team. Every Sunday morning, there is a training drill and a practice session in Shivaji Park (MUFCM is right now placed second, below the Chelsea team). Apart from this, the club is also trying to gain official fan club status from Man United.

Kannan is at a loss to explain his fanatical love for soccer. “My family only watched cricket, but I somehow always preferred football.” And ever since he discovered his somewhat deviant passion, he has been waging a grim battle for the remote. Nor has it been easy to explain to his cricket-loving parents why he was jumping on the sofa at two in the morning while watching a football game that did not even involve an Indian team or player.

“But now they are more understanding”, he says. Notwithstanding his troubles at home, his name is spoken with awe in the MUFCM. He has travelled to the Mecca of Man United fans: Old Trafford. When he came back, all that his friends wanted to hear was if he saw a Man U match. Of course, he had. “I still remember that day. Everyone’s eyes were larger than I had ever seen them, and my friends’ mouths remained open in wonder,” he says. “They kept saying ‘Really! Wow!’”

It becomes increasingly difficult to hear Thakur speak as the Man United-Barcelona game reaches its final minutes. Thakur raises his voice a notch as he explains why he formed the group. “There is suddenly this large number of people I have gotten to know with whom I can discuss at length what I’ve always wanted to discuss — football.”
As the whistle goes, the boisterous crowd suddenly becomes silent. Man United has lost two-nil. Flag pole in hand, a young woman breaks the silence, “Where is that Barcelona supporter?” Not surprisingly, the man in question is nowhere to be seen.