New Town clubs and residents in grip of football fever

A giant screen at the City Square in front of Central mall in New Town has been a magnet for football lovers seeking like-minded company ever since screening started of the Fifa World Cup matches on Saturday.

The 12ft by 8ft LED screen is mounted on a stage with 1000W soundboxes. Large hoardings of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé and other soccer stars keep the chairs laid out company all day till the clock strikes 8.30pm.

Members watch a Brazil match together at Sukantanagar Culture and Sports Club.

Sudeshna Banerjee and Aranyak Mojumder

"We had been thinking of screening the World Cup since the start of the carnival. Finally we got the set-up ready from the quarter-final stage. We have a floating crowd, Many customers are coming over after they are done with checking the stalls out. Many others, especially residents living close by, are getting to know of the screening and coming here especially to see the match. We are hoping for a big crowd for the semi-finals and final," said Surajit Samanta of Utkarsh Events who is also organizing the New Town Carnival, underway for the first time, till December 18 at the same venue. "It helps that the World Cup ends on the same day. There are 200 chairs laid out but we can add 500 more. A mat can also be rolled out on the ground.

Ronaldo.

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So far, the 12.30am matches had not been shown. “But if there are enough audience members, we are ready to host them. In fact, the stall-keepers, who are from far-away places like Bangladesh and Midnapore, are asking me to arrange for post-midnight screening,” said Samanta.

Messi.

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For the likes of Subhajit Roy of New Town BC Block or Tanayesh Talukdar of Animikha Housing Complex who are watching the 8.30pm Round of 16 matches there, it is a chance to soak in a community viewing experience in their own neighbourhood.

Some housing complexes in New Town are gearing up to host the World Cup towards its business end. Greenwood Elements will arrange for giant screen and dinner on the night of the final. Eastern High will screen the semi-finals and the final on a projector screen it owns.

Neymar.

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In Salt Lake, some of the councilors are taking the initiative. Maitri Sangha will arrange for live screening of the final at the space in BF Block where it holds Kali puja, said club president and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation chairman Sabyasachi Dutta.

Ranjan Poddar, councillor of Ward 34, is spearheading a full-day plan to celebrate the World Cup final. There will be breakfast followed by sit-and-draw for five to 12-year-olds on the theme of - what else but - the World Cup. This will be followed by sports for senior citizens and women and community lunch. The evening's cultural programme, with focus on football, will culminate in the screening of the final in HB Park. The semi-finals will be screened as well in the block's community hall.

Clubbing it out

Even if there are no giant screens, community viewing has started at the sports clubs of Salt Lake since the start of the tournament.

At Sukantanagar Culture and Sports Club in Sector IV, the members gather at the club and watch the matches together.

Bidhannagar Nabankur Sangha members watch a match.

Aranyak Mojumder

Sajal Banerjee, an executive committee member of the club, makes time from his schedule as an income tax lawyer, to watch his favourite team, Argentina, play. “I had seen Maradona play and since then I have loved Argentina. Messi’s last World Cup campaign means a lot to us. It was a disaster when we initially lost to Saudi Arabia but then watching Messi and Argentina in action against Mexico has restored our faith."

Kylian Mbappé.

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The one match that he enjoyed the most did not feature Argentina, though. “It was Spain versus Costa Rica. The way the team full of such promising youngsters play tiki-taka is just mind blowing and beautiful to watch.” No wonder he was pained by Spain’s exit on penalties againt Morocco.

Vice-president of the club Pintu Das was a little upset to see the Asian teams play so well while the Indian national football team was still nowhere close to playing in the FIFA World Cup. “The problem with us Indians is that we will stay awake till 2. 30am to watch other nations play but watching the Indian team play even in our free time is too much for us. We invest all our time, love and energy for these foreign nations and care little about whether our own national team would stand on that stage some day,” he said.

Luka Modric.

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Sukantanagar Culture and Sports Club has created a homely atmosphere to watch the game in. During the Brazil-Switzerland match, Brazil continuously attacked from the 11th to the 15th minute leading to three clear chances which the Swiss defense somehow managed to keep out of the goal-line. The passion on the faces of the fans present in the club hall was truly a sight to behold. Their screams of excitement when their team was running for a fast counter attack and then the groans of their disappointment at missing so many scoring opportunities was a testimonial to the township’s love for the canary yellow jersey.

Another such community World Cup gathering takes place at Bidhannagar Nabankur Sangha in Duttabad. The club, in its golden jubilee year, has flags waving outside. Inside, a dozen football enthusiasts are regularly glued to the television. They arrange for snacks and soft drinks too. The illumination is dimmed and blue false ceiling lights are turned on to create a festive ambience.

A member of the club, Jagannath Das, said: “We are mostly Brazil and Argentina fans. From seniors to children, we all gather here to celebrate football together. It becomes a problem to watch the 12.30am matches here, but we watch most other matches here together.”