Not A Matter Of Life And Death!
A festival of football is upon us once more. Many of its aficionados say football is not a matter of life and death, it is much more important than that! Some fans regard football almost as a religion with multiple gods. Unlike a religion, the gods change each decade or so. The great god Beckham has been in the ascendant for quite a while, but hard on his heels is another god ready to oust him from the number one spot. The heir apparent is young Wayne Rooney who shows a nifty bit of footwork when in charge of the ball! The places of worship are many and varied throughout our land. We have the great ‘cathedrals’ to the sport such as the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, and the much more humble ‘chapels’ where Sunday footie is played on the local park. The fans wear their symbols of faith, namely their team’s kit, quite prepared to shell out the exorbitant sums required every time a new strip is brought out. Then of course there are the ‘pilgrimages’ to other countries to support their team when an international match is to be played.
The fervour of the England fans during Euro 2004 is more OTT than usual this year. Every other car seems to be flying the England flag, the Cross of St George, even in Wales where I live. However, the championship has got off to a fairly predictable start as far as England is concerned. England was one goal up at half time in their first match against France. The commentators were crowing and there was talk of an England victory, even going all the way to win the championship. We were into the last two minutes of injury time and the score was the same; the commentators were beside themselves saying that we had given the French a bloody nose etc, etc. However, no match is over until it is over, the England team relaxed too soon and allowed France to score two goals to win 2-1. The commentators then consoled the devastated audience by saying that Britain has never won an opening championship match, not even in 1966 when went on to win the world cup!
Equally predictable was the behaviour of some of the England supporters who seem to think that an International match is not complete without getting tanked up on the local ale, and a riot to round things off nicely!
If only football could be relegated to its proper place in the Nation’s psyche; an enjoyable sport, not a religion or big business. I have this fantasy that win or lose, everyone is a good sport, and shakes hands in a friendly way with their opponents! I fear such days are gone for ever, if they ever really existed!