DUBAI: Arrigo Sacchi once said, “football is the most important of the unimportant things in life.” Chances are you’ve heard the great Italian manager’s famous line repeated a few times recently.
It is only right that with every article written during the coronavirus crisis, there must come a disclaimer that states clearly sport’s irrelevance during these locked down times. Particularly, it seems, if the discussion happens to be about football and its fans.
And yet, just because football, like everything else, must unquestioningly take a back seat to matters of life and death during these difficult times, it does not mean that all discussion of the beautiful game should somehow be deemed immoral.
In fact, in the absence of football, we seem to have, by default, fallen back on football nostalgia in an attempt to maintain a sense of normality, or even sanity.
Stuck at home, we now experience the world only through our screens, and if social media or television channels are to go by, the appetite for football remains voraciously strong as ever.
What do you do when football simply disappears?
Around the world, football archives are being dusted.
At Arab News we have run a series of Saudi Arabia’s greatest footballing achievements, including the five World Cup appearances and three AFC Asian Cup wins.
In the UK, there have been television reruns of beloved 1990 World Cup and Euro 96, with some accounts “live” tweeting or running minute-by-minute reports of matches that for many still bring tear to the eye.
Gary Lineker, who had played and scored in England’s famous semi-final loss to West Germany at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, summed up things perfectly:
“What’s weird about the Italia ‘90 semi-final is that despite being distraught, I never shed a tear at the end. Yet watching it just now, tears flowed. Getting soft in my old age.”
What’s weird about the Italia ‘90 semi-final is that despite being distraught, I never shed a tear at the end. Yet watching it just now, tears flowed. Getting soft in my old age.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) April 12, 2020
And he’s not alone. Football nostalgia no doubt tugs on the heartstrings of, as Lineker said, an older demographic. But even football fans not yet born in 1990 are not immune to it.
Clips of goals and matches that have happened “on this day” have always been popular, but over recent months have spiked to fill the vacuum left behind by current action. Turns out, a lot of memorable football has happened in the past.
Only in the last few weeks, we’ve had the anniversary of arguably the greatest Premier League match of all time, Liverpool’s 4-3 win over Newcastle at Anfield on April 3, 1996.
April 21 saw the 21st anniversary of the Manchester United fabled, Roy Keane-inspired 3-2 away win against Juventus in the Champions League, a match that paved the way for a unique treble that season.
And you can throw a dart at a calendar and it will hit a date in which Lionel Messi has scored a mind-bending goal or three.
It’s not all about goals and matches either.
April 19 was the 31st anniversary of Diego Maradona taking part in the most famous warm in football history, caught on camera dancing and juggling the ball to the backdrop of Live is Life by Opus.
June and July might just see a few anniversaries of some of his, and indeed any, greatest World Cup moments too.
Beyond the ubiquity of old YouTube clips, the lockdown has brought our inner football obsessives to the fore.
Out have come old football photos, shirts, books, match tickets and programs.
And thanks to the rise of online challenges, postings of all-time favorite teams, players, matches and goals.
One of the best, and most viral, was posted by former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher asking football fans too name a best 11 of their life time, provided no two players have played for the same club or country. It was as frustrating as it was distracting. But, above all, unifying.
There’s no shame in taking comfort in football nostalgia. It is after all no different than going back to a favorite old book or film, or listening to the Beatles. It is, simply, a metaphorical safety blanket at a time when any sort of comfort is welcome.
That winning the Premier League or Champions League or Arabian Gulf League loses all meaning when thousands of people are dying every day hardly needs reiterating. Football is not worth a single life.
At the same time, as we gorge on football nostalgia, no one should have to be apologetic about turning a hopeful eye to a near-future with football back in our lives. It is as legitimate and logical a wish as wanting to visit family and friends, go for a walk in the park or a night out on the town.
Why shouldn’t Liverpool fans dream of a first league title in 30 years or Leeds fans of a return to the Premier League when life returns to normal? And is it wrong for Newcastle fans to get excited about a takeover that might see their club become one of the biggest in the world?
Every other football fan will have his or her own hopes and dreams for their team.
A world where Mo Salah is smiling after another goal is a happier world. A world in which Cristiano Ronaldo is wreaking havoc is a more exciting world. And a world in which Messi is back on our screens is simply a better world.
In that sense, it is less about the literal act of 22 people kicking a ball, and more about what football being back would stand for. That is, a return to, as much as is humanly possible in these times, a still-recovering but increasingly healthier, functioning society. And, the welcome return of life’s unimportant things.
And quite frankly, whether you love football or hate it, who wouldn’t want that right now.
