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The summer that changed football
How one summer in 2003 transformed football and my own life forever!
The writings were on the wall. I knew it was going to happen one day or another. Still, a part of me had hoped for a different ending. Still, a part of me wanted to believe everything was false. And then, finally, the dreaded moment arrived. The news bulletin of what was probably my only source of information made it official.
Part of me wanted to cry at the very moment. Part of me did cry a few hours later.
David Beckham had officially left Manchester United. Beckham, one of my biggest reasons for supporting Manchester United, had left my favorite club.
I don’t even remember when I first fell in love with watching football. My first vague memory of football is from the France 1998 World Cup. Barely 6 years old, that was the first time I had seen people watch football. Not just watch but also live and breathe. Such was the fervor of football in the circle I grew up in in Nepal.
By the time the next World Cup had started, Japan-Korea 2002, I had grown used to watching 90 minutes of football. But still, I hardly knew anything about club football then, except that they existed and footballers played for such clubs during other times. Lack of cable access at home meant I could watch only the World Cup matches. So, when my…
