The whole lot of Filipino Azkals team supporters, after an
epic goal… You see the guy in a blue wig? Yeah, he’s the Blue-Haired Fanatic.
And that Indian guy to the left of him? He supports the Tigers. See the guy in
the orange hat? He’s Tito Richard. And he’s covering my football-fanatic-by-now
face. (Hahaha, LOL peace, guys!) If only I could draw some arrows and show you
who they all are…
We walked through the grandstands,
searching for our seats. I waved my flag to the police up the seats, ready for
action. As I climbed up the bleachers, I saw a man who had the colors of the
Philippine flag on his face, and had a blue wig. He was the fans’ “mascot”,
also known as “The Blue-Haired Fanatic”. I recognized him as the guy we had met
earlier. I sat beside Tita Mae and Tita Sheila, visiting from Dubai.
Then our “mascot” made a speech. He told
us that we had an important role, to cheer for the Azkals. He also told a story
about the time when the Azkals fought against Singapore, the stadium of
Singapore was filled with Filipinos, with only 80 Singaporeans. But when the
Singaporeans cheered for their team, they were in such great harmony, that they
cheered the loudest, even though they were only 80 people. The Philippine team
told him that they needed some cheering and encouragement. And then our mascot
taught us some cheers, like “Let’s go Azkals!”, “Pilipinas, Pilipinas o-ey,
o-ey, o-ey!” Thus we were (all the fans of Azkals) the 12th member
of the Philippine team, the cheerleaders.
“Please rise for the Philippine
national anthem.” We put our right hands on the left side of our chests and
proudly sang our national anthem, “Lupang Hinirang”. Then the only Indian in
our group who supported the Tigers stood up and sang his national anthem with
great dignity. After the songs, the game began.
The
whistle sounded. The player kicked the soccer ball. The spark of football
fandom began in me. Now it is spreading, spreading like a fire. This day was
the day where I watched my first
football match. This match has made me a true Football Fan.
We would occasionally shout “Let’s go
Azkals!”, led by The Blue-Haired Fanatic, and sang “Pilipinas, Pilipinas, O-ey,
O-ey, O-ey!” And sometimes, when the there was some chance of our team of
getting the ball in a net, our mascot shouted, ”G-O-A-L!”And we answered,
“Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal!” Somehow, because of that, the Azkals scored 2 goals,
on the first half! Yeah! When they scored, which was too good to be true for me
(of course, this was the first time I became a fan), we screamed and shouted
and did some stuff to express our joy and happiness for the goal. After a few
minutes, the game continued.
When, sometimes, the ball was near
our goal, we would scream and squeal. And sometimes the ball had close meetings
with the net. But then Neil Ethridge, the goalie, would catch it, and saved the
nets from being scathed by the touch of the soccer ball. “Save! Yeah! Whew.”
we’d say. And we would also scream (and Tito Richard would do some of his weird
cheers (would you even call it “cheers”?), when the ball was near the Tigers’
goal. “G-O-A-L! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal!” the chant would come. Sometimes, our
ball would fly over the goal, and we would groan. A woman two seats on top of
us was saying bad things to India. That was NOT sportsmanship. Well, a true
football fan wouldn’t do that… right? Anyways…..
And
sometimes, sometimes… even mistakes can be committed by the best football
players in the world… (And that is how we score, really)… But this time, for
the Philippines, was not one of the “sometimes”…
The whistle blared. 45 minutes were done. The teams had a
break. We posed for pictures. I was watching the timer on the screen, and went
up to my seat just in time, shouting the countdown as I passed. The teams were
already in the field, and were in a huddle. The Azkals were last to retire from
their huddle up, and then the game started.
“Phrrt!” blared the whistle.
The teams switched goals, and now the Philippines’ was on the left side.
The sun had already retired in his bedroom, home from another day’s work. The
lights were on. The Azkals seemed satisfied with their score. Then, on one goal
kick of the goalie, two players from different teams tried to head-butt it, but
bumped heads and the ball. Ouch.
Time-out. The referee sounded his whistle. They both writhed
in pain, and the Azkal was more hurt by the two. Painful. A stretcher came with
four people, and carried him to the side. The game continued, the Tiger
recovered, and the Azkal drank some water, and rested for a few moments then
went back to the game. Sometimes, the goalie would kick a really high ball, and
I would shout “EPIC!”, and on the third high ball, it soared into the
grandstand and some Nepalis touched it and threw it back.
On a break, one Blue Tiger kicked an Azkal. My dad then said,
“India, this is football, not wrestling!” The Nepalis beside him laughed and
thought it was hilarious. Yellow or red card? And sir, this is association
football, may I remind you… More screams of “G-O-A-L! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal!”
“Let’s go Azkals!” and “ Pilipinas, Pilipinas, O-ey, O-ey, O-ey!” came. Three
minutes, and we shouted “Let’s go Azkals” again.
Phrrt! That was the final whistle. We shot up standing, for
we won the game! I sang “We’ve got the victory/We’re on the winning side!”
from the song “We Have Overcome”, and indeed we had the victory, and were on
the winning side!
Our mascot led “We love Azkals! We love Azkals!” and we did love the Azkals. They looked up at us,
and waved as they went inside the box. When their coach Michael Weiss passed
by, we sang “Happy Birthday” to him, because also that day was his birthday.
The guards came, and I checked and brought my stuff with me as the guards
shoved us to the exit. I waved my flag proudly to the air, hoping another won
match against Tajikistan on Tuesday. We left with great victory, and
excitement. The game ended with a 2-0.
And, that, my friends, is the story
of the Azkals and me versus the Blue Tigers.
Some very
(note: VERY) excited amateur football fans. One made it the whole way, though. She’s
still going strong (though she hasn’t watched any games live in a stadium
again). And she is still looking forward in seeing the Azkals again, someday
(and Stamford Bridge *hint, hint*)…
AZKALS, WE BELIEVE!
