SOCCER - THE WORLD’S FAVOURITE GAME

from Fifth Chukker Vol 2 Issue 17

by The Magazine Production Company

THE UBIQUITOUS RISE OF TRAINERS

David Nicholson

Five billion people!

That’s the predicted television audience for the soccer World Cup finals, which runs from 20 November to 18 December 2022 in Qatar. It’s more than half of the world’s population. What’s more, Qatar will reap $17 billion from hosting the event, says Bloomberg. Giant revenues are now common in football: the English Premier League contributes around $10 billion a year to the UK’s GDP.

So what is it about this game of 22 players running around trying to kick a ball into a net that has seized the global imagination, left every other sport in its wake and created a multi-billion-dollar business, with hundreds of millions of players - professional and amateur - worldwide?

NUMBER ONE REASON: ACCESSIBILITY.

Ever since the Aztecs discovered that they could make a ball out of rubber, 3,000 years ago, and could have fun kicking it around, they spent their leisure time playing ‘tchatali’. Anyone could join in.

In the 2nd century AD the Chinese invented ‘cuju’, using a leather ball stuffed with feathers or fur. Greeks and Romans had their own versions in the 7th century.

Then in the 12th century, Englishmen started playing kicking around an inflated pig’s bladder. From what we can gather, there were few rules, dozens of people would take part, there was a great deal of violence and the game would last for hours, spreading over large distances. More like an organised riot or a pitched battle than a sport.

This form of soccer became so dangerous that it was banned for centuries and only returned in the mid-19th century, when private schools like Eton and Winchester began playing their own versions, with more rules.

Between 1848, when a meeting in Cambridge tried to create the first proper set of rules, to the foundation of Fifa (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) in 1904, the game spread like wildfire across Europe. It became a game for the masses - democratic and available almost everywhere. Clubs and leagues formed in the Netherlands, Germany and France, followed a few years later by a similar surge of popularity in Latin America, particularly Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil.

REASON NUMBER TWO: WATCHABILITY.

In 1894, more than 37,000 people watched matches the English FA Cup final between Notts County and Bolton Wanderers. Soon, clubs started to build giant stadiums to host these throngs of spectators.

Today, some football arena welcome more than 100,000 fans - as many people as a small town.

The combination of great athleticism, skill, teamwork and the constant elements of surprise and tension make soccer an ideal sport to watch. The ball is big enough to see clearly (unlike cricket), all of the thousands of spectators can follow the action, and there is a visceral thrill to being in a huge crowd, all cheering for the same team and applauding moments of brilliance - or jeering the opposition.

Watching on television can be almost as exciting as being at the match itself. In many societies, football is screened in local bars and clubs, attracting large crowds of spectators who sometimes pay for entry. This kind of community television spectating is far less common with other sports. Groups may gather to watch cricket, rugby or tennis matches, but you will find entire city parks and central squares given over to World Cup games or to Champions League matches, attracting thousands of people and creating a fiesta-like atmosphere.

REASON NUMBER THREE: IT’S A BENIGN PROXY FOR WAR.

Once its rules were agreed, players could no longer punch or kick each other, so they had to gain an advantage through skills and talent. They became the symbol of towns, cities and countries’ physical superiority. Their fans would call themselves an ‘army’, they would march to their opponents’ stadiums and cheer them to victory.

Every so often, this warlike approach spills over into real violence. In 1985 some English fans were so aggressive that all the country’s clubs were banned from European competition for five years.

Pele

Poor security arrangements and overcrowding sometimes results in tragedies, such as the Indonesian crush in October 2022 when 125 people died. Despite these disasters, football’s influence is far more positive than negative. The sport made its Olympic debut in London in 1908, but then Fifa decided to run its own competition in Uruguay in 1930 and the World Cup was born, with just 13 countries competing.

Ever since, the four-yearly event has grown in size, popularity and prestige, adding ever more countries to the competition. In Qatar there will be 32 teams, whereas in 2026 when the United States, Canada and Mexico host the event, there will be 48 - a massive increase.

I have been to matches at three World Cups and would say there is nothing in sport like them. The atmosphere is absolutely electric. You are in no doubt that the games represent the pinnacle of players’ careers, the hopes of millions of their countryfolk resting on their shoulders, the eyes of the world (all five billion pairs) watching every move.

In France in 1998 I watched Romania beat England 2-1, scoring a goal in the final minute. The English supporters seemed like their world had crumbled to dust. Then in Japan in 2002 I watched England beat Argentina 1-0 thanks to a penalty by David Beckham. Never have I cheered so loud and long.

Beckham is one of a handful of players who secured his international reputation at a World Cup. Others include the Brazilian Pele, probably the finest player the world has ever known, who inspired his country in three World Cups; the Argentinian Diego Maradona, who lit up the competition with his outrageous skills; and most recently Frenchman Kylian Mbappé, whose goal in the 2018 Final crowned him as the most exciting young player in the world.

For the future, women’s football will continue its rapid ascent in popularity. The 2022 European Championships, won by a fantastically skilful and passionate English team, were watched by more live and TV spectators than any previous event and women’s club football is thriving.

Players like Brazil’s Debinha, Catarina Macario of the United States, Spain’s Alexia Putellas and Chloe Kelly of England, whose shirtless celebration of her winning goal at the European Championship went viral, have become heroines to a new generation of female fans.

African national teams, headed by Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Cameroon, will keep improving and competing at the highest level, while African players like Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Kalidou Koulibaly set the pitch alight with their brilliance.

With entertainment like this, will there be anyone left who doesn’t watch football?