Manchester United

I don’t know what it is about English football (soccer, for all intents and purposes), but the people in Malaysia love it. Especially Manchester United. Everyday you’ll see people walking around in Manchester merchandise (even beanies – though it’s over 30degrees everyday). Cars are decked out with Man U stickers, and the letters MUFC appear in random places (it took me a while to figure out what it was… then it clicked that it was Manchester United Football Club.

What’s more surprising is that Malaysians seem to love this sport even though they are terrible at it. There is no national team of note, and even the locals at uni can’t keep up to the pace of the international students. I think I can put it down to Manchester United’s successful marketing campaign in Asia… but the widespread interest still amazes me – it’s comparable to Melbournian’s love of AFL.

So it was no surprise that the “battle of the reds” (rivals Manchester United V Liverpool) was preceded with much hype. I heard adds about it on the radio starting from about a week in advance. The best part was when the warden of the hostel I am staying at arranged it get a temporary Astro satellite TV connection into the courtyard of the hostel, so he could broadcast the game on a projector for all to see.

There was a big turnout on the night of the game (Sunday night, 10pm), with a large percentage of the hostel residence turning out to watch the game. About 70% of the crowd was Man U supports, with the rest not really caring and supporting Liverpool for the night just to egg on the Man U fans.

The game was a good one, and it was backed up by one of the loudest crowds I’ve ever seen (almost worst than drunk guys watching the footy at the pub), with people screaming at the referee, the players, at each other, and just screaming in general. Towards the end, the crowd started getting quite rowdy and I was surprised there wasn’t a riot.

The 2-0 scoreline in Liverpool’s favour, crushed the fanatical Man U supporters, and after some angry outbursts eventually silenced them. I can’t wait to see the fireworks at the upcoming uni futsal tournament.