ON FOOTBALL IN INDIA

THE SOCIAL MEDIA GAME

Gurpreet feels the same sense of responsibility towards his social media accounts as he does to his game.

“When you have so many eyes on you, you feel a kind of responsibility to make sure you’re sending the right kind of message to your followers,” he explains.

For him, social media platforms are good ways to share ideas and knowledge from all over the world so that everyone can learn, both those who post and those who follow. But beyond this, he believes that too much social media can be harmful.

“Young people who are obsessed with social media and the attention they get there should realise that social media is not real life,” he points out. “It’s very easy to sit behind a screen and post comments without thinking of their impact or repercussions on someone’s life, but don’t forget that such a thing could affect your life also someday. That’s why if you use social media for personal reasons, its best to do it in a private manner so nothing negative will bog you down.”

This is something Gurpreet feels strongly about, having faced his share of trolling for his game.

While Bhaichung Bhutia and Sunil Chhetri are the icons of football in India, other footballers don’t enjoy the same level of recognition. “Thankfully football today has much better viewership in metro cities and the Indian Sports League has a big part to play in that,” says Gurpreet. “Good infrastructure also plays an important role. Football is fun and fast and what makes it beautiful is the fact that even an underdog team can be the champ. That’s the power of football.”