ABSTRACT
The football fans of Calcutta are as fervent as their counterparts elsewhere when it comes to celebrating world football.1 On the day of an important match, work schedules are openly defied. During FIFA World Cups, flags of the participating nations, particularly Brazil and Argentina, flap throughout the city and its outskirts. Neighbourhood walls are painted with graffiti featuring global football stars, and haircuts of icons emulated at every saloon. Jerseys bearing names of footballers and accessories like wristbands are in great demand. Football books and newspaper supplements are published and consumed widely. The matches are telecast live at restaurants, hotels, nightclubs and shopping malls. During the World Cup in 2010, a newly opened mall in Calcutta organized food carnival, quiz shows, tattoo and facepainting boutiques and chat shows with celebrities and sports personalities to attract customers. A giant wrought iron football along with a 5-ft Jacumi, the World Cup 2010 mascot, was installed at the entrance of the hotel Hindustan International.2 The hotel also laid out an experimental menu which included, among others, vodkabased ‘Bosque Smoke’, gin-based ‘Capello Lamborghini’ and Rooney’s ‘Nomicks Cooler’, fish-based dishes like ‘Mesmerised Like Messi’ and ‘Between The Posts’, a potato platter called ‘Kaka’s Chip’ and a Mexican dessert imaginatively called ‘Ronaldo’s Banana Kick’. New Kenilworth Hotel served cocktails from or popular in each of the 32 participating countries.3 Over 300,000 users subscribed to Waka
Waka, the Cup theme song, as their mobile ringtone, and millions downloaded the song from internet.4 And the weirdest of them all, kite-makers came out with a World Cup special series of kites inscribed with different images of every team.5
The fervour foregrounds the public’s enchantment with world football. However, the enthusiasm was reserved mostly for the Latin American teams Brazil and Argentina, which is evident from a press report, one among many, following their ouster from the 2010 World Cup:
