One night, 100-150 people wearing red and blue Barcelona tee shirts gathered in a pub in the heart of Delhi’s New Friend’s Colony. It was a La Liga game—the first-division football league that is played in Spain—against Villarreal (a Spanish professional football club) and the Culers (a name for Barcelona fans) were expecting an easy victory for Hansi Flick’s team.
As soon as Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona’s 36-year-old number nine opened the club’s account, the collective voices of 150 people shouted “Visca Barca, Visca El Catalunya (Long live Barcelona, long live Catalunya). With the passing of each minute, this chant increased threefold. It stopped only when Barcelona emerged victorious with five goals to one. For 90 minutes, Pebble Street became a miniature version of Barcelona’s official stadium Camp Nou and the 150 voices upheld the spirit of millions of Culers across the globe.
In Delhi-NCR, multiple football fan clubs are hard at work to provide football enthusiasts with a sense of joy and enjoyment by organising matchday screenings. These fan clubs are bringing the joy of European football live to Delhi where many from diverse backgrounds are joining and supporting their favourite clubs.
“Our vision is to spread the collective joy of football. If any Barcelona fan comes to Delhi and wants to watch a football game, s/he should know that there is a fan group called FCB Delhi NCR is organising a screening,” says Shubham Jha, the fan club’s vice president. Jha moved to Delhi in 2021 as a doctor with a multi-speciality hospital now on a break from his job. His love for football and the Catalan giant and the need to be associated with like-minded people made him start this club in Delhi in 2023 with four other football-crazy fans.
Pure passion
Although divided by teams, these fan clubs have two things in common—a shared love for football and their intention to run non-profit entities. “We do not charge any membership fee. Anyone who loves Chelsea FC, can easily join us through our WhatsApp group. To broaden our base, we have also organised membership drives. We are a family,” says Kabir Harpalani, a lawyer, and the president of Capital Blues, the official fan club of Chelsea FC. The group is registered with Chelsea and hopes one day to bring some Chelsea players to Delhi so that all members can meet them.
The official fan club of Manchester United, Manchester United Delhi NCR Supporters Club (MUSC Delhi NCR), similarly is also engaging supporters through screenings of the big tournaments—and for free. “In 2014, three of us started this fan club to explore European football nights together. We wanted to get registered with the club from day one and after four years of hard work, we got confirmation from the club that we were registered as the official fan club of Delhi. Since then it has been an exciting fan engagement journey for us through organising screenings,” says Utkarsh Tyagi, a lawyer, and the president of MUSC Delhi NCR.
As the number of members of these fan clubs increases, they are leaving no stone unturned to get registered with respective European clubs. “There are almost 10 Barça penyes (fan clubs) in India and most are working towards their passion to form a community of Culers trying to give the best possible experience of the international football club in their own city. We are absolutely non-profit and the earnings are utilised for charity events and fan club maintenance. We recently conducted a charity event for orphans and wish to conduct more shortly” says Sadiqul Islam, a structural engineer and the president of FCB Delhi NCR.
Diverse backgrounds
The screenings are the new hangouts for the city’s football enthusiasts. After a hectic day or week at work, people come and share the joy of football with their peers.
“The feeling of celebrating every time Bruno Fernandes scores a goal, collectively, is very difficult to put into words. No matter how bad your work-week has been, being in the screening and watching a game with like-minded supporters offers an uplifting experience,” says Karn Kasturi Sharma, a Gen Z, who is a regular at the Man Utd screenings. His sentiment is echoed by Aaron Gonsalves and Aayush Choraria, who are associated with Capital Blues. Gonsalves says he “cherishes each moment when I am surrounded by Chelsea supporters and see my team winning”.
These fan clubs do not just attract working professionals or people of a particular age group. The youngest member of the FCB Delhi NCR is a 14-year-old schoolkid who shocked everyone by stepping into a pub to see a Barcelona game. Divit Haldia, a Class 9 student at Noida’s Shiv Nadar School, says: “I got to know about this fan club from Instagram and later became a member on WhatsApp. One day when I entered the pub to see a game between Barcelona and Real Valladolid FC, everyone was shocked to see a kid inside the pub. People came and started talking to me. Since then they have taken extra care of me every time I go for a screening considering my age. My parents are also assured that nothing would happen to me as these people look out for me.”
A similar feeling is expressed by scholar and activist Banojyotsna Lahiri who says: “It always feels mind-blowing to watch the games with fellow Culers. When so many people who love the club crazily get together, the atmosphere of even small games becomes electric. When the club wins, all of us collectively go crazy. If the club loses the game, we can collectively rant.”
As football season peaks, many more thrilling football nights are awaited. The fan clubs are gearing up for matchday screenings. March 16, for instance, will be a big day for Capital Blues as Chelsea is going to take on Arsenal in the next London Derby. In the Copa Del Rey, if Barcelona faces Atletico De Madrid or Real Madrid in the last week of February, FCB Delhi NCR will also have a screening.