‘Sporting Spirit’

Tuesday 13th July, 2021

The Euro Cup final must have brightened up the day for the pandemic-hit world on Sunday. It was a thriller from the word go. Barely three minutes into the match, England stunned the unbeaten Italians with a volley into the net. The visitors, on a 34-match winning streak, did not know what hit them. Perhaps, it was the first unnerving shock they had suffered since September 2018. Euphoria erupted in the stands with electrifying chants from the English fans while the Italian supporters were holding their heads in dismay. The Italians fought back courageously. The big break for them came in the 66th minute, when an equaliser was sunk into the net. It was a real game changer.

Both sides amply proved their prowess, and the game went down to the wire, as expected. The extra time sans any result gave way to a penalty shootout. Lady luck smiled on the Italians, who partied till morn. Thus, ended a superb game of football, and it was heartening to hear the Wembley roar again after a lapse of so many moons although the sprawling stadium was not packed to the rafters for health reasons.

The need for entertaining sports events in these troubled times to enliven the hapless humans across the globe cannot be overemphasised. All those who made the Euro Cup tournament a huge success deserve praise for having made life somewhat tolerable for fellow humans the world over.

Let’s now look at the ugly side of the night of fun. What followed after Sunday’s match, while crowds were pouring out of the majestic stadium, reminded us of the Orwellian description of ‘sporting spirit’. Some English fans set upon their Italian counterparts, who were in seventh heaven. One cannot but agree with George Orwell, who wrote in his famous essay, The Sporting Spirit, ‘international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred’.

Commenting on the animosity that several football matches a visiting Russian team played with some British teams, in 1945, had generated, Orwell had this to say in his essay: “If you wanted to add to the vast fund of ill-will existing in the world at this moment, you could hardly do it better than by a series of football matches between Jews and Arabs, Germans and Czechs, Indians and British, Russians and Poles, and Italians and Jugoslavs, each match to be watched by a mixed audience of 100,000 spectators ….” How true!

As if the rowdy scenes some shameless English fans created were not enough, the three English players who missed penalties became targets of racist abuse on social media. The English Football Association lost no time in condemning the dastardly attacks and calling for action against those responsible.

Some of the uncivilised elements in the garb of sports fans responsible for the racist attacks at issue may have been disappointed punters who had pinned all their hopes on the English team. But these unfortunate situations come about mainly because nationalism is mixed with the sporting spirit. When this happens, otherwise enjoyable sporting events come to be viewed by some rabid elements as wars that must be won by hook or by crook. Unable to stomach defeat, these characters turn abusive and even violent.

During the semifinal match between England and Denmark, a section of the English fans made the world wonder whether they were civilised enough to be at a sporting event; they booed while the Danish national anthem was being played. (There was a repeat performance on Sunday.) It was a controversial penalty that enabled England to beat Denmark and make it to the final.

Sports fans ought to realise that there are much worse things in life than having to witness the defeats of their national players in international competitions.

Interestingly, the UK promoted the tournament with the much-publicised slogan that the Cup was coming home. Instead, it went to Rome!