The Hindu Business Line : Football fever grips Mumbaikars

Game time for all
McDonald's offers Foosball Freekick that allows kids to win prizes by scoring penalty shots.
Waiters at a cafe in South Mumbai dress in the colour of the favourite team playing that day.
A cocktails menu at a bar reads: Bend it like Beckham - Free-kick specialist.
Cafe Coffee Day is running a `Power team Contest' where visitors vote for the most powerful team of the week.

Mumbai , June 18

Mumbaikars, who till now rooted for cricketers like Tendulkar and Dhoni have shifted loyalties to soccer stars like Ronaldinho and Rooney.

And its not just the city's youngsters who have altered their time-table for the month long extravaganza.

Though the initial rounds may not have invited an immense following, most restaurants and bars in Mumbai have already run out of space when "favourites" like Brazil, Germany, Argentina, the Netherlands or England play.

"I have already been to Sports Bar and Wild Orchids for the Brazil and England matches and a certain big plan is on the cards as far as the finals are concerned. To me this is nothing different than a cricket world cup," says Mr Hemant Kale, a media student. A marketing executive by profession, football enthusiast Mr Ashwin Chandrashekhar is all too willing to sacrifice some sleep and watch the match till late in the night.

And bars and cafes have cashed in on this world cup fever, screening the matches live at their outlets.

McDonald's, the official restaurant sponsor for the World Cup has put up `Foosball Freekick' at all its outlets targeting kids, who can win prizes by scoring penalty shots. Free soccer wallpapers and mobile downloads are also available here.

Creating atmosphere

The ambience of places screening the matches is as inviting as the game itself. Cafe Mondegar at Colaba, in South Mumbai, has dressed its walls with flags of soccer playing nations and every evening, the waiters dress in the colour of the favourite team playing that day, informs Mr Huxley Pimenta, owner of the cafe.

"The decor certainly adds to the mood of the game," says Mr Amar Sinha, a regular at Mondegar.

"Clubs and cafes have to screen the soccer matches live as soccer is now as important to us as other games are. If corporates and restaurants fail to show them, undermining the euphoria that the game generates among today's youngsters, then certainly they are at loss," said Mr Gautam R., a follower of the game since he was eight years old!

Most multiplexes in the city have not as yet screened the matches live, though there are a number of big colonies that have plans to screen the matches from the second round.

Football Menu

Drop into Sports Bar and cocktails by the name `Zinedine Zidane - The play maker,' `Bend it like Beckham - Free-kick specialist,' `Oliver Kahn - Germany's hot-blooded goalie' generate enough curiosity to be your companion through the match. It also sports starters named Spain, Mexico and USA. "The response has been good in the league matches, much beyond our expectation," said the manager of Sports bar.

Cafe Coffee Day has started `Power team Contest' where visitors vote for the most powerful team of the week and Celebration Street at Essel World put up huge screens along with disc-jockeys.

Football fans complain about the lack of attention the game attracts when a world cup is not on. But till the month long fare is on, Brazil's Ronaldinho is on every body's mind, with England's Wayne Rooney and Holland's Ruud Van Nistelrooy trailing not too far behind.