Making Of A Fan: From Istanbul To Barcelona

The Pledge

May 25^th 2005: It was the first time ever that I was watching a football game. It was the Champions League final between Liverpool and AC Milan at Istanbul. At that time, football for me was a rainy day sport, seriously I played football only when it rained because the fields were unsuitable to play cricket ! Within 15 minutes of the start, I could sense the whole crowd in the common room of our hostel getting divided into two groups, two very hostile sections and by then, as a neutral, I preferred to stay silent and just watch the game. Half time AC Milan 3-0 Liverpool . AC Milan fans were going wild, cheering and taunting. Liverpool fans cheered back but cheering was they could do. 9 minutes after half time, Liverpool had equalized thanks to their charismatic leader Steven Gerrard. Liverpool fans were now roaring and as a neutral, I could sense the tension in the air. Liverpool won 3-2 on penalties and Liverpool fans went crazy. AC Milan fans were sulking away but were being poked by their rivals. I was thoroughly enthralled by the experience and in my excitement, I turned to the fellow next to me and said, “Nice game dude … Liverpool deserved to be the champs!” Smack! He punched me right in the face and by the time I realized what went wrong, I was in the middle of a riot! There were chairs flying, guys beating the hell out of each other and scary shit! Two guys walked towards me and I was scared to death when they said, “Don’t worry mate, You Will Never Walk Alone!” Thanks to them I left that place with just one punch to my face.

Things cooled off later among students and it was life as usual. But now I was hooked to football and its raw energy. I still saw the guys from before, sometimes we shared a smile and sometimes “YNWA!”, but mostly it was just about football. And football had become more than a rainy day sport for me, more like a daily ritual. I was googling about football, watching football, talking football and hell! I even dreamed about football. All this and I still had no team to call as my own.

The Turn

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