May it be a game of cricket or football, the post-match scenes at the stadiums are often chaotic.
After both Senegal and Japan emerged victorious at the 2018 World Cup on Tuesday, you’d expect their fans to throng the streets in celebrations. They did so, however, before vacating the stadiums, they decided to clean up the mess left behind by them in the stands.
First, Japanese fans were filmed helping to clean up the Mordovia Arena in their opening game in Saransk after their side’s 2-1 victory over Colombia. Armed with garbage bags, the supporters of the “Samurai Blue”, flocked the stands to clean-up the drink and food packaging that littered the stands.
“This is my favourite moment of the World Cup so far; Japan fans picking up litter after their victory vs Columbia. The lessons in life we can take from the game. Why I support,” wrote the video uploader on microblogging site.
“That’s common stuff in Japan. There are no public trash cans, people are taught to take care of their own garbage. Nevertheless, the streets are amazingly clean. As a westerner, that’s pretty disturbing ahaha.”
The Japenese may just have started a new trend. Following their 2-1 World Cup win against Poland, the Senegal fans were busy tidying up the stadium simply because they wanted to leave the place as clean as they had found it.
Photos and videos of the fans cleaning up the stands later went viral on social media and were praised for being humble in their victory.
“This is an African Tradition, you must leave a place better than you met it or the way you met it,” one user tweeted.
A simple yet important lesson, we all could learn, the next time we watch the Kohlis and the Chhetris at our stadiums.