City's footballing fraternity holds breath for World Cup final

Bengaluru 

The biggest event in football, the FIFA World Cup final, will be taking place in the first hours of Monday morning with festivities set to begin from Sunday night and the city's footballing community will be watching it from their chosen seats with bated breath. The Karnataka government, after requests from hotel owners, extended the timing for commercial establishments to be open until 3 AM, giving venues a chance to screen the World Cup matches. Nearly all bars and pubs in the city have planned to screen the match at their locations and the footballing fraternity have also made arrangements to watch with friends and family.

The Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA) has arranged its screening at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium. General Secretary of KSFA M. Kumar said, “We are organizing a screening in the Koramangala Indoor Stadium. We are distributing passes to those who want to come as well. They are free and if someone wants to come they can get the passes from the association office. We are expecting the CM and the Deputy CM, as well as Association President N.A. Haris and Koramangala MLA Ramalinga Reddy to attend.” Former professional footballer Anthony Clinton recalled that earlier, his neighbourhood of Gowthampura would come together near the Pele statue and watch the matches together.

But with the curbs by the authorities’ on screenings in public places, he has chosen to organize a private screening with former footballers and friends in his home. “I have a nice area on my terrace and I’ve planned to watch the match with some former football players. Usually when you have fans, they tend to become a little raucous but with players, we can talk with knowledge and experience so it’s a better atmosphere for us,” he said. Commercial establishments have also made arrangements and are expecting packed houses for the night.

Some will be allowing guests on a first come, first serve basis with fully redeemable cover charges like Hard Rock Cafe and Studs, and others will not have cover charges, like 1522. The manager of Hard Rock Café recalled that last year the place was filled to the brim as well and were expecting the same. Nihan Anthony, a former football player, recently began an event managing company called Abstract which has arranged two venues to screen the match – Quarter Peter and Mirage.

“We are actually looking for a third venue because Quarter Peter looks already full and we are still getting enquiries. We posted a reel and it’s blown up. We got more than 500 registrations for Quarter Peter. Also, having been a professional footballer, doing this for the game is just amazing,” said Nihan.