Gandhi and Football... Amazing Story

Footaholic 12 years ago

Arsenal, Egypt 178 2277

I am fortunate enough to have come across this fantastic article from FIFA about Gandhi and his role in Football and you are fortunate that I can share it with you.

This is the article: http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/news/newsid=1322010.html

I highly recommend reading it. Basically, it speaks about Gandhi was a football fan (never knew that) and how he established teams and amateur leagues in South Africa as a tool to engage people in political awareness and share his ideals through the positive collaboration of sport. His named his teams the "Passive Resistors" (SERiOUSLY, how awesome is that?).

Anyway, I never knew about any of this and I was fascinated to learn how one of my favourite pastimes played a role in the life of one of my all-time heros.

I hope you enjoy it as well.

Comments

ramaboy10 12 years ago

Mauritius 285 6463

Yay.

Nice to see people like Gandhi appreciated in the world of football. Loved it.

Footaholic 12 years ago

Arsenal, Egypt 178 2277

Here is a picture of the "Passive Resisters FC" circa 1913. Gandhi is circled in white.

ikoiko 12 years ago

Arsenal, Spain 53 853

So awesome. If only he and Bob Marley joined forces and established a team together. That would have been something eh? GhandJah FC!

naman93 12 years ago

Real Madrid 82 859

Thank God .... atleast he did one thing right by promoting Football !!

ramaboy10 12 years ago

Mauritius 285 6463

^ what the fuck? one thing right? what the flip is wrong with you? he brought independence to india you prick

Footaholic 12 years ago

Arsenal, Egypt 178 2277

NOTE TO SELF: sarcasam doesnt come across well to @ramaboy

Footaholic 12 years ago

Arsenal, Egypt 178 2277

im so glad someone actually enjoyed & responded to this thread. Sad how threads abiut important shit get like no responses (see child traffucking thread) but ones about the most asinine discussions like ronaldos sexuality can go on for days.

naman93 12 years ago

Real Madrid 82 859

@All and Ramakid :
India got independence because Britishers lost a lot of money and troops in
World War II. They didn't have enough resources to administrate such a large
country so they felt it was the right time to leave.

The ugly truth is that there was a
reason he was shot by a fellow country man of his own religion and today almost
half of the population actually feels good on his death day. It is Indian
National Congress that has hyped his image in the 1930s and 40s and is still
taking every step to maintain his "Mahatma" image.

I'd like to share this >> On
30th Jan this year 2013, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan (A well known film actor in India
) posted his condolences on Facebook on the death of Gandhi. I was shocked and
a bit relieved to see that around 70-80 % comments he received were abusing
Gandhi.

I am sorry if I hurt any of his
followers but the reality (inside story) is something else. I am sure you will
find about it in many blogs across the internet. Though my sources are some
independent journals and magazines of 1950-60s preserved by my Grandpa (which
were banned by Govt.) and some documentries I watched in recent years.

He didn't even try to save Bhagat
Singh (he usually negotiated with Britishers over matters of National
Importance) from death punishment for a simple reason that he became more
popular than Gandhi in just 3-4 years time span. He achieved what Gandhi was
able to achieve in almost 20 years. If Bhagat Singh and his fellow
revolutionaries were not hanged till death..... many historians believe that
India might have been independent by 1935-1940.

There are many other false images of
him portrayed by Indian Govt. but the reality is different.

Sir Winston Churchill once
said," If we leave India it will be run by goons" . Seeing the current
situation in my country, I think he was right !! Our own people betrayed the
freedom fighters and conspired against us for the money they received by the
Empire. I can write like a book on this topic. There is so much to it.

I went too much off topic but I felt
the necessity to share this.

Lodatz 12 years ago

Tottenham Hotspur, England 150 4992

...you're really going to tell us that Gandhi was not one of the most incredible, wonderful human beings of the 20th Century?

That's going to be a tough sell, man.

Didn't Godse shoot him because he didn't like how even-handed Gandhi had been towards Pakistan?

naman93 12 years ago

Real Madrid 82 859

He wanted Nehru to be the Prime Minister of India and Indian National Congress to be in power and with Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Leader of Muslim League) that was not possible. So Pakistan was created. Jinnah was one of the humble and democratic man in India, not a pervert like Nehru. Congress was only interested in the transfer of power, not about the development of country. Muslims were treated like untouchables in many parts of India in the 1920s and Muslim League was never taken seriously by Congress.

This is an old saying in India : First Mughals ruled us, then Britishers ruled us, Now the Nehru/Gandhi family is ruling us !!

And yes... I know this is a tough net to sell, that is why I am not selling it. If anyone is interested can research on this topic himself. A considerable part of population in India don't consider Gandhi as their idol. His ideas were what made him "Mahatma" and many foreign countries believe in that . But his negative side (dirty politics) is what that had divided India and Pakistan and it is too much to be ruled out. As a matter of fact his own son hated him, not because of personal issues but political decisions Gandhi made.