Football: The Great Leveller

Footballing legend Pele once called soccer the “beautiful game”. He didn’t just mean that football was a pleasure to play and watch. He also meant that football, unique among all sports, has the ability to unite people across the world, irrespective of language, race, gender or culture.

I understood what Pele meant at a soccer game recently, here in Vancouver. The wife’s office organized a round-robin football tournament, and all the games were played yesterday afternoon. The wife, who was nominated to play for one of the teams, was a little nervous. She had never played soccer before. She ended up enjoying herself a great deal.

I went to the matches, as a spectator and cheerleader. It was amazing to see people from different races and cultures, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, playing for the love of the game. There were older British bosses chasing and trying to keep up with their younger, nimbler Chinese and Italian subordinates. There were Indians yelling out encouragements in Hindi, and Chinese exhorting their colleagues in Mandarin. A Chinese lady who had never played the game before, scored a goal. It was hard to tell who was more ecstatic about her goal – the lady herself, or the hundred-odd office colleagues who roared their approval.

For a couple of hours, everybody forgot about office politics and (dare I say it), religious, ethnic and cultural prejudices. None of it mattered. When your teammate scored, you cheered just as loudly for him if he was German as you would if he had been Indian or Russian. There were some very good players, and there were many who had never played before. That didn’t matter either. The better players passed the ball to their inexperienced colleagues. The objective was to ensure that everyone had a good time. Even the wife came close to scoring a goal! Like with most things she does in life, she gave it everything she had. She now wants to join a local league and play every weekend!

Unfortunately, since I do not work for the wife’s office, I was ineligible to participate. That did not prevent me from giving what I thought were insightful inputs into the game! You will never find a more incisive armchair critic than Your Truly!

After the game, everybody went to the local pub down the road, to soothe thirsty throats with a couple of cold beers and reminisce about the game before going home.

Football is a game that is truly egalitarian. Anybody can play it. It does not require any equipment or training, it is inexpensive, and it is beyond class, colour or creed. In many parts of the world, including Brazil, it is a ticket out of poverty.

I am glad I went to the game. I finally understood what Pele meant. Football will teach you how to respect and admire people based on their talent, enthusiasm and ability, irrespective of the colour of their skin, nationality or gender. Football will also teach you to respect your fellow players. It will teach you how to be a fierce yet respectful competitor. It will teach you to communicate in a universal language. It will teach you the value of teamwork and collaboration, and how to contribute to an overall objective that is bigger than yourself or any single individual. Aren’t these the greatest lessons life can teach a person?

Football is the great leveller in life. If you love football, you will never walk alone.