Not too long ago, my son came to me and decided that he wanted to support a football team. This was the bonding moment that I had been waiting for.
All this while, he was so much into skateboarding and breakdance, which even though they were fun, were not something that I could relate to.
So, to make sure that he didn’t take the convenient route of supporting Johor Darul Ta’zim, I explained that he shouldn’t just support whatever team that happened to be doing well at that moment (or all the time), because choosing a football club is a decision for life.
There is no going back. It’s like getting circumcised. You’re stuck with the decision. Forever.
To also make sure that he didn’t conveniently go with the team that I used to work for – Perak FC – I then said that he needed to have some geographical connection with the club.
He was unhappy about this because the nearest team to us was Real Chukai FC.
“They’re not very good,” he said.
So, to nudge him towards the right choice – just a little so that I don’t come across as imposing – I said that he had spent most of his life in the state of Terengganu.
It took quite a long while, but eventually, we got to where I had been steering him all along – Liverpool FC.
He is now a Liverpool Wikipedia. He hates Everton and loathes Manchester United more. Apparently, that is the rule if you’re a Kopite. And the dilemma with having a son who supports a club on the other side of the planet, is that you now have to subscribe to Astro and stay awake at such ungodly hours to
catch them play.
It doesn’t matter if the match was at midnight or three in the morning. My son would sneak out of his room, switch on the television, and watch the entire match on mute.
And that is how football works.
It doesn’t matter to me what time the Malaysian Football League (MFL) decides when football should be played. Or the commercial reasons behind it.
All I care about is:
- getting to the stadium;
- who is seated to my left and right – because they should be wearing the ‘right’ colours;
- and the line-up of my team.
Super League matches start at 8.15pm and 9pm, while Premier League matches are scheduled at 4.45pm, 8.15pm, and 9pm.
MFL chief executive officer, Stuart Ramalingam, will make suggestions for what he believes is for the betterment of the league. While he does his thing, I will be at the stands, singing and cheering, and making sure Kimi and Doyan are doing the same. Because that’s what foot soldiers do: look after one another.
I hope, of course, that the change in the kick-off time will be commercially lucrative.
The truth is, I don’t really care what time a match begins.
Because, whether I am in Ipoh jeering the opposing team, or at Stadium Sultan Muhammed IV in Kota Bharu, mocking the Kelantan players for trailing two goals, I’ll be surrounded by Kimi and Doyan, and later stopping by for a ‘teh tarik’ and ‘roti canai’ on the way home, regardless of the time.
And that is what being a football fan is all about.
This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Twentytwo13.
