Bhutan is a one of the world's poorest footballing nations and they currenty rank 199 in the world. They had their first match in 1999 and since then they have played nine and only won once. But the winning and the losing doesn't matter in Bhutan : It's the taking part that counts. Yes, in a game in which money talks, there are still countries willing to compete despite owning nothing more than a grass field, a few footballs, and two sets of goals. Sporting wise, Bhutan is an extremely poor country and the BFF (Bhutan Football Federation) do their best to raise money to buy basic football equipment.
The game is the talk of the country and an incredible phenonemon has swept the little place just south of Tibet. The country's footballing association are currently trying to create new teams for domestic leagues and most of them come from their capital and biggest city, Thimpu, that has a tiny population of 30,000.
One of the biggest clubs comes from Thimpu and they are labelled Druk United ( Druk is the ancient name for Bhutan ). The club president is Matthew Guy who lives in Southampton. Their most recent match was against Wolfland and they ran out 4-2 winners. The game is still played in a crude form, but over time I'm sure that the game will develop and that they will climb the ranking table very quickly.
The only national match that Bhutan have won was against Montserrat in the aforementioned "other final". Prior to the match, torrential rain had flooded the pitch and the pitch had to be bulldozed in an attempt to flatten the playing surface. Montserrat were ill-prepared coming into the match - literally. SEVEN players were struck down with food poisoning and also many struggled with the altitude. 25,000 natives packed the 15,000 stadium, an amazing crowd considering the nation only has a population of around 40,000. Captain Wangyal Dorji scored with a header to give Bhutan the lead going into half-time. Dorji completed a hat-trick in the second half and Dinesh Chhetri scored a fourth to put the game beyond any real doubt. After the match, in a truly touching moment, dozens of Bhutanese school-children came onto the pitch to get autographs from the Montserrat players. Both teams were awarded with a trophy and then all the fans and players sat down to watch the "real" World Cup final. To cap a brilliant day off, the president of the BFF gave the school-children a holiday to celebrate their first national win.
I don't know about you, but I know what final I'd have rather been at.
To find out more about Bhutanese football visit www.ballsforbhutan.co.uk or www.druknet.net.bt/drukunited/index.php