Every so often, the
Land of Hope and Glory is swept with a wave of
peace,
harmony,
brotherhood and
goodwill to men. People find themselves talking to
complete strangers;
black children are playing with white children,
Muslims and
Jews are peacefully co-existing. All around me, people are friendly and cheerful;
united by a common cause.
Football.
"
Soccer" to everyone else, but that isn't the point. It isn't
the Second Coming, it isn't sudden nation-wide spiritual
enlightenment. It's a bunch of guys in shorts, kicking a ball into a net.
Don't get me wrong. I like
football. I watch it when it's on
TV, I even cheer sometimes. I recognise, however, that
it's only a game. Football shouldn't have the power to temporarily suspend
racism and
animosity between
countrymen. However, football means a lot to the
English. And what's the problem, you ask, when the only effect is to
unite a nation?
Well, there's
the other side of the coin. While uniting countrymen, football (and the other major
sports, I'm sure; football is just my
handy example) has the unfortunate effect of inducing a sort of
xenophobia in fans and may even awaken the
old grudges. A random person in a shop today told me that he hoped the
English team got to play
Germany again; his response, when I asked why, was: "To get them back for what they did in
the war!"
No, those were the Nazis.
There is still a certain
restlessness noticeable in English fans when England plays Germany. This is why the
1966 World Cup Final (when England beat Germany 4-2) is still the proudest moment of many people's lives. This is also why England fans cheer
extra hard when their team is playing
Argentina, or even
France. Yes, apparently some people still hold a
grudge about
1066.
This isn't a bash at football. This is about a sport having the power to unite countrymen and
demonise foreigners. The reason for it? Well, we haven't had a good war in a long time.
People still need to feel that their country is the best, the most powerful; if not by marching over other nations, by
trouncing them in a game of
footie. Soon, the moment will have passed, and the world will return to normal; countrymen can return to
bickering amongst themselves and identifying petty differences as reasons for
discrimination, and the
Germans will be the friendly
Europeans again.
It's only a game.