The Power Of Football.....

[redrus]

Power Of Football

Tuesday 31st July 2007

It's worth more than all the big contracts, cars and mansions in the world

James Lawton in the Independent

'The next time somebody tells you football isn't worth the chequebook it's written on, that it is rotten beyond redemption, just show him a picture of the kid. The Iraqi kid, that is, the one who for once is smiling despite the clatter of gunfire; smiling because his team have just won the Asian Cup.

'We don't know if he is Sunni or Shia, Kurd or Arab. We just know he is a kid who loves football. The world, if anyone making such a mess of the place cares to look, is full of them.

'You see the power of the game wherever you go. Youngsters play in the slum streets of Africa and Asia and the poorest corners of Europe and the Americas and even the former minefields of Bosnia and the killing fields of Cambodia, but you take it as much for granted as the sunrise. Then you are reminded of its capacity to stop the world for 90 minutes when you see the smile of the Iraqi kid and ask yourself what else could put the misery of his ravaged country on hold, however heart-breaking the brevity of the interlude, quite like the universal game.

'Of course there are too many wounds in Iraq to be healed by one night of euphoria - there were at least 120 serious new ones when a car bomb went off among fans celebrating out in the street the semi-final victory over South Korea, and there were also 50 new graves to dig - but if football will never on its own stop hate or war in the Middle East, no more than it did in the trenches of the First World War after the fabled Yuletide kick-about by German and British soldiers, it will always be capable of a profound comment.

'It will always make for itself the point that in its beauty and freedom of expression, when it is played beyond the cheating and the corruption that have been heaped upon it so relentlessly in recent years by those who profit from it most, it sends the powerful message that even sworn enemies have more in common than they may think.

'For those who know and love the game there is no revelation in the picture of the smiling young Iraqi, only huge reinforcement of the view of the great writer Albert Camus that he learnt more about life and character while playing in goal for the University of Algiers than he ever did hobnobbing with the Left Bank literati.

'Because down the years football has attracted so much avarice and indiscipline and arrogance the temptation to assign such memories to a gilded past has maybe never been stronger. But then it is always the way with football that when you least expect glory, it produces a force, and a spontaneity, to lift almost any heart. It did in 1998, when a brilliantly organised World Cup was won by the "rainbow" French, inspired by a Zinedine Zidane who grew up in the most notorious high-rise slum in Marseilles. Brazil became the glory of world football when it finally absorbed brilliant black players represented most perfectly by Pele.

'Maybe, then, it was more than a random fact that the coach who inspired an Iraqi team riven by ethnic and religious rifts to victory over the sumptuously accommodated and meticulously prepared Saudi Arabians just happened to be a Brazilian. Jorvan Vieira said that he had fulfilled his contract by "bringing a smile to the Iraqi people". He had used something beyond the means of any politician. He had released the power and the magic of the world's greatest game.'

redrus

[garro]

I never saw the attraction of watching a group of men kicking a football about while another group shouts at them.

[Naam]

I never saw the attraction of watching a group of men kicking a football about while another group shouts at them.

watching football seems to be an interesting pastime. i was told it is similar to golf. but according to informed sources the ball as well as the hole (where the ball is supposed to go) is much bigger.

[garro]

I never saw the attraction of watching a group of men kicking a football about while another group shouts at them.

watching football seems to be an interesting pastime. i was told it is similar to golf. but according to informed sources the ball as well as the hole (where the ball is supposed to go) is much bigger.

[Jockstar]

I never saw the attraction of watching a group of men kicking a football about while another group shouts at them.

So why are you in the football forum then?

[garro]

Sorry I got lost! I thought it was Football but turns out it was soccer.

[mrbojangles]

I love watching football and i dream of the day we'll actually <deleted> win something

[scousemouse]

Sorry I got lost! I thought it was Football but turns out it was soccer.

Soccer ........... whats that ????????

[EastSaxCol]

Sorry I got lost! I thought it was Football but turns out it was soccer.

That's despite the fact that forum heading clearly states Football/Soccer Forum ?

Might as well revert back to just calling it by its proper name ...Football.

[garro]

Sorry I got lost! I thought it was Football but turns out it was soccer.

That's despite the fact that forum heading clearly states Football/Soccer Forum ?

Might as well revert back to just calling it by its proper name ...Football.

Sorry... I'll get my coat.

[mrbojangles]

Sorry I got lost! I thought it was Football but turns out it was soccer.

That's despite the fact that forum heading clearly states Football/Soccer Forum ?

Might as well revert back to just calling it by its proper name ...Football.

Sorry... I'll get my coat.

Why? Is your Aran sweater not warm enough

[redrus]

Sorry I got lost! I thought it was Football but turns out it was soccer.

That's despite the fact that forum heading clearly states Football/Soccer Forum ?

Might as well revert back to just calling it by its proper name ...Football.

Sorry... I'll get my coat.

Its already in the tuk tuk....!

Eeh by eckers, its changed in ere, feels all cold....! I'm back to warm the cockles of the souls though, spread t luv n that........

redrus

[Jockstar]

Sorry I got lost! I thought it was Football but turns out it was soccer.

That's despite the fact that forum heading clearly states Football/Soccer Forum ?

Might as well revert back to just calling it by its proper name ...Football.

Sorry... I'll get my coat.

Its already in the tuk tuk....!

Eeh by eckers, its changed in ere, feels all cold....! I'm back to warm the cockles of the souls though, spread t luv n that........

redrus

Good to have you back Red. Been a bit quiet. But i expect that to change once the season kicks off. Just over a week to go.

[mrtoad]

I love watching football and i dream of the day we'll actually <deleted> win something

Are you talking about Man City or England?

[redrus]

I love watching football and i dream of the day we'll actually <deleted> win something

Are you talking about Man City or England?

Both,

5555555555555555555555

RATFLMFAO..............

redrus

[mrbojangles]

I love watching football and i dream of the day we'll actually <deleted> win something

Are you talking about Man City or England?

Both,

5555555555555555555555

RATFLMFAO..............

Yeah both.

This year matey, this year (now where is that praying smiley when you need it)

[zidane]

Sorry I got lost! I thought it was Football but turns out it was soccer.

Football, Y'know, kicking a ball with your foot. Not strapping up with a load of padding and wrestling like a bunch of nancy boys.

[redrus]

Sorry I got lost! I thought it was Football but turns out it was soccer.

Football, Y'know, kicking a ball with your foot. Not strapping up with a load of padding and wrestling like a bunch of nancy boys.

No, just having a laugh....! Like having a sense of humour or, sarcasm, when someone has no idea....!

redrus

[redrus]

double post.

Edited August 7, 2007 by redrus

[redrus]

.........again....

redrus

[zidane]

Sorry I got lost! I thought it was Football but turns out it was soccer.

Football, Y'know, kicking a ball with your foot. Not strapping up with a load of padding and wrestling like a bunch of nancy boys.

No, just having a laugh....! Like having a sense of humour or, sarcasm, when someone has no idea....!

I too was being sarcastic mate.

By the way, I really enjoyed reading the thread you wrote on the power of football, and found it quite touching(not sarcastic). Football has the power to bring everybody together, and at the same time can also be used to fuel hatred ie hoolaganism and secterian hatred. But like the Jockstar said on the rangers thread: it's just the minority of fans.

redrus

[redrus]

Sorry I got lost! I thought it was Football but turns out it was soccer.

Football, Y'know, kicking a ball with your foot. Not strapping up with a load of padding and wrestling like a bunch of nancy boys.

No, just having a laugh....! Like having a sense of humour or, sarcasm, when someone has no idea....!

I too was being sarcastic mate.

By the way, I really enjoyed reading the thread you wrote on the power of football, and found it quite touching(not sarcastic). Football has the power to bring everybody together, and at the same time can also be used to fuel hatred ie hoolaganism and secterian hatred. But like the Jockstar said on the rangers thread: it's just the minority of fans.

redrus

I was agreeing with your original post/comment and, my comment, was directed at Garro....!

redrus

[MiG16]

Are you talking about Man City or England?

This year matey, this year (now where is that praying smiley when you need it)

.......lets just say this year I will be slightly on your side a bit