Football Passion or Public Menace?

The immature antics of some Bangladeshi Argentina fans demand honest scrutiny.

While the global love for Lionel Messi and Argentina is a source of joy for millions here, the recent wave of violence, vandalism and midnight chaos has crossed every line of decency.

Clashes in Chattogram, crude bombs in Narayanganj, injuries and even deaths during the 2022 World Cup and now again in 2026—these are not celebrations, they are crimes committed under the cover of fandom.

True passion does not require injuring neighbours or turning residential streets into battlegrounds.

When Argentina fans mock Brazil supporters with personal insults, dig up old social-media posts or reduce rivalry to crude memes, they are not defending a team—they are bullying fellow citizens.

The same applies in reverse. Football is meant to unite, not to become an excuse for communal aggression that the so-called “Bedouin syndrome” of tight-knit neighbourhoods only makes worse.

The disruption to ordinary life is equally unacceptable. Families with children and the elderly are woken at 3 a.m. by blaring horns and street rallies. Shops close, traffic halts, and normal existence stops for the sake of a foreign match. Passion that shows no consideration for others is simply immaturity dressed up as loyalty.

Social media has amplified the worst of this culture. Instead of healthy banter, we see dehumanising language, family insults and collective cruelty that can scar individuals for life.

Grief over a loss becomes collective punishment rather than sporting disappointment.

Bangladesh has its own football to develop—its own leagues, infrastructure and young talent that deserve the energy now wasted on imported rivalries.

When supporters treat Messi’s success as a personal or territorial war, they distract from building something real at home.

The solution is straightforward. Community leaders, police and media must run sustained awareness campaigns against fan violence. Responsible celebration—watching together, supporting peacefully, respecting neighbours—must become the norm. Argentina fans and their rivals alike should remember that true loyalty to a team never justifies harming one’s own people.

Football can be a beautiful unifier. It is time we stopped letting immature excesses turn it into a public menace.

(The author is the Managing Editor of The New Nation)