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When I heard the news that football had
been put forward by a Swedish member of parliament as a worthy candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize I thought....What
a load of ******* salted herring. In the light of the hooligans, the 'free
trade' in young footballers, the racism, false passports, clubs in criminal
hands, the incredible amounts of money involved in this 'peace operation', the
small and large wars the sport itself ignites etc. it would seem
foolhardy to even consider football, of all sports, as some kind of global
spiritual healer. Or am I being a little too cynical here? After thinking about it for a while
several points in
its favour presented themselves and it began to look as if this wasn't quite as
crazy as it sounded - it could unite large groups of people in a common cause,
it could bring joy to many, something for young and old, it is an international
language (as with popular music, so too with popular sport), a means to promote
the brotherhood of man, a truly global sport! Yes, it all starts to sound soooo
reasonable!
Only problem with this theory is that football
is still predominantly the domain of the young, hormone-loaded male who has no 'hunting', warring or
other outlet for his aggression and still needs to share something hormonal and
visceral with his mates in the best possible manly taste. The latest stories
about the need for measures to combat in-stadium verbal aggression in Holland
and Belgium, not to mention the problems there are in Italy, would seem to bear
this out - apologies to all female fans out there. I can, in
this context, see football as a therapeutic outlet for
pent up aggression or frustration for the disenchanted, bored and hard done by
(although it costs such a lot of money to actually go and watch live football
nowadays that financial hardship can't be one of the root causes of any tension
that needs releasing). I can also see it as a social coming together of people,
a
ritual bonding over intimate exchanges concerning the esoterics of tactics and
individual skills. Of course it can also be a great way to spend an hour and a
half of your time! But an identifiable peace bearer/creator and one worthy of
an award with the stature and reputation of the Nobel Peace prize? No, that's
going just a little too far, at least for me personally
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In a world where,
increasingly, the competitive and financial aspects of (the) sport are getting
more attention than the promotion of sporting ideals, where achievement
practically always comes first (that's why Paolo di Canio's sportsmanlike
gesture gets so much attention) there are still too many problems with racism,
aggression and other examples of non-peaceful behaviour to qualify it as
a top-ranking peacemaker. People often refer to music as the universal language
and some used to think it could change the world, but I don't think anyone seriously
still thinks so. Football undoubtedly has its
place as a source of entertainment, and is equally undoubtedly enjoyed by a
hell of a lot of people all over the world, regardless of race, creed, colour
or standard of living, for much of the time in a peaceful enough fashion
(ignoring the large amounts of police involved in crowd control and the
frequency of violence).
However, I
can't take seriously the idea of football (the organised and highly paid
version) as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. How many people in football do you
know who've given their lives or freedom for an ideal (whether peace, freedom
of speech or otherwise)? Who could you put up there with the Dalai Lama, that
determined and resilient lady in Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi (take a quick look
at a site dedicated to her http://danenet.wicip.org/fbc/
dassk.html
and you'll see what I mean), Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther
King? Sorry people, but as soon as those sort of names appear the whole idea
becomes a little ridiculous. It certainly puts football firmly back in its
place as a potentially highly enjoyable, consumable leisure activity with now
and then the odd artistic pretension or two (see Speakers
Corner of October 21st for a discussion of the artistic value of football).
Football is/can be fun, good, clean fun. It can even have the odd 'dirty'
moment without things going sour and will hopefully contribute to the global
growing up that the human race is being asked to get on with in the coming
decades. There is already too much politics in sport as it is and burdening this
particular one, presently going through a lot of soul
searching, with the Nobel Peace Prize might be more than its little heart
could cope with.
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