In a way, football does not make sense.
22 players chasing a ball? - What's so exciting about that? Staying up to 1am, 3am on a work or school night to watch a match? - Why go through such great lengths? Supporting a team halfway across the earth? - Why? What do they have in common with us?
And even after all that, why can't we seem to get enough?
Image source: Padang Bola Sepak
We all have our everyday lives. We wake up, go to work or go to school, work hard, then we come home, take care of our family, rest, do chores, run errands, eat, sleep, and be ready to do it all again tomorrow.
As grateful as we can be for what we're given, it can get cumbersome and tiring even to the most patient of us. So in a way, football is our escape within the order.
The rumble and tumble of the routine is a constant hum at the back of our thoughts. Sun or moon, it's there. When we have football, it hums a little further away.
Image source: Padang Bola Sepak
When we play football, every game starts kosong - kosong - so it's up to us to craft the story. We are the characters. We decide.
With every pass, the picture changes, and the story develops.
An opportunity? A chance? A mistake! A goal! Ecstasy! Devastation.
And in amongst all that, we're the protagonist.
The best part? We're never alone. We have our teammates. We work together to make a dream that we all share, possible. And if we get knocked back, we can still choose to back each other - trusting each other again, with our next pass.
It's our game.
Image source: Berita Harian
Consuming football, we choose which teams to support. We choose the teams whom we can align ourselves with - being from the same area, striving for the same values, or wearing of the same colours etc.
Through this commonality, we begin our association.
We start paying attention to these teams, we start following their journey. Slowly, we begin to grow fond of them, we want to see them do well. We go to games, we purchase their merchandise, we celebrate their highs, and we shoulder their lows.
Why? Because we see ourselves in each other through that commonality, that connection.
They are me, and I am them.
Image source: Padang Bola Sepak
When everything is said and done, the hum returns and so do we, to our lives of order and responsibility.
The difference?
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Nothing much really..
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But does it matter?
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Yes, it most definitely matters.
Football - The Most Important of The Unimportant Things.
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