“All animals are
equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
― George Orwell,
Animal Farm
For a few, brief moments
after the U16 Indian football team won the SAFF cup, there was euphoria all around.
The beauty of
football, football unites all. You get the gist.
https://ukhrultimes.com/india-wins-saff-u-16-championship-2023-profound-reflection-for-manipur/
Interestingly,
earlier today though, the headlines read “Hero's welcome in Manipur for its six
Under-16 football stars ..”
The article goes on to say.. “amid the unceasing ethnic conflict besetting Manipur, scores of people on Tuesday accorded a hero’s welcome to six of the 15 young footballers of the state….”
Interesting because
there are actually 8 out of that 15 who belong to the state, one none
other than the captain of the team himself.
So, a hero’s welcome
is afforded to the remaining 6 while the other two, and reiterating again, the
captain himself, have to make an arduous journey back, flying first to Guwahati
and then a long (and I mean long) drive back home to yes, same said
state, to a town that is barely 45 kms away from the capital Imphal.
Wondering why? Let
me spell it out for you.
The two? Children of
a lesser tribe.
So yes, football is
a great sport until it isn’t.
What does this mean
then really? And what message are you sending out there to the people back
home?
a)
It doesn’t matter
if you bring back laurels for your country, no less.
b)
It does NOT
matter what your achievements are, really, truly.
c)
It really doesn’t
matter, to the state, to the nation, even.
To be clear, where there
is clear political will, there is always a way.
Where things should
matter, there will always be a way.
The lack of it in
both these things is evident in that the state did not feel it was necessary,
and I am sure there will be umpteen reasons soon given, security blah blah, for
these boys to be lauded and honoured for what they had done.
Honestly?
Had they done so, it
would have been a perfect opportunity, to showcase that despite the deep divide,
that there is still the one thing that unites us.
The love of the game.
What could have been
a shining moment, perhaps even a toehold into bridging the hurt and pain by
honouring ALL the team members and welcoming them back has only further exacerbated
what we have felt all along.
We don’t matter.
Our lives don’t matter.
Our accomplishments don’t
matter.
Our pain and
suffering do not matter.
What has been
brought painstakingly into the forefront is this.
That there is the
take no survivors mindset.
What we are witnessing now, including this very revealing and deliberate sidestepping of the two young men, is nothing but a downward spiral into an unending abyss of hate and apathy, one that is being fuelled by misinformation, lies and deceit.
There is only so
much though, of this hate fuelled agenda that can carry on.
As I had written
earlier, one might ignore or refuse to acknowledge it, but the monster(s) that are being created will eventaully find its way back home.
https://judithnv25.blogspot.com/2023/06/let-there-be-carnage.html
I think now more than ever, the people, both in the state and larger as a nation, need to decide what they truly want.
A game isn’t won, cannot be won, if everyone is a striker, or a midfielder or a goalkeeper.
Much like football
or any other game, we need to understand too, that it is our diversity that is
our greatest strength.
More of the same
will not help us win trophies and neither will it build us as a nation.
So, and as a favourite
coach of mine, albeit fictional, says, "Doing the right thing is never the
wrong thing."
People in the
football world out there, there’s still time to do the right thing.
Do it not because you
should, but because you can.
You must…
#football #fortheloveofthegame #Manipur
Comments
Post a Comment