"Teaches you to hate people you’ve never met and to take pride in sh*t you haven’t done".
I’ve
been watching the European cup finals and I’m relieved to say I was
only a teeny bit disappointed when the England team didn’t win and that
was probably more so because I felt sorry for their manager Southgate,
who seems like a really nice bloke. Twenty years ago I shed a tear or
two after England’s exit out of the 1998 world cup quarters, but I’m
pleased to say those days are over.
Yes, I was watching funny cat videos half the match. But when I did try and get into the sport of things, I couldn’t help but think there’s an adventure story in here. Its not that I can’t see the addictive value in watching grown men kick a ball around! Football is fun to play, definitely fun to watch and as far as I can tell there is absolutely nothing wrong in a nice bit of friendly camaraderie; that brings out the competitive spirit in all of us.
That was how I fondly remember football, as I tend to look back on my days of youth with somewhat rose tinted specs… but now in my eyes football had fallen, straight through the hole of the entertainment abyss £££. Just another industry making big money in exploiting the humble supporter, turning a once ernest game into an unpalatable entertainment spectaculaaar! Parading these super star players off the field and through the screen onto the elitist world stage. You may as well have had them singing pop songs for all the wealth and frenzy that is whipped up ... So why do we love to be entertained by this kind of ‘ghastly’ entertainment?
There’s a lot that can be said for the psychology of the human mind and how these mega industries are able to extract billions away from the common folk. By nature we feel thankful to others for pleasing or enriching our lives in some way and that’s rather a nice quality. But when appreciation ends up on our bedroom walls, inside of our wardrobes and a little too much in our thoughts and actions, then it begins to look a lot like idolisation and we’ve defo* been warned against that one! Yes folks we’ve gone and done it, we’ve filled our hole for reverence with celebrity culture. Damn right we need to see our idols celebrated on a podium and don’t forget the glitter bombs, because nothing says ‘I am the best’ better than a world stage to make clan and country great again… and the more glitter the better.
With all things in life and especially when dealing with those industries of eye-watering economic advantage, it’s good practice to stop and wonder why things are the way they are. Where are we persuaded to put our money and what is it that we are really supporting, because every purchase will determine the collective direction in which we are ultimately headed. There’s a big difference between honest grass roots football and the other game: - non other than the battle of the brands. No longer a representative game of local talent, but an arena where the richest teams dominate, competition breeds contempt and it’s only in the superiority of winning that really counts.
Keep it real folks! Peace out
*defo – definitely (support your local lingo)
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth, Mathew 5:5
