“I mean it’s not fun to criticise and abuse on the internet. Come to the stadium, do it on our face, scream at us, shout at us, abuse us, who knows one day we might change you guys, you might start cheering for us.” The statement shook the country where cricket is a religion but football is not. A statement that came from the captain of Indian football team, Sunil Chhetri the face of football in the nation for over a decade.
The 2 minutes, 20 seconds video was enough to cause a storm on social media. No one imagined a plea as passionate from Chhetri. Almost every media house carried the video as it became viral in a few hours on June 2. The age-old debate in the country started again, why cricket is the only dominant sport in the nation?
But, most importantly, the debate did not end there. People started coming forward, tweeted the video, shared it. As the topic started picking up, Indian cricket team’s skipper Virat Kohli urged the fans to listen to Chhetri’s plea and go watch the veteran play his 100th international game.
Please take notice of my good friend and Indian football skipper @chetrisunil11‘s post and please make an effort. pic.twitter.com/DpvW6yDq1n
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) June 2, 2018
His appeal soon became a trend on social media and more people joined in. Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar joined the bandwagon and urged the fans to go watch the match. India’s Tennis star Sania Mirza too extended her support in a rather funny tweet asking for a ticket to which Chhetri replied in a similar manner.
C’mon India… Let’s fill in the stadiums and support our teams wherever and whenever they are playing. @chetrisunil11 @IndianFootball pic.twitter.com/xoHsTXEkYp
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) June 3, 2018
Legend can I have tickets pls https://t.co/OysLcazVVc
— Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania) June 3, 2018
Mumbai football arena, a stadium with the capacity of 18,000 is expected to be flocking in after Chhetri’s plea. Youtuber Nikunj Lotia (Beyounick) made a beautiful gesture as he booked an entire stand making it easy for football fanatics to watch history in making.
India will be playing a tough opponent Kenya in their second match of the Intercontinental Cup. They won in the first match against Chinese Taipei where the 33-year-old scored a hat-trick. We expect a full house at Mumbai football arena. #Chhetri100 is already trending on Twitter.
Congrats @chetrisunil11 on reaching the milestone of 100 caps for the country tonight. Requesting all football fans and sports fans in Mumbai to fill the stadium tonight as @IndianFootball takes on Kenya in the Intercontinental Cup. #SupportIndianFootball #Chhetri100 pic.twitter.com/BucL8wr4Ia
— Shikhar Dhawan (@SDhawan25) June 4, 2018
Truth. #Chhetri100 pic.twitter.com/zG2yCKq4oy
— Blue Pilgrims (@BluePilgrims) June 3, 2018
So today’s match has been sold out. Hearing one of the stands has been bought by a single person. Hopefully people turn up to fill those seats as we’re looking for attendance at the venue and not ticket revenue generation. Let’s see. #INDvKEN #IndianFootball #Chhetri100 pic.twitter.com/uVbbtr6wSo
— Manasi Pathak (@ThatUnitedLady) June 4, 2018
They don’t come any better. Absolute respect for what this man gives to Indian Football. A true legend @chetrisunil11 ! To many more caps Bhai. #Chhetri100
— Darren Caldeira (@darrencaldeira) June 4, 2018
#Chhetri100 is already trending with less than 9hours to go for #INDvKEN.
Lets RT and spread the word to make it trend Number 1 in #India. #BackTheBlue #IndianFootball #WeAreIndia @chetrisunil11 pic.twitter.com/0W2DculAMP
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) June 4, 2018
Congrts champ @chetrisunil11 #Chhetri100 pic.twitter.com/1ybVFISr1s
— Rahul (@iamrahule) June 4, 2018
I’ve watched @chetrisunil11 only for 6 years now, 5 of em I’ve been lucky to watch him live.
He has been the saving grace/beacon of hope/silver lining amongst all the muck that’s been prevalent since then.
He’s earned every bit of appreciation that he’s getting.#Chhetri100
— Vijay.R.B (@TheBaronVj) June 4, 2018
Dear Mumbai,
YouTuber BeYouNick has already booked entire stand no. 4 for football fans. You have to just be there and cheer for our team. Please go to stadium and join them for our captain’s 100th match#Chhetri100Venue : Andheri Sports Arena, Mumbai. Kindly retweet pic.twitter.com/A3dGfWKyo1
— BHAVYA (@bhavyac_97) June 3, 2018
Whatever be the result today and even if none turns up today at #MumbaiArena to support team. One thing for sure milestone for @chetrisunil11 and he’ll alway give on the pitch.#INDvKEN
— George Keishing (@georgekeishing) June 4, 2018
Shout at them! Scream at them! criticise them! but do it from the stadium – @chetrisunil11 . I am going to cheer for them #INDvKEN #MumbaiFootballArena @IndianFootball, Let’s do it together #BackTheBlue #AsianDream #WeAreIndia pic.twitter.com/TtUQs4V611
— Henry Menezes (@menezeshenry) June 4, 2018
Dear Mumbaikars, please don’t disappoint our captain, irrespective of what he said, Chhetri deserves ‘cheers’, not ‘abuses’.
