PERSPECTIVES

Football through their eyes

by Mweni Chola

No two pairs of eyes will view a situation the same way. In football, perspective is subjective to the one in whose hands it lies, and because football is of great importance to the ones it has chosen, there is usually a conflict in the perspective from which players and fans view the game.

At the end of every season, there are a lot of debates about the overall performance of clubs and individual players and oftentimes, those who do not perform in the way the fans would like face an inevitable wrath.

However, there are very few times when players and fans draw from the same well because both parties look at things from a perspective the other might not necessarily understand.

Source: whatculture

You can imagine, having a terrible day at work then going back home to sit in absolute silence, staring at seemingly judgmental ceilings and wondering what you could have done differently to turn things around and after eating yourself up for something you unfortunately cannot change, you run to your phone to escape the harsh reality, but then you’re welcomed by endless comments and remarks from people who feel they would do your job better than you.

And even though experience has been crowned the best teacher, it is still very important to acknowledge that there are things that we perhaps will never get to experience, therefore, we will never truly know what it’s like to walk in certain shoes even if we feel we would take better steps in them.

Extending grace to people who may be living the lives we envisioned or to have great control over our emotions is not the easiest thing but they too want what’s best for their teams perhaps even more than we do. It is also understandable that fans react the way they do but then again, there are better ways through which these grievances can be aired especially with the utmost respect for the people who carry our beautiful sport on their feet and in their hearts.

Perspective allows some to taste both sides in their lifetime, those who dream and relent not until they penetrate the television screens through which they admire the game, step on the pitch and kick the ball with the responsibility to break or mend hearts. They carry a special weight due to the heaviness of the badges embedded on their chests.

Source: AP Photo / Rui Vieira

While others were just meant to watch, as the love they have for their clubs runs through their veins, have wins put rhythm back into their heartbeats when the uncertainty of the game takes their breaths away, when losses have them slowly pick the hopes they had from the floor and inject the same hope back into their bloodstreams as they have no option but to nurse the heartbreak then look forward to the possible next.

And then there are those who contribute in other ways, they have dug deep until they found the voids with which the beautiful game cannot smoothly run so they do their best and give their all to make sure everything aligns for this game that we deeply adore to continue breathing.

Football does more than just unite us, it gives billions of people the ability to feel the same thing in different ways, sends similar shivers down different bodies, and makes distinct eyes looking at the same thing react in the same way as a result of different emotions depending on who the game favours in the end.

Source: Stu Forster/Getty Images

Football was never intended to make us sworn enemies of one another, especially not of the ones who are of the perspective to which we cannot just easily jump, especially not the players themselves and those who work with them to make it what it is. Football has never been a sponsor of enmity, that’s why the words rivals and enemies will never mean the same thing.