RIFLE RANGE BOY: craze

Almost like a ritual, it turns up regularly every four years in the Northern summer. Nobody bothers about the Southern hemisphere anyway. One says that games are on this summer, it refers to summer in the Northern hemisphere, not South. Many a couch potato who had seen better times at running after a ball, all turn out to be expert football pundits and fantastic football strategist; many times over than the world's highest paid football managers. These podgy characters start their day in the afternoon with puffy red eyes and husky voices after staying up the whole night to the wee hours of the morning at nightspots cheering for teams whose players would not even be able to place our country on the globe.

My exposure to this most loved started way back in 1978 when Argentina hosted this quadrennial fiesta. My mathematics teacher, Mr Chang, besides teaching us probabilities and possibilities, he also exposed us to some of the FIFA world cup related trivia. Brazil, at that time, was the only country to have turned out three times* and it was the only country that had won the cup when hosted outside the continent the winning team is from**. [Brazil won it in 1958, 1962 and 1970; they succeeded in Sweden]. Much has changed since then. * Germany and Italy has won four times and Italy three; ** Spain won in the African continent and Germany in South America in 2014.

100-ruble Bank of Russia commemorative note.

features great Russian goalkeeper Lev Yashin.

Is it not all about the money?

Over the years, much has happened in the way football is played and the tournament is run. The governing body and its members are drowning in alleges of bribery and match-fixing. The numbers of countries participating in the finals draw have swelled by leaps and bounds. After the 1994 US-hosted WC, commercialisation has reared its ugly head. Sometimes one wonders whether any outcome of a game is real anymore. Do the best team ever win or is it that the invisible hands of inter-continental bookies who have the final say?

Again and again, host countries have failed to make any money from these games. Their level of football never changed. The economy was not spurred. Monumental stadium out in the wilderness like the one in Manaus became white elephants which cannot generate income to sustain itself. Political unrest instead comes out as the homeless stare cluelessly as their host country sweep their poverty figures under the proverbial carpet. Don't even go near Qatar if one does want to know the number of humans if one takes migrant workers as one, sacrifices made in the name of showcasing the scorching desert kingdom as a host to this game in the heat of summer!

Are football enthusiasts given their money's worth? Do the final games give them enough fix to last another four years? I do not think so. Gone are the days, sportsman gave their heart and soul to the glory of the nation. Now it is dollars and cents or whatever denominations that matter to them. Footballs, like all commodities, have a shelf-life. Within their short span of soccer productivity, they have to enrich themselves. Their participations at club level roll in the dough. Medals and pride do not fill up the belly or maintain their lifestyles. Hence, we only see half-hearted participations and non-committal involvements in the World Cup finals.

At the end of the spectators are taken for a ride whilst cronies of politically connected people in business laugh all the way to the bank. For others, it is just a month of chaos, blurry-eyed civil servants' service and loads of medical certificates issued for absenteeism.