As the World Cup heads for the final denouement, the soccer fever grips much of the world in various ways.

The passionate involvement of fans and the almost hysterical fancy for the heroes of the sport are well known. There is also scope to view a major event like the World Cup from different angles.

An economist will see the validity of the operation of demand and supply of commodities, directly or indirectly related to the event.

The demand of beer had soared so much in Germany that the producers feared that the country would run out of this favourite beverage!

Likewise, after the matches began, sales of TV sets started zooming in Japan and Bangkok; the football-crazed Thais were spending millions of bahts more than the normal on electricity.

Even the Buddhist monks in Thailand have been sitting up late to watch the game; many could not wake up in time to perform the daybreak rituals.

Doctors in Beijing report a rise in the cases of facial paralysis, the outcome of the nervous tension that the fans experience as they follow the ball, game after game.

In Hong Kong, millions of dollars worth of bets on the match results were being placed with illegal bookies, warranting raids. And, to overcome the menace of such illegal activities, mainland China thought it prudent to make `soccer gambling' legal.

The civic authorities in Berlin had their own problems. The number of toilets provided in the city was found to be inadequate, and hence thousands were `going' in public places causing much damage to the flora and fauna — a matter of grave concern to botanists and environmentalists.

To crown all this, what joy it should be for academicians to learn that David Beckham's lone goal against Ecuador can be a question in the mathematics papers for children to work out the speed of the ball and the distance travelled.

K. Gopalan

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