THE GOD CALLED FOOTBALL
Glorious, beautiful, awesome, magnificent, adorable and lovely; these are all adjectives used in worship, to express human feelings to a divine being (whether real or imagined) of great value. Today, these adjectives are used in response to the display of the grandeur of a powerful phenomenon upon the earth.
Apparently, never has these adjective been much more suitable in modern times than for football [or so we think!]. We have composed songs in their hundreds dedicated to players, clubs and unto the game of football ultimately. Most of these songs are sang during matches by a willing and faithful choir which has no gender distinction or vocal discrimination.
Whether these songs sound melodious or not, no one cares because we get carried away by the show off put on by Kaka as he unleashed his spectacular goals, by Lionel Messi with his exceptional dribbling skill, or should we talk about Christiano Ronaldo and his likes; the crimson red, the heavenly blue and the green jerseys?
So fascinating and captivating is the game, so much that political office holders, not excusing democratic presidents, give up their official responsibilities just to observe such a holy hour like Man U meets Arsenal. Clerics have been observed in many occasions to hand over officiating religious programmes to their unwilling assistants for the honour of their club sides to go cheer and support them during a match.
This game is powerful, wonderful and charming. Why not, if not! So powerful, it has choked the life out of other formerly competing rival games.
Who hears of Michael Jordan (jersey 23) with his incredible dunks anymore? O’Neil, the big big? Lakers, Orlando Magic or even the NBA anymore? “gone with the wind: Basket ball dead but not dead!” all thanks to football; who cares about basket ball anymore?
Why not, if not! Who can think of the wonder of such a rich business? Who else can pay for a player with 80million pounds or 56million pounds? Go ask Ronaldo or Kaka! How many clerics, teachers, civil servants for their sweat, labour, patriotism and pledge of daily and faithful service to their nation, especially in Nigeria, can dream of 10% of such a figure through out their life time of service?
Why not, if not! Who can think of how potent the charm of such a game: when men who have never held a ball, received a wage from football, or even know the size of a football field, travel thousands of kilometres, and even go ahead to pay from the little they earn for a watch, while they use the rest to gamble in pool. Youths “break bottles” in telecasting cinemas a club biff; wherein many have lost their lives in the process. I, a martyr of a piece of rubber, wow!
Someone might now conclude by saying “all hail football” or better yet, “this kind ‘God’ oh, I never see your kind oh!”
by Alafah Darius
No comments:
Post a Comment