The emerging debate: True fans Vs Plastic Fans

True fans vs Plastic fans

In earlier days the words love and hate were possibly the two extremes of emotions. They are two very strong words. Hating someone meant “If you were on fire and I had water, I would drink it”. But, by the looks of it, things have changed. Nowadays some “sports fans” speak about how much they hate a player, when “dislike” seems more appropriate. But who cares nowadays, they both are one and the same. Here are a few instances I have seen, where the word “Plastic Fans” makes some sense.

In India cricket is a religion. People make all sorts of excuses to watch a cricket match. In such a cricket crazy nation, where I come from, one cannot expect the use of the word “hate” against MS Dhoni, the captain of the national cricket team. Yet, surprisingly so, there are many “haters” of him in this country. I asked a few people the reasons why they hate him. The reasons were like:

“He plays for himself and his average, not for the team”
“He was not giving strike to Sachin when he was on 191 against SA, the match where he scored 200″
“He is selfish player”
“He chooses Chennai Superkings players for National team”

Now these reasons made we wonder “are they really worth calling themselves cricket fans?”. We all watch the game because we love it. We love every aspect of the game. Now here is a Captain who has won you all three major ICC trophies and that is what you think of him. Here is a batsman you were so happy to watch when he scored 148 versus Pakistan in Vishakaptnam. Now you give such lame reasons. The term Plastic Fans is made for people like you. He is probably the only captain in the world to have more haters in his own country than outside. Everyone still supports India to win, whether or not MS Dhoni is captain.

But its not all the same when we come to club level. Football, being a global sport, has huge fan following. And a big international tournament comes once every two years. So football fans support many clubs.

The debate “who is better Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo” is a great example to see true fans from plastic fans. There are people who say “Messi is better, Ronaldo is nothing” while few others say the exact opposite. But the truth is we all know that these players are two greats of the game. Their rivalry is unmatched, the past six years were dominated by these players. They are a class apart. So when someone says one of them is better than other because other scores most of his goals from penalties, it again shows the kind of plastic fans football has. They are only causing harm to the beautiful game.

Some people argue that “Messi is the best because he is humble unlike Ronaldo”. Now for me, as a football fan, this seems irrelevant. Yes it is a good quality to be humble, but that doesn’t mean you are better. We all watch football and on the pitch the way both of these players play is mesmerizing. We are very fortunate to see both of them play. They both respect each other, why can’t their fans? Calling them “pessi/penaldo” show the kind of plastic fan one is. A true fan would know that the level of these players is untouchable.

So, it again raises the question “do fans really understand their importance?”. They are the reason the players give their 100% on the field. They are the reason why the number of matches keep increasing every year. Sports are for entertainment, they make our life a lot more fun. So it is our duty to respect every team, player, coach and others associated with it. So if you cant stand behind your team/player when they are going through bad times, don’t be there during the good times. They deserve better fans than you.