Living Euro 2012 in Mauritius

European Championships 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, referred to as Polkraine by so many people it makes anyone forget about the real names of countries.  While the D-Day is today, the excitement had begun long ago, with the drama reaching astronomical levels even before the start of the tourment!

Football is huge in Mauritius.  Huge, as in H-U-G-E!

For club football, people typically support either Manchester United or Liverpool  (many Arsenal fans often seem to convert to Liverpool for some unfathomable reasons), or lately Manchelsea/Chelsester City.  As for National football, it seems that a big majority of people here support England and France (language bias?).  Another reason could be that the Premier League is almost exclusively the one that’s broadcast on the MBC (Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation, the National TV station), with the German Bundesliga ony recently making its way to these shores since they moved from 3 analog channels to 12 digital ones.  So let’s expect a rise in support for Die Nationalmannschaft soon! Yea, you guessed right; French leagues are not played anywhere other than French territories ;p

Normally, the MBC usually struggles to match the humongous prices at which private companies/satellite television channels buy the rights for global/regional football tournaments, but tries to do its best(read least expensive) to provide at least some matches for local subscribers.  The opening ceremony is usually always broadcast along with the first match, but then the following matches tend to be rather random as they are bought as a package, e.g. 4 group matces, 2 quater finals, 1 semi final, and the final or any other combination.  Hey it can be fun as it can be like the lottery…you have no idea what matches you are getting! But then again, for every palpitating Spain v/s Portugal or Germany v/s Holland, there can be an eye-gouging Sweden v/s England or Greece v/s Italy. ;)

Since the MBC cannot play all the matches, malls and restaurants have stepped in to provide non-subscribers of satellite channels with a means to watch the competition! Many of them have already announced that they will play matches on a big screen or on a projector in public.  Those who will go there will be able to buy their dinner (their pick out of the various fast food chains in the food courts in the malls, or out of the dishes at the restaurant).

Sensing a good opportunity, other businesses try to share a slice of the cake.  Eletronics shops seized on the Mother’s Day/Euro 2012 double salvo to slash prices on TVs etc., with LCD screens reaching never-seen-before low prices.

“While you’re already here getting the best hardware system ever to watch your Euro 2012 football, check out the wonderful washing machine you can gift the wife for Mother’s Day so that she can wash your clothes while you are getting excited watching Zlatan knocking Nasri’s head off with a roundhouse kick!”
No, that’s not a real commercial.  Oh c’mon, don’t tell me you thought otherwise! Though Moricienneries would pay a lot to see that roundhouse kick… ;)

So as Euro 2012 starts tonight, Mauritus will be busy following the competition from start to finish.  Some will root for their favourite team to win while others will root for their least favourite team to lose.  Tears will flow and things will be broken.  Friends will be made, and so will enemies.

In short, Mauritius will be a total football supporter for the coming month as Euro 2012 goes on.

May the best team win!