Many people are crazy for football and often violence from football matches claim lives. Violence in football and crowd trouble is becoming a big problem for many countries. Well, you know it is very easy to destroy something but very difficult to create. However, if there are some football hooligans, there are many passionate supporters who love football (Americans and Australians call this game 'soccer') with all their heart and World Cup Football is like going to pilgrimage for them. Unfortunately, since they do not involve into violence, kill someone or destroy cars or shop windows, they do not make the media headlines. That is why, I feel so happy to write this real life story of a passionate football supporter who may come from an ordinary family but he saves money every day for four years to next World Cup Match.
I heard this story in Bangla service of BBC World Service last night (26 June, 2006) in Parikrama (BBC Bangla service broadcast this edition on 16:30 hours GMT). It is the story of Mrinal Kanti Ray who is from Shilchar of Assam state of India. He always loved football and he always wanted to go to enjoy a World Cup Football. So, he started to save 33 Indian Rupee daily (less than one US dollar) and this way he saved for more than 4 years. He hardly missed a day in saving the money and naturally sacrificed many comforts and hobbies to save this money. Then in 1998, he could get manage enough money to go to France 1998. He does not come from a rich family and he comes from an artist family. And he has some skill in commercial painting.
In France 1998, Mrinal Ray could enjoy some matches as he could not afford more than that. He found that he could paint the flags in the faces of the supporters of different countries. Thus he could earn some money and manage meet his daily expenses. Then he came back to India and again started to save money. Fortunately, his family members are supportive and they too sacrificed for Mrinal Ray a lot. Then in 2002, he could enjoy a bit better as World Cup was held in Asia (Japan and Korea organized jointly). He could manage 8 tickets from Indian Football federation and he got tickets for the Semi Final and Final from another person. He again continued painting flags in the face of the fans.
This time, he is not that lucky as he suffered financial constraints and could not buy ticket before World Cup 2006 began. However, Mrinal Kanti Ray came to Berlin and fortunately; a person of Bangladeshi origin hosted him to stay in his home in Berlin. Since he could not manage to get tickets in advance he had to buy tickets from the black market with higher charge. He has been able to enjoy 4 matches of World Cup 2006 and he is eager to enjoy a match of Brazil. He is going to the stadium daily and then painting flags and jersey numbers of different players in the face of the fans of different countries. This money is helping him to meet the daily expenses. On an average, he can paint the faces of 25-30 supporters each time.
Mrinal Kanti Ray is not a famous man. He is just a passionate supporter of Football (Soccer). World Cup Football is life and he is determined to enjoy it at any cost. I wish that FIFA and German Football Federation or any sponsor comes forward to help Mrinal Kanti Ray and provide him all the tickets of this World Cup.
This story reminds of the beauty of blogging. As bloggers, we can write stories and then publish them immediately. We do not need to worry if our editor will like this story or not, will it be in the first page or in the inside page, will it be a cover story or become a 100 word story in fun section of a magazine. Long live Blogging!
Thank you for your exclusive article.
A person saved less than a dollar over the four years. This true story can tell that how poeple are crazy fo rfootball. I hope he will be given the title of best supporter as you realize his financial position. An ordinary painter should have all of his thought just for money and here itis cleatr how determine he was for the football.
I agree with you that he should be given all of the tickets of the matches left.
Thanks for Mrinal Kanti Ray.
Posted by: Biplob Kishore Deb | June 27, 2006 8:27 AM | Permalink to Comment