One World Around Football

They didn’t have to be there.

The game was being showed on TV. They could have been at home alone, with a fridge of cold, reasonably-priced beer within striding distance. No fighting for the bar; no repetitive strain injury from craning to see a blurry screen, no diminishing bank balance.

Instead, 250 England fans descended on their local pub for a fried breakfast and joyful alcohol consumption as their country pulled off a majestic victory over Argentina.

The flipside of that coin shows us the 5,000 weeping French who crowded together outside the Place de l’Hôtel de Ville in the dull and spitting wet weather of an early Parisian morning to witness their country’s exit from the 2002 World Cup.

Watching together

While scaremongers tell us that our reliance on technologies such as the internet will ultimately turn us into socially-inept hermits lacking, and consequently fearing, human interaction, the World Cup has shown that humans as a species love to get together.

Each nation, regardless of rich cultural differences, likes to get out on the streets to share a common event of importance for their country. The bonding that may come from experiencing the highs and lows of a football match on this scale shows us something about ourselves.

Be it as a member of a crowd watching a huge screen in Trafalgar Square or as a small group huddled around a radio in a Sao Paulo doctor’s waiting room, we want to go through it together.

Strangers rally each other in the cause of support; a grip of the forearm in tense moments, a slap on the back or bear hug in victory can unite people for 90 minutes.

Escaping reality

Even the woes of the outside world can be forgotten. Although facing the most crippling recession in their history and a crumbling economy, the Argentineans rallied in the streets of Buenos Aires to show solidarity with their team and each other.

Old scores can be put to rest without the need to go to war. International tensions were reduced to a certain degree when Japan beat Russia. Although two people sadly died in the riots that followed in Moscow, no doubt more would have died if the two nations would have gone to war over the islands.

Some old colonial scores have been settled as well. Senegal’s history will have a glorious night written into it after France, the country’s old master, was beaten in the first game.

The elimination of France may also be another comment from the new international language of football. When Les Bleus won the trophy in 1998, they were a multi-cultural team made up of blacks, whites and Arabs.

The country had the fastest falling unemployment in its history and a socialist government had just been elected. This year, as the extremists rose to prominence, unemployment increased and a conservative government came into power, the French were deposed. Maybe the France of 1998 was welcome and the 2002 version is not.

New talent, new flavor

With the rise of African and Asian talent, larger parts of the world are being seduced by this sport that has many names. Whether it’s football, soccer or Fußball, the global spread of its popularity and its ability to bring people together has been proved by the current tournament.

It may not bring world peace, as claimed in the opening ceremony by FIFA president Sepp Blatter, but it has a certain talent for promoting unity…which is the end of another word: community.