A few years back ANFA Technical Director Bhim Thapa and I organized a youth football coaching course for Biratnagar Sports Club (BSC). Only a handful of the dozens of club officials we invited for the Opening Ceremony bothered to show-up. We gave them all a Biratnagar Sports Club t-shirt as a souvenir gift.A couple of days later, we were surprised to see how packed the Closing Ceremony was - especially as it was supposed to be a low key affair and we had only formally invited a few District FA officials. It turns out everyone was there in hopes of getting a free BSC t-shirt! Unfortunately for them we had already given away our extra t-shirts to the local staff (security guards, janitors, etc.) who worked at the school where we conducted the coaching program.
Refusing to take no for an answer, one club official pleaded with me in very broken English for a t-shirt. I guess he thought I would be more inclined to give him something if he spoke to me in my first language. Another official even asked if he could have the BSC shirt I was wearing! Perhaps if I had a six pack like John Abraham I might have considered taking off the shirt and literally flexing my muscles, but unfortunately I'm probably in worse shape than Govinda.
The irony of it all? The club officials, especially from the far off villages, probably spent altogether around 500 Rupees to attend the Closing Ceremony. The BSC t-shirts cost 200 Rupees a piece!
