This is not an editorial about football, but it is brought on by the biggest story in football this week, a story that knocked Covid to one side in the minds of many. The issues raised by the attempt by 12 European football clubs to breakaway and form a competition with rules set by themselves, have shown us that they are not just pertinent on the streets of Turin, Manchester, London, Barcelona or Munich, but in all our communities, wherever we live.
Whereas the Superleague motivation may have been solely monetary, it is also about identity, a concept that is central to us all. In the end, the opportunistic avarice visited upon us by the billionaire football club owners taught them, and indeed all of us, a valuable lesson about who we are and about all of the things that are dear to us in the shaping of our own identity.
Over the past year we have learned a lot about ourselves. How we can cope, how we treat others, what we hold dear. When we were denied many of the pleasures of life, we turned to each other in empathy. We shopped and made sure the vulnerable were looked after. In recent times, as the rush for vaccination became more intense and the re-opening of society became closer, we became more frustrated, our tempers more frayed, our patience tested by impatience. The banana bread fluffiness of the early days of lockdown turned a solid black and white as we tuned in to hear the nightly roll-call of the dead and dying. It was a time when a mirror was held up to us all and while we might not like some of what we saw, in the main, humanity and society held firm.
What we saw this week was a reminder of the intangibles that define us and our communities. The traditions and the habits and the ways we used to be. While the past year has been unprecedented and has made possible ideas and technologies that had heretofore been deemed only slightly possible, it is important that the forced appetite for change does not see us lose any of the intangibles that matter to us all, that mark us out as who we are.
As we return to society and try to shape the new world that will open up to us all over the next few months, it is important that we retain what is good and eliminate what is less so. Identity is a key concept in a world that is becoming increasingly homogenous. We now all watch the same TV programmes, probably on the same platforms, at the same time. Children speak with an increased global twang, difference is being wiped out, the joy of the Other in all of us.
What the Superleague debacle has shown us is that instant gratification is not the key to contentment. That there should always be a hunger, a space left for us all to grow as human beings and as citizens. I follow one of the teams who joined up to that embarrassing sideshow and while a quest for glory is ever present in my support of them, I would not savour any victory that is not earned on the pitch. As a Mayo and Arsenal fan, I am a card-carrying member of the Masochists Club, but I would not have it any other way. I relish the journey and the heartbreak and joy that following sport brings. A world where guaranteed success holds little charm.
What lessons can we learn from all of this? Protect that which makes us different and unique. Look at our communities and what is good that needs to be protected. It is far too easy to dismiss what seems antiquated and traditional. As the song says, they knocked Paradise and put up a parking lot. Maintain the Paradises that give us contentment and identity or they will be gone forever.
