Over the weekend, many folk around the world celebrated Diwali and Bandi Chhor Divas. Both festivals include the tradition of lighting candles, fireworks and enjoying some good cooked food!
For me, it was an even special weekend. Yes, because I too was celebrating but also the fact, that my local football team (Nottingham Forest) who haven’t won a game at home for a very long time, and not scored a goal at home since April, finally won against the very high-valued Manchester City.
Now, why are these two elements important to me? But first, let’s explore the religious reasons….
Diawli – The Return of Lord Rama: In Northern India, Diwali marks the day Lord Rama, his wife Sita, and brother Lakshman returned to their kingdom of Ayodhya after 14 years of exile and defeating the demon king Ravana. The villagers lit rows of clay lamps (diyas) to illuminate their path home.
Bandi Chorr Divas – (Prisoner Liberation Day). It commemorates the historic day in 1619 when the sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind Ji, was released from Gwalior Fort by Emperor Jahangir. Refusing to leave alone, he successfully negotiated the freedom of 52 innocent Hindu kings imprisoned alongside him.
Now for the weekend just gone at the City Ground (home of Nottingham Forest).
- Manchester City have been implicated in a major financial scandal, following the publication of leaked internal emails alleged to reveal that the club had committed systematic, deliberate violations of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) and the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability (PSR) rules.
- In February 2023, the Premier League charged City with 115 breaches of its financial regulations, spanning a nine-year period from 2009 to 2018.
- On 28 September 2026, the Premier League announced that the commission found City guilty of all 80 charges related to financial wrongdoing, and 34 of 35 charges of failure to cooperate with the league investigation. Chief among the commission’s findings was that City’s owners ‘disguised’ over £900 million in direct equity funding as sponsorship revenue.
Now, the actually punishment is still pending.
And let’s be honest, Manchester City have spent big. They bought Anderson from us, for around £116M. They bought Enzo for £125M.
That’s alot of money. But then, they are in the Champions League, they are (for a number of years) consistently at the top of the table or there abouts.
So is it fair, that clubs like Forest, Everton, Villa, who have been fined/docked points by the Premier League, but clubs like Manchester City can spend what they want (though thay have been caught now) on what they like. It’s not. And this is where, good triumphs over evil/bad.
So, whatever you do in life… let there but goodness. Celebrate the good, and do good. Yes, we’ll be tempted by the ‘evil’ out there.
It’s not always about us, it’s about those around us.