The World Cup of Joy

For a whole month starting from today, the world will be morphing into party mode to welcome the FIFA World Cup 2010. Regardless of which country you're from or the language you speak, the 'beautiful game' unites people across all barriers.

However, for citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, whose team faces Brazil in Johannesburg's Ellis Park on June 15, there will be little to look forward to, as live transmission of the match is banned thanks to the Communist state's autocratic media control.

Football history, however, proves that as long as you have enthusiasm for the sport, politics and boundaries matter but little.

Though I enjoy football, I watch with real fervour only when there's a major tournament on.

The last major one that really impressed me was the Asian Cup 2007, in which the Iraqi national football team emerged the winners, against all odds.

Having followed the tournament from the very beginning, I saw how the team savoured every victory, which is saying something for a team that underwent torture and death threats for a poor performance under Uday Hussein, who later met his death in a gun fight with US troops.

The players arrived in Southeast Asia for the tournament, which was held with the recent loss of family members in the conflict at home hanging over their heads.

Even before they faced Saudi Arabia in the finals, the celebration of their victory over South Korea in the semi-finals was marred by a suicide bombing in a Baghdad street, which killed 50 people.

After Iraq lifted the cup, I turned to Al Baghdadia TV to see reporters crying on air as they announced their country had won the tournament.

For a day, it didn't matter which sect the players were from as for the 90 minutes of the match, the guns were silent in Baghdad and people experienced something that felt like peace.

South Africa this year becomes the first African nation to host the World Cup.

Commentators agree that this year will be different, as companies seeking to slash expenses owing to the recession have left the places usually taken by corporate guests to be filled in by lots of true football supporters, which include many ordinary South Africans.

I haven't yet decided which team I'll be supporting.

It was France for the last World Cup, but without Zidane I don't think I'll find Les Bleus worth supporting.

As I support Real Madrid and their wonderful goalkeeper Iker Casillas, I think I might shift my loyalties this time to Spain.

I have always been a supporter of underdogs in most tournaments, ever since my favourites Greece lifted the Euro Cup in 2004.

I do hope that South Africa's Bafana Bafana (which means 'the boys' in the Nguni language) put up a good show, both as hosts and as the national team.

Regardless of the outcome, there will, at least for a month, be something more to look forward to in the papers than reports of national disasters or terror attacks.

I don't think even Kim Jong-il's iron-fisted reign will put a damper on the spirit of football lovers in North Korea, for football, more than anything, gives everybody a reason to celebrate!

¥ Ms Gnana is a former Bahrain resident now studying in Mumbai.

Copyright 2010 Al Hilal Publishing and Marketing Group

'The World Cup of Joy', Gulf Daily News, June 11, 2010, Jennifer Gnana

Give back pride-of-place to our national sport

Two days from now the 2010 Men's World Cup Hockey will take place in Delhi and it is strange that despite being in India, I heard of it only two weeks ago.

It's a running joke in the media here that if you talk to an Indian about hockey, you will inevitably be met with the question: "Does India have a hockey team?"

In a country where all the sport expenditure, attention and frenzy is about cricket, there is little room for hockey to shine.

This wouldn't have been cause for distress had it not been for the fact that the national game of India is in fact hockey (not cricket) and the nation celebrates the birthday of hockey legend Dhyan Chand as its National Sports Day.

From 1928 to 1956, the Indian team dominated world hockey, winning six consecutive Olympic gold medals and a total of eight, the most number by any national team.

However, the golden years soon lost their lustre and Indian hockey faded out of people's memories.

The decline, blamed partly on the inefficiency of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and lack of funding, reached its lowest point when India failed to qualify for the Beijing Games in 2008.

The morale and passion among the players have taken a beating as there is no proper sports infrastructure, nor funding from the government, for games other than cricket.

Also, the lack of sponsors for a sport that is deemed non-lucrative meant that the players were housed in stadium dormitories.

Repeated protests went unheard and finally, with 45 days to go to the World Cup, the players went on strike demanding fair salaries.

In an effort to avoid embarrassment as the games were going to be held in India, Hockey India, which has now replaced IHF, gave in to their demands.

The media coverage of the event has been very sporadic. The World Cup received a brief mention during the days after the blast at the German Bakery in Pune, when security was upgraded.

Apart from that, it hasn't made it to the front pages.

This is in complete contrast to when the Indian cricket team topped Test Cricket rankings last December. I remember feeling indignant reading the rather cheesy headline The Times of India carried on its front page, 'Best and Brightest'.

What followed was a week of congratulatory advertisements from various companies, which took precedence over important news.

The Hockey World Cup has no official mascot, no eye-catching slogans and no big corporate houses endorsing the event.

New Zealand star player Simon Child has pulled out of the games, stating that he wasn't comfortable with the situation in India and that he wouldn't be able to play with the right mindset.

World sporting events have always been great levellers, allowing teams and individuals to break barriers of human endurance and hypocrisy.

Who can forget Jesse Owens' feat at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he clinched four gold medals and infuriated Hitler, who had wanted the event to showcase Aryan supremacy.

However, back home in the US, Owens had to race against horses for entertainment to make a living.

He later recalled that it wasn't Hitler but President Franklin D Roosevelt who had given him the cold shoulder, by not sending him even a telegram of congratulation.

My favourite sporting triumphs (though highly biased to football) have been the underdogs Greece winning the Euro Cup in 2004 and the Iraqi team winning the Asian Cup in 2007, in spite of the players' personal tragedies back home.

The thrill of winning and the solidarity in losing bring a nation together more than anything.

I remember listening to the commentator screaming "Joy to the land", when Iraq scored its winning goal at the finals.

I hope Hockey India takes note and spruces up the World Cup scene to be more lively and competitive.

By the way, the Commonwealth Games 2010, the largest multi-sport event in India till date, will take place in Delhi in October.

But has anyone heard about it?

¥ Jennifer Gnana is a former Bahrain resident now studying in Mumbai. Her family still live here.

Copyright 2010 Al Hilal Publishing & Marketing Group

'Give back pride-of-place to our national sport',

Gulf Daily News, February 26, 2010, Jennifer Gnana