One more for good measure

Rob Hughes wrote recently that football must take care of its own. He was discussing the Icarus-like life of many stars of globalized football. Specifically, he mentions Gazza and Best as the fallen ones. Best died of alcoholism and Gazza may soon find a similar fate. I am mentioning this because, in part, I agree with Hughes, and in part, I think there is no true remedy.

Football, the sport and all those who control it, is responsible for those who make it their life, their source of income, and their identity. Football is attractive and alluring, it awakens passion, love and hate. As a little boy and an adult man, I have often dreamed of donning the shirt of FCB and running out with the lads, splitting the defense of the opposition with a deft pass, or stealing the last minuet winner. I wonder if I wouldn't give up everything to be endowed with good timing and golden legs? Of course, for most of us it is a fantasy to be indulged in as a fantasy.

But for many it becomes a reality. And one the individual is incorporated into the system of professional football, well, then the system carries some responsibility. Of course, all individuals have a choice at every given moment, but the system is responsible for its output: i.e. the players. While part of what is seductive about football is the physical contest, the other part is the glory. The glory today, as always I suppose, is fame and fortune. Soccer players are celebrities, fashion icons, goodwill ambassadors and movie stars. In short, they are brands.

This affords them much attention, wealth, luxury and excess. They are, in a sense, free of much of what keep the rest of us behind the desk, behaving in a moderate manner. But this is also where the danger lies, as in the case of Gazza and Best. Once you taste the sweet nectar of fortune and fame, who wants to go back? Some of us simply cannot handle that pressure and go mad. Soccer stars become drunks, criminals and megalomaniacs. And it is the sport and those behind the sport, which created this, thus they share the burden of responsibility. When Gazza gets wasted in a bar and gets in a fight, he is doing so, I would argue, because he needs the fight, the attention and the distraction.

But there is an even deeper problem here, one which is fundamental part of the sport itself (indeed, this is part of team sport in general). That flaw is the fact that football is at its essence a game of combat, of tactics and moves designed to crush the opponent. As such, it doesn't allow for understanding of the plight of the others, nor of the weak members of your own. It is highly aggressive and at times violent. This, in turn, is how the individuals within the sport are brought up, cultured, and expected to perform. In order to succeed, this becomes their life, and more often than not, it spills over into their private life: with violence, with drink, and with drugs. This is particularly acute in the post-career period, when the one thing you spent your life working on, is no-longer available to you, it is only natural that you also experience a loss of identity. Loss of identity, as we know from nationalism, always paves the way for violent counter-reaction.

But I also suggested that the sport cannot solve this problem, and I said so because it would mean introducing ideas, through counselling and adapted training methods, etc., that are antithetical to competition, professionalization, and war. For these types of individuals not to emerge, the focus on competition, besting, success, and glory would all have to be removed. An then? Well, then it just wouldn't be football anymore. Then there wouldn't be any Gerd Mullers, or Lionel Messis, there would be no games on TV, and at the World Cup, everyone would win.

Of course, what has been done, can be undone. That means that though the sport cannot ever avoid the creation of Icarus, it can help catch them on the way down, provide them with post career counseling, etc., what ever they need to not destroy themselves and their loved ones.

maybe I should stop listening to Ani...

It occurs to me, sometimes, that it might be a bit trite to be writing and dreaming about soccer at a time when the world is confronted with the earthquakes in China, the cyclone in Burma, and the litany of other ecological/environmental disasters occurring in the world today. The Economist, quoting Josette Sheeran of the World Food Program, labeled the global food shortage the "silent Tsunami" and violence in South Africa exposed the weakness, to everyone's deep concern, of the central government.

Yet I am writing about a small round ball. I am an avid reader of Rob Huges' column in the Herald Tribune, but he too, manages to spectacularly avoid just about all major global events, unless they are somehow directly linked to soccer. It's such a dilemma for me.

A man will go crazy thinking about all those things, all the time, though. What good is a person if they get paralyzed by fear and a feeling of helplessness to the point of inaction? Of course, this is a personal feeling, as it's not my job to convince anyone of anything, but I would rather ignore a few things and go be helpful in other areas.

Soccer, the troubling, unbelievably popular sport, is something I am good at, and can find ways to use it, to help out in places where people are not having much fun. I dare not say (anymore) that I think soccer is ever going to change the world, solve global problems, etc. It won't, if anything it might help keep the mechanisms of control and repression in place. It won't feed anyone, put a shirt on their back, or end genocide. What it might do though, is allow people to have fun - even of only briefly. It might help people forget for a moment that life is bleak. They can step onto the field and turn a magic trick, produce a volley, or just be part of something.

The paradox is still present however, even in these innocent moments. But then, it always will be, it's unavoidable. The point is that it can alleviate suffering for a few moments, and if it is done in a context where people are made aware of the paradox, then you have a chance that they will chose not to participate in its more sinister side.

So, I guess I can say it is ok to be thinking about soccer and writing about it, even in such dire straits. We of the bleeding heart variety will always be hard on ourselves for not doing enough for our fallen brothers and sisters. But we can't solve it all, so we shouldn't even try. Rather, focus on what you can do, and what might bring you a sense of achievement, and go do it.

A journalists view of a journalists view of a beautiful game...

A great quote from Rob Hugh's IHT column:

Tactically, football is like a short blanket in winter. You can pull it up and keep your head warm, or your feet. You have to decide. ~João Saldanha (1917-1990)

What is meant by this? Either you go for results with style and passion (presumably this is located in the feet, formerly referred to as "total football") or you go for results through defensive play and counter attacks. This is what Hugh's means with "cold feet."

After the 4:0 thrashing Bayern received tonight in St. Petersburg, it seems not every one has the cold feet...

Lucky so and so... ~1/6/2008

http://www.iht.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?query=Rob+Hughes&sort=publicationdate&submit=Search

I want this man's job. Traveling the world, collecting stories, facts and figures on a small game named football.