Football Madness: Are we losing our sense of priorities?

The FIFA World Cup always brings extraordinary excitement. Friendly banter, heated debates, and, in today's digital age, endless Facebook mentions, posts, and comment wars as supporters desperately try to prove the superiority of their favourite teams. Unfortunately, in Bangladesh, the excitement does not end there. Every World Cup seems to witness incidents of conflict, and this year’s tournament has been no exception. At least 12 people have reportedly lost their lives in Bangladesh due to incidents directly or indirectly related to World Cup football. Only Allah knows how many more lives may be lost before the tournament ends. Ironically, this football competition is taking place nearly 12,000 kilometres away, yet more than a hundred people have already been injured across the country because of it.

Among the deceased, three people died from electrocution while hanging national flags - one in Mymensingh, one in Chattogram, and another in Manikganj. A young man died in a motorcycle accident while participating in a World Cup rally in Bhola. Another lost his life when a lamppost collapsed during football celebrations in Chattogram, while a man in Barguna suffered a fatal stroke during football practice. 
 
On 1 July alone, three people were killed in separate incidents in Dhaka, Sylhet and Ashulia. In Dhaka’s Adabar, a dispute over blowing whistles while watching a World Cup match escalated into a deadly clash. In Ashulia, a teenage boy was stabbed to death and buried following an argument over football. In Sylhet’s Zakiganj, a man was fatally stabbed by his cousin during celebrations after a football match. An elderly man was also brutally killed in Narail during a dispute over a local football game.

Most recently, a man was allegedly beaten to death during a dispute between Argentina and Egypt supporters. The latest victim was Md Shariful Islam, 32, an Egypt supporter from Dhanpur Village in Cumilla. On Tuesday night, he was allegedly assaulted by two individuals known as Argentina supporters following an argument over the Argentina-Egypt match. He later died at Cumilla Medical College Hospital. In another tragic incident, Rasul Uddin, 40, a van driver from Jhenaidah and a devoted supporter of Argentina and Lionel Messi, reportedly died after becoming excessively excited while celebrating Argentina’s dramatic victory over Egypt.

Violence has spread across educational institutions as well. In Mirsarai, Chattogram, clashes between Brazil and Argentina supporters left two people injured. At Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, repeated clashes over the same match injured at least ten people, including an assistant proctor, and resulted in vandalism of university property. Similar incidents occurred at Jashore University of Science and Technology, where students from two departments clashed, leaving several injured. Journalists covering the incident were allegedly attacked, threatened, and had their mobile phones snatched.  On 6 July, two Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) candidates were seriously injured in Bogura after a Facebook post about football triggered violence between rival supporters. Earlier, on 29 June, several students, along with the proctor and an assistant proctor of the University of Chattogram, were injured during a dispute while watching a match on a giant screen. On 28 June, at least twenty people were injured in Habiganj during a clash over the screening of a World Cup match. On 22 June, Jahangirnagar University expelled a student for assaulting another student over a dispute related to watching football on a giant screen.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh continues to struggle with numerous pressing challenges like humanitarian crises, border push-ins, threats from neighbouring political figures, and devastating landslides in the Chittagong Hill Tracts that have claimed many lives. Yet, despite all these realities, public attention remains overwhelmingly consumed by football.

Even the devastating earthquake in Venezuela on 24 June did little to distract people from their World Cup frenzy or remind them that Bangladesh itself is highly vulnerable to a catastrophic earthquake. Sometimes I imagine a frightening scenario. Allah forbid, if a powerful earthquake were to strike Bangladesh, causing thousands of buildings to collapse and trapping countless people beneath the rubble, volunteers, emergency responders, and law enforcement agencies would undoubtedly struggle to rescue survivors.

But if, on that very day, an Argentina-Brazil match or a match involving either of those teams were being played, I fear that many people would pause everything for ninety minutes just to watch the game. This raises a profound question: Why are we, as a nation, so overwhelmingly obsessed with football? Will we ever overcome this collective obsession, or will it continue to distract us from the far more urgent challenges that confront our society?