Why do we love football?

“Life is just a game of inches, so is football. Because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half step too late or too early, you don’t quite make it. One half second too slow or too fast and you don’t quite catch it. We fight for these inches. And when we add up all those inches that’s going to make the difference between WINNING and LOSING, between LIVING and DYING.” – Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday

The worst thing that can happen to a footballer is a twisted ankle. It happened to me some time ago and the doctor advised me to stay away from the field for at least a month. The mere thought of not playing football for a month was more of a shock to me than the one I got when I twisted my ankle. I just cannot stay away from football for a month. That’s my life. But when your body doesn’t allow you for something, you are left with little choices.

Taking it in my stride, I convinced myself that I can at least visit the field and watch others play, if not play myself. Next day, I reached the field and I saw my friends warming up with the ball. Just over 5 minutes and I couldn’t resist – I stood up and got involved in that warm up, thinking that it won’t do much harm to my ankle. After that warm up, people started their regular game and I just sat out and planned to watch the game. Another 5 minutes and I couldn’t resist again – I stood up and started goalkeeping for a team, again thinking that it won’t do much harm to my ankle as there is no running involved.

As the minutes passed by, I conceded a goal and realized that our team wasn’t able to assert themselves on the field. My adrenaline started pumping and I decided to play as a defender with little running involved, thinking that I would do the required icing and crepe bandage if it hurts later. After few more minutes, I forgot that I had a twisted ankle and it hurt even while walking, but I forgot all of that and I was playing up and down the field with the same vigour as I have always done in the past.

The game was over and we had won. On my way back, I realized that I now have to suffer the pain in my ankle for the next 22 hours, until I visit the field again the following day. I know it, because this was not the first time it was happening to me. This has happened to me so many times in the past and still I always return to the field the next day, because I know the pleasure of those 2 hours is much more than the pain of those 22 hours. God obliged, twisted ankle heals itself with time.

It is rightly said, true love never hurts; it only soothes. This unadulterated love for football can only be understood by fellow footballers, just as the craziness in the above anecdote can only be understood by fellow footballers as well. I am sure, this happens to every passionate footballer in the world. We just cannot resist the temptation of football.

“Why do you love football so much?”, is a question every football fan has to face from a non-football fan. “Well, just like that”, is the most common reply given by all and at the same time thinking in their mind that they won’t be able to make others understand why they love it so much or may be, even if they would, others won’t ever be able to understand.

But I started writing this article just to answer this global question or rather put my real feelings in to – Why do we love football so much? After all, it is just a sport where 22 men try to put the ball in the back of the net for 90 minutes. So what is so special with it that it has become more than a passion, obsession and even religion for some? Some people consider it as an addiction for footballers. But for footballers, addiction is a very negative term. Moreover, it’s a rank understatement.

Football for footballers is like meditation, something that brings them closer to nirvana. A complete state of bliss where they feel the happiest and most satisfied individual on this planet. It connects their conscious and sub-conscious mind together as one. There is nothing else they think about when they are playing football. Football inspires, it motivates, it helps them release unwanted energy, it sets them free, it breaks all the shackles. Football is freedom. Football is orgasmic.

Footballers imagine football as their own life. Their teammates are like their family without whom they cannot succeed. In life and football, an individual is nothing. In life, those people can come and go, similarly in football, teammates come and go. Both life and football just moves on. We have some good days and we have some bad days, just as sometimes we go on a goal scoring spree and sometimes we are just laid back. There are good seasons and there are bad seasons, but there is always a new hope for a new season. There is bad luck and there is good luck, but it all evens out if we keep trying. Sometimes we score important goals and become a hero, and other times we miss sitters and become a zero.

Footballers take inspiration from the learning of their daily game and then apply it to their life. Sometimes they lose badly, but they don’t lose self confidence and come back stronger. They apply it in life too. Sometimes they can be losing a game 3-0, but they can always come back and win it 3-4 through their winning spirit and never-say-die attitude. They apply it to problems in life too. Nothing is over until it’s really over. They fight till the end against every problem of life and football. Footballers can be champions for many years running, just as they can be successful in other domains of their life. But their hunger for success never dies. Footballers accept new challenges everyday. Their room for improvement is infinite. Footballers never lack motivation.

Footballers are winners, because they never lose; they only learn until they win. Footballers are fighters, because they know any match can be won even in the dying seconds of the game. Footballers are the most creative, because they create such wonderful moves on the field. Footballers are artists, because their skills mesmerize us. Footballers are self motivated, because they can accept a new challenge with ultimate ease even after they have just completed one. Footballers never lose their temper, because they release all their negative unwanted energy on the field. Footballers are the happiest creatures, because they have their peace of mind. Footballers are tough, because football is not for the faint hearted. Footballers are the fastest learners, because they can apply their learning on the football pitch to their own life. Footballers are fearless, because the only thing they fear is the day when they won’t be able to play. Footballers ooze charm, because they are charismatic. Footballers are near perfect, because they love football.

I might still not have been able to answer the question, “Why do we love football?”. Because in all honesty, there is no specific reason as to why we love football. Probably because football is what brings us closest to life, and there no denying the fact that the most loved thing for an individual is his own life.

But even that is an understatement and disrespectful towards football according to few, like the legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly who once famously said:

“Some people think that football is a matter of life and death. I am really disappointed by their attitude. I can assure you that it is much more serious than that!”

What this world need is more footballers. They know, just as football, life is beautiful.