The IPL 2022 has commenced. The greatest T20 tournament in the
world. The world’s best players matching skills against each other and being
paid astronomical sums of money for doing so, you can’t beat that mix. And yes,
watched by millions in India and all over the world. It is watched in homes,
clubs, bars and restaurants in the country. It is also watched in sports bars
around the world. That holds true in Goa too. A tourism dependent state,
visitors come from all over the world. It is not unusual to see English
tourists dressed in the colours of their favourite club urging them in their
campaign while sitting in a sports bar on the coast in Goa.
Now is it something similar with the cricket tournament on.
Kedar Chapekar, a cricket tragic who is now in Goa on holiday, said it was
always a great experience to watch a match in a sports bar. He said “It great
egging on your team and passing funny remarks which usually elicit a reaction
from some young guy. It is good fun for a couple of hours. It reminds me of my
time when I was in England as a student years ago watching football in a club
with friends.”
The tournament has without a doubt helped generate good business
for sports bars. Many usually depend on foreign tourists who come to watch
their team but now with the industry just recovering from the Covid pandemic,
the industry is largely dependent on domestic tourists. With cricket so
passionately followed in the country, it goes without saying that the domestic
tourists in the state will also be watching cricket. One of the more popular
sports bars is based in Candolim. Jerry the owner of the club said a lot of
people were coming over to watch the match. He said “This year the domestic
tourist is only here and many of them come to the bar to watch the games”. He
went on to say they were spending much more than the foreigners who used to
come over to watch the football matches. He said the domestic tourists usually
had food along with beer. The bills he said were always much more and was very
happy with the business. He however said the crowds for the Champions trophy
match on Tuesday was very big and all of them stayed for the entire duration of
the match. Business, he said, was good with the domestic crowd.
Lionel the owner of a
resort which had a sports bar in Colva said business was very good with many
fans coming to watch the cricket. He said “The locals are not coming because
they are still scared about the virus. They usually turn up for football. The
domestic tourists come eat and drink and watch the entire game. They spend
money which is not the case with the foreigners. This year has been so much
better as compared to what we went through for two years”.
However there were
also those who preferred to stay put at home and watch the game with friends.
Conal Lobo, an entrepreneur, said he preferred to watch the game at home in
comfort. He said “Occasionally my mates come over. We sit and watch the game
and chew the fat. I used to watch football games at various sports bars, it has
a different vibe altogether. Cricket however has a different vibe. I have no
interest in sitting with young people who will be hollering after each six”.
Similar sentiments
were expressed by Shawn Rebello who said he would not mind watching a football
game in a sports bar but would not spend his time in such surroundings for a
cricket match. However his son Stanley said he loved watching cricket matches
in such surroundings because of the atmosphere. Perhaps he has a point.
A senior waiter at a
sports bar not authorized to speak to the press said the younger generation
seem to spend more time at the bar. Families, he said, would come eat, watch
the match for a while and leave. But he said without a doubt domestic tourists
were coming in large numbers to watch the various matches.
That
may be good news for an industry that has suffered during the last two years
and one can only hope, better time lay in the months ahead.
