Thiruvananthapuram, India - Hardline Muslims in southern India have launched a campaign to dissuade youths from watching too much World Cup action, saying they had "gone mad" over football.
"Wherever you go, you see (youths) wearing jerseys of various teams. It's like idol worship which our religion doesn't promote in any form," said Sattar Pathallur, secretary of the Sunni Students Federation in Malappuram district of Kerala state.
Some 63 percent of the 3.62 million population of the district are Muslims, many of whom prefer football to cricket, India's national sport.
The "youth and students are behaving as if they had gone mad," said Pathallur.
"I firmly believe that there is a conspiracy to divert the attention of Muslim youth to an unproductive exercise."
The organisation has been holding religious lessons, rallies and public meetings to dissuade youths from following the sport too keenly.
"We are not against football. But we are worried about the soccer mania gripping our people. It's unprecedented," said Hameed Ali Shihab Thangal, regional president of the federation.
Others criticised the Muslim body.
"It's absurd. These people are talking nonsense. Malappuram people are great fans of soccer. It's natural for them to watch their great heroes in action," said schoolteacher Labeed Areekode, also a football player.
Football fans are not impressed with the federation's campaign.
"The critics of soccer are scoring only own goals as nobody is going to listen to them," said Najimudeen Koya, a World Cup enthusiast.
Others said the hardliners were also worried that the sport was becoming increasingly popular among women.