Haydon Spenceley

LIFE IN 2021 IS TOUGH

What do you do when you feel demoralised? You might think that’s a strange question but I think it’s one worth asking, especially at the moment. There are no good words I can think of or find to adequately describe what is going on around us at the moment, but what I have picked up from many, many people during the first part of 2021 is a weary, almost resigned worn-outness that is almost impossible to shift. Life in 2021 is really, really hard for many of us, as it is for people all over the world, too.

There’s a culture in football, for players, staff and fans alike, which I think encourages us to suspend our humanity whilst games are taking place. I know that might sound strange. It looks a bit odd as I type it. What I mean is something like this: when a game is happening we forget that people involved in the game are real, living, breathing human beings and we instead place expectations and hopes on them solely based on the performance and result of the team that we love. At the same time, we as fans hope that the two hours or so from kick off to final whistle will take us away from all that we’re living with and going through in ‘real life’ to another place, hopefully full of joy at performance, the celebration of goals and the final result. Except of course that that is entirely unrealistic. Football people are people, just like solicitors, people who work for the NHS, in care, or any other profession. Of course we want everyone to perform to the height of their capabilities professionally, just as any of us would in our own jobs. When we succeed or fail, we all remain human.

What this ultimately means for me is reminding myself that football, just like every part of life, is exactly that. We might view it as escapism, or project on to the fortunes of our team our need to avoid what’s going on elsewhere in life - I know I do that all the time - but when the game ends and we’ve stopped shouting at the screen as we all do at the moment, life is still there, for many still a struggle and for a good number pretty demoralising too.

Why write such a downbeat column? Well, because life is hard at the moment and it’s mirrored by how things are going on the pitch for the team at the moment. As Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink returns today, I’m reminded that just as football is an escape for many of us, so religious faith in a better today and a better tomorrow can feel like escapism to some. But this is where faith stands out for me. God doesn’t offer an escape. He steps down into the muck and the mess of all that’s tough and painful in life and says ‘come to me if you’re weary and pushed down by troubles and I will give you rest.’ I’m weary and pushed down as I write today and so I turn to God again. Perhaps you’ll join me?

Up the Cobblers!