13 May 2006 Saturday

Feature M29
METRO

Football
mad family
A

H, the EPL is finally over, thank goodness.

It really is a little annoying having the
season dragged on so long only to see
your team lose.
Yes, yes, Im a Manchester United fan, so I wasnt really happy to see Chelsea take the
Premiership at such a late stage of the season.
But, at least, it was Chelsea, and not Arsenal,
Liverpool or even Tottenham.
You see, while my ee che (sister number two)
and I are United supporters, dad is a Gooner, tai
che (eldest sis) supports the Spurs and mum is a
Reds fan.
Needless to say, football has been a very big part
of my family.
Back in the days before Astro and MegaTV, we
had little opportunity to follow English football
but I suppose we all latched on to it more than any
other leagues only because of dad.
What we all did enjoy together pre-Astro, however, was the World Cup.
I remember the days when my sisters would
wake up in the wee hours of the morning just to
catch the game.
The thing was, it was a school day, so what they
had to basically do is wake up, wash up and watch
the game.
At halftime, they put on their school uniform,
take a 10-minute nap, and then wake up for the
second half.
At the end of the game, itd be time for school.
Dad was cool with it (he was the one who woke
them up for the games), mum wasnt too happy
about it and I was, well, too young to be allowed
to wake up so early.
But, alas, the challenge for the Cup of Life only
comes once every four years, and with satellite
TV, we keep ourselves entertained mostly with
the EPL.
While it used to be ee che and me versus dad
(Tottenham was, then, insubstantial), it has now
become a three-way competition at home.
Both my sisters married into Liverpool.
So, week in, week out, wed sit down to watch
the games.
Sometimes all of us, sometimes just a couple,
but on Sunday morning, during breakfast time if I
ever wake up on time, itd be a full-fledged football discussion.
Most of the time were pretty chill with each
other during the games.
A few snide remarks, jokes on how my dad and
Arsene Wenger look alike, and how wed get the
kids to go to dad and say Arsenal kalah but
that was it.
Until, that is, a clash in the scheduling of the
games.
Ah, World War III who gets priority of the
TV?

At times, we settle it amicably which game

holds more importance?
But then there are times when we just go off at
each other.
You know how the Astro commercial on TV is
like with that guys wife and mother both fighting
for the television?
Well, its no different here.
These days its much harder because you can
only catch the games on Astro.
There was a time when it was showing on different TV stations, so we could catch one game
downstairs and another in mum and dads room
where there was another set.
Such was the passion for the game in my family.
This even extends when we go travelling.
Every time dad travels to Europe for work, he
makes a stop in England.
He always says its to visit his sister whos been
living there for decades but I always suspect it
was also because he could make a trip to
Highbury and buy a T-shirt or two.
After last weekends game where Arsenal
played its last game in Highbury, dad has already
mentioned how he cant wait to go visit the teams
new home, the Emirates Stadium.
My sister, on the other hand, didnt get to visit
White Hart Lane when she last went to England
with her family. The hubby got priority and they
visited Liverpool instead, only because the two
kids have been brainwashed by my brother-inlaw to support his team.
They also made a stop at Manchester and
stopped by Old Trafford where they got the kids to
stand in front of the stadium and give the stadium
two thumbs down for a photo, of course, for the
benefit of their United-loving kau fu and ee ee.
Now that the EPL has ended and none of our
teams won, things are a little bit more peaceful at
home, especially with our united dislike for the
Blues.
But, wait, the World Cup is coming and we
havent yet selected our teams of choice.
I, for the record, have always supported
England and will continue to do so, Rooney or not.
Ill wait for the rest of my family to stake their
claim and when they do, well, it is game on from
there.