The word ‘Rabi’ means sun in Bangla and there is a saying that Rabindranath Thakur has an omnipresent presence like sun. I subscribe to this belief. So, a wicked friend of mine asked me, do you think Bangalis’ love for German football team has something to do with the great philosopher poet? I replied in affirmative. Let me explain just as I explained to my dumbfounded pal.
Rabindranath had profound reverence for Germany. Apart from linguistic similarity (both the language uses long words through juxtaposition) he thought both cultures possess deep philosophical understanding. But more than anything, he almost worshipped the work ethics and scientific-minded approach of Germans where he befriended people like Einstein, Thomas Mann, Stephan Zweig during his several visits to the country. Despite his love he also criticised the Germans during his last days through his famous write-up titled the crisis of humankind.
But what is the relevance of all these things with our main question? Well, Rabindranath used to hate duality. He always wanted to escape from the dual black and white that possess Bangalis and sought after something that gives an alternative, something that stays at the higher echelon of philosophy.
To me, German fans of Bangladesh do the exact thing. Historically the football fans of this country belong to two groups- Brazil and Argentina. During 70s Brazil conquered the minds of fans in this part of the world thanks to their incredible footballing achievements and for being the team of blacks and anti-Europe that became the symbol of resistance against establishment. However, the hegemony of Brazil fans, who were mostly urban elites, became mainstream and the avalanche of fans in the 80s sought some other team to counter them. They found one in shape of Argentina thanks to Maradona, the ultimate symbol against establishment, and as television sets started to become ubiquitous the fandom got ever so stronger.
But, as I said earlier, there are people who love to stay away from bipartisanism and show some smug by being separate themselves from the bifurcation of the crowd. These people normally loathe the country bumpkins and want to stay in a higher stratum of philosophy. For them, Germany became a perfect sanctuary. Unlike lazy natives Germans are work-horse, unlike superstition ravaged country folks Germans are scientific-minded. And above all, Germany always win no matter what.
The winning mentality of Germany is perfectly illustrated by English player Gary Linekar, as he said “Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win”.
Linekar was not always right. Germany won 1974 final against all odds but lost to 1982 final to an even dogged Italy, However, the Germans were ferocious in that tournament and their goalkeeper Schumacher did not even bother to knock down an opponent with a brazen punch. Apart from this mindset the great skills of erstwhile German players also helped the fans becoming loyal to them.
Germany even played the villainous role against Maradona’s side losing once but took revenge in 1990 by winning the infamous final. One of the emotional Bangali girls committed suicide and members of parliaments condemned the referee despite perfectly knowing such useless debates burning public cash would do nothing but to appease stupid popularism. German fans, the followers of haut-culture even more loved their side as foe of millions of emotion-soaked foolhardy.
Well. This is just a generalized hypothesis. People choose a football side for anything and defend it for the rest of their lives. It is almost impossible to explain the fandom which itself is an extreme act of irrationality. Whatever we say, we may never explain why a farmer named Amjad Hossain at Magura created a 7.5-kilometer-long German flag and became viral? Why people, apparently best of friends, fight vehemently as fans of rival teams?
Football is an incredible phenomenon, a divine madness, no earthy words may understand it.
