OFFSIDE
SARTH KHARE
OFF-SIDE /'Þf 'saıd/ adjective, adverb Sports. illegally beyond a prescribed line or area or in advance of the ball or puck at the beginning of or during play or a play:
22 on the field, staff of more than 1000 managing, 70,000 watching in the stadium, half a billion around the world. It’s crazy. This is what fanaticism is! “Off-side” explores the Football outside the stadiums of Madrid, a city synonymous with the sport. The project spotlights how people watch and absorb the sport. There is so much that actually goes around a game. It stops your heartbeat. Makes you thirsty. For those ninety minutes you are a mirror of what is happening on the pitch. Nothing else matters, there are no worries. It’s pure adrenaline rushing through your veins. It is all about emotions, of the primal instinct of winning. And yet there is deep love and respect for all.
This love, filled with passion is passed on from generation to generation. Fans are proud of their teams, they brag about their heroes. The children dream of being like their stars- their idols. They dress like them and want to become as skilled. There’s tension and release, there is unpredictability and that’s what makes us attached to the game. Our physiological reactions depend on it. This game binds the world together. Football makes us one. It gives us the access of understanding each other as humans, across nations, religions and social divisions. This project is an attempt to reach out to such emotions.