Friday, June 11, 2010

Wavin Flag



The World Cup starts today. I hope South Africa will be good hosts, certainly the song about wavin yo’ flag is a goodie. When I am older I will be stronger – unusual that and rather moving. In recent days I have remembered how much I love World Cups. What would my view of the world be without football? It would be like the American view. Would we even have heard of such countries as 'Paraguay', 'Ivory Coast' or 'Italy'? The Brazilian national team is a world treasure. This year the Spanish have the potential to be the most beautiful team ever and all things being equal they’ll win it – though the strength of football is that all things are never equal; no other major sport produces more upsets because there are so many different ways to score and prevent goals.

It’s not essential to my enjoyment that England are present but it’s preferable if they are because no matter how the party turns out it’s always better to have been invited. I will inevitably get my usual surge of patriotism when England come up against a biggie - we’re always best as underdogs and for as long as I can remember England have suffered with always performing just about as well as the opposition – dramatically raising their game against Germany or Argentina and equally dramatically lowering it against minnows. But that’s all part of the tradition.

My favourite one was Mexico 86. I was nine years old and I can still taste that World Cup. All the colours were turned up to max and Mexico might as well have been Mars. On the day of the final I was staying at a friend’s house and we had to beg his dad to let us watch it – he was Royal Naval officer and a dreadful rugby snob who referred to football as ‘soccer’. He poured utter scorn on my nine year old enthusiams and dreams and I’ve still never quite forgiven that type. In those days the players were still Our Boys going off to do their stuff against the Martians. Today familiarity with the world’s best players through the cosmopolitan clubs has removed much of the exoticism; and Our Boys are loathed as overpaid, overhyped brats.

I wonder now though, whether the fact that everyone accepts that they’re overhyped means that they’re now underhyped. As for overpaid, you can’t really blame them for taking what’s thrown at them and at bottom they are still what footballers always were: big boys who want to run and kick and score goals. I think they deserve sympathy: they’re the generation of players for whom retirement will consist of an endless empty existence in a dream home, listlessly potting pool balls in the basement games room while upstairs a fattening WAG plots the most effective way to fleece them at the divorce court. But that’s when you’re older, so to hell with that, just wave yo flag...

13 comments:

Willard said...

I lasted 5 minutes into the first match before I turned it off and decided to work. I can't live with the noise of those vuvuzelas!

Brit said...

Oh jeez are they blowing those things? It's like those bloody horns the Pakistan cricket fans blow ALL DAY LONG.

Perhaps we'll be spared that in some of the juicier games, such as Algeria v Slovenia, or Switzerland v Honduras.

Willard said...

Far worse than that, Brit. If it's like tournament I saw a few months ago (was it the trial in South Africa), those horns will be at every match.

I hope something will finally be done. TV channels will complain when sponsors complain that people aren't watching. I know of three people who have turned of this afternoon's match already. I might tolerate it for the England matches, perhaps a few of the bigger teams, but I can't see myself watching much of this World Cup. A shame. I usually love them.

Brit said...

Put it on mute and stick some Chopin on. Lovely.

Willard said...

Ha! Does that work? I will go and try that but I think it might involve a totally new way of watching football.

David said...

Just when I think I might give this soccer thing a whirl (there's some game on tomorrow that people seem particularly excited about), someone says something like "it goes well with Chopin."

Nothing wrong with Chopin -- love me some Chopin -- but not exactly the soundtrack to excitement (dum-dum-de-dum; dum-de-dum-de-dum-de-dum).

Brit said...

If you want something more exciting you could always sing A Man's Gotta Do A Dirty Job Sometimes.

Peter said...

I'm putting aside my North American prejudices to root for North Korea. You can have your Chopin, I'll be watching to the strains of "Ten Million Human Bombs for Kim Il Sung".

Sean said...

Let me drive you mad with envy

Willard said...

Admit it, Sean. You bought that from Chief Trading Post.

The Old Batsman said...

I like your vision of the afterlife, endless games of pool in the McMansion - of course they will be doubly-cursed if they win, destined to be wheeled out once every four years to tell the same stories and do a few crisp ads... it's a living death...

Sean said...

No Willard, but a visit is planned soon. If they have a jules rimet.....immediately.

David said...

Brit: It's not the music that's the problem.