Football Scares me!

For some strange reason, football scares me. And even though I can not put a finger to it, there are happenings in history that have well and truly shown the extent of the power of football.

In 1950, Brazil spent a huge amount of money building stadia and preparing to host the world at the 1950 world cup, in a bid to lift the countries socioeconomic status. This massive gamble came down to one game. A final game against little fancied Uruguay, the hosts lost by two goals to one after taking the lead early in the game. The result was as shocking to Brazillians as it was to the rest of the world. This loss to Uruguay meant the epic climax the nation looked forward to never came. The heartbreak to the nation was so much that it shook the country to its core. Barbosa the team’s goalkeeper became an outcast so much so that forty years on, he was denied the chance to interact with the selecao team before a crucial world cup qualifier on the fear that he would bring bad luck to the team.

And yet it is in this heartbreak story that the real love story between Brazil and the world cup is born. A young Pele sat and consoled his father, making him a promise to win the world cup for Brazil. For context Pele’s father himself had been a footballer whose career had been hampered by injury and never reached the heights he set out to get to. Eight years on Pele was on a plane to Sweden to compete in what will become a storied world cup. Along with Garrincha, whom many doctors swear should not have been able to walk talk less of becoming a pro athlete, were the toasts of the tournament. And this is where football scares me. It took two young boys out of oblivion, from the lowest depths possible and put both on top of the world.

Pele would declare himself King, while the camera-shy Garrincha always allowed his feet to do the talking. The result was as contrasting as it was similar. Pele became a global icon and with the advent of color TV in the late 1960s, lit up the world cup and television screens at Mexico 1970. Garrincha himself had carved his name in gold by almost singlehandedly winning the 1962 world cup as Pele exited with an early stage injury. And yet Garrincha’s story is like that of Achilles, a formidable warrior who almost always guaranteed you victory; but not without a weakness of their own. Wine and women were to Garrincha what a weak ankle was to Achilles and the gods in their own manner of seeking entertainment, used these weaknesses after the heroes had brought so much joy to the people. Garrincha’s nickname “Allegra de povo” can be loosely translated into English as the joy of the people. And my word was he a joy to watch. The precursor to the modern day winger Garrincha was both nimble footed and had mesmerising movement.

In Garrincha and Pele football’s true essence comes to life. Because unlike fairytales, in football, we live with the protagonists and they overcome the same everyday challenges that we do.

And Maybe just maybe, that is why football scares me. It is the audacity of hope it gives a kid living in the most remote, impoverished corner of the world, that they too can make a mark on this world. That irrespective of how short their time on the world’s biggest stage will be, they will have their moment in the spotlight. The fact that a nation in the middle of a civil war were galvanised by Didier Drogba because of football; that Socrates a medical doctor by training who smoked his lungs away, would be the champion for democracy in a military dictatorship through football. That through football a young uneducated boy(George Weah) would become the world’s best player, later obtain college education and become his country’s president. That a boy born and raised in a refugee camp in Ghana would score Canada’s first ever goal at the Fifa World Cup.

So yes indeed football scares me but gives me the hope that, talent, hardwork and a stroke of luck can forever change one’s destiny. Football’s real essence is that, it is like a drug, a religion, a comfort zone where people can immerse themselves in and forget reality or even accept it in a manner that gives them hope for a new day; As well, football’s fleeting nature and continuous change of heroes lays emphasis on Dr. Maya Angelou’s quote that “No Sun outlasts its sunset”. But boy oh boy do these suns shine bright.

I guess in the end the moral here is while we shine, we should shine our brightest and best.

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