For the love of football

A farmer at work wearing his favorite team's jersey. PHOTO: STAR

What does football really mean to Bangladeshis? Is it only a game or is it a festivity that has reached even the remotest corners of the country?
 'Some people believe football is a matter of life and death', said the legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly. 'I can assure you it is much, much more important than that', he added.  Football is not only a game. Over the past two decades, the sport has undergone a renaissance that spread across the globe. During the 80s, football became a very popular game in Bangladesh; however, with television broadcast reaching more and more people, it was communicated to more and more people during the 90s. At the age of private satellite televisions, cable and the internet, now, people have access to all and any global event and they barely miss anything.  
Tomorrow, 2014 FIFA World Cup will have its first match; the country has been dressed in different colours since last week with the most loved teams' flags flying all over. But, is it only happening in the cities? Is football fever constrained to cities, is it entertainment for urban dwellers? I must say it's much more than that. My profession as a development journalist takes me to the heart of Bangladesh, to the rural landscapes and its people. As you know, I have been filming outdoors since the mid 70s, I have seen the desire for entertainment of the rural people, mostly farmers who live across the country including in remote corners of Bangladesh.
The scenario has completely changed since the year 2000. The audience just got bigger and better in Bangladesh – the demand for entertainment rose significantly. As I was filming a few days back at a village in Chandpur, I saw young and old farmers working in the fields wearing Brazil and Argentina jerseys! It really amazed me. When I approached them, they could easily recognize some players from the international squad of these two heavily popular teams and said, 'My colleague is now my rival'.
 'Maradona will always be my favourite player', said Jamal, a Brahmanbaria farmer. At this age of globalization, farmers are very keen to watch all the games. Though electricity is a big problem, it will not stand in the way of entertainment; they are fully prepared with batteries.
'We'll stay awake the whole night and watch the game', said a Dinajpur farmer, Jamal.
'Even if it's hard to work at day time?' I asked.
'Definitely', boldly replied Jamal.  
 'I'm a diehard fan of Brazil and love their Samba play', said farmer Nurul Islam from Jamalpur. I requested him to dance a bit for the team, but he was very shy. Business is also going good and people are buying new TVs at the villages ahead of the games.
'I support Brazil as they have green in their flag and my paddies are green', said a farmer named Tajul from Bogra. I couldn't help but appreciate the simplicity of the farmer's thoughts. 'Even the political leaders are now supporting the same team', said scholarly, intelligent farmer Rahman from Feni.           
Farmers could easily recognize Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo- at least these three; a few other football fanatic farmers could also recognize the names of Marcelo (Brazil) and Di Maria (Argentina). The young farmers even know the playing style, 'Tiki-taka'. I was so surprised to learn this from a young farmer named Lutfor. I can remember I could only remember 'wall-passing', but I haven't heard this style of football anywhere, but only learned about it from a young rural hard-working lad with a big smile on face who cannot wait for the World Cup to begin.
Deep inside my heart, I always had my dream to do something for the farmers, specially when they are in any sort of crisis. Entertainment programmes made for them is all about cheering them up. I kept on thinking how we can better produce TV programmes for farmers, the rural people, and for those who have relentlessly made efforts to ensure production of food for the people of Bangladesh amidst various environmental and economic odds. This is where the idea for 'Krishoker Eid Anondo' (Farmer's Eid Celebrations) sprang from. Eid is the most illustrious festivity in our country and I noticed that the three-day Eid special programmes on television channels were chiefly focused on the urban audience and neglected the rural people. Since then, I always wondered why there were no special programmes for rural people. So, I decided to create one. I must share my experience of airing Farmers' World Cup Cricket in 2011 where farmers from Mymensingh's Charpuliamari came up with their own indigenous ideas and prepared the entire field on their own.  
The enthusiasm of farmers for football is simply heartwarming. I made a documentary during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but in the last eight years things have remarkably changed, and a few days back I went to Sirajganj and arranged a football match between two symbolic teams, composed of farmers, calling the teams Brazil and Argentina. This match will be aired on Channel i very soon. This game is not just a game, but a great achievement of the farmers I thought. Because the game was organized for them to have fun, for their entertainment, instead, they entertained us more than anything else!

I believe these enthusiastic farmers will keep on producing and harvesting crops regardless of the challenges they face, perhaps like the 'Tiki-taka' style, while they quickly 'pass' and 'move' around the 'short' changes in the season, working their skills to ensure that crops are produced, because only they have 'possession' of the ability to feed nearly 160 million mouths of Bangladesh. At the end of the day, whether we city dwellers realize it or not, the ball is always in their court.