Life is just a Game

We are One

In late 2011, I remember watching a football match in Greece featuring the most decorated and successful Greek team, Olympiacos F.C versus the finest European team of our age, Arsenal F.C in the formers’ home ground, the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, Greece. It was a typical Champions League night and the game might have been but a far-fetched memory had not a moment of brilliance occurred as the game wore on. Arsenal scored through Yossi Benayoun with the assist coming from a certain Marouane Chamakh. Neither of them is a household name even though coincidentally Chamakh wore the number 29 shirt while the goal scorer wore number 30 on his back. But the significance of that moment of magic hit me on how football can be a unifying factor. You see, ladies and gents, Chamakh is a Moroccan international and was then the captain of his national team. Yossi on the other hand, you guessed it right is the captain of the national team of Israel from where he hails. A Muslim and a Jew linking up to inflict damage on the Greek champions. Such is the magic and power of football.

Gor and Ingwe fans United

Since time immemorial, sports and football by far has been used as a tool to bring warring communities together, preach peace and campaign for moral values and their practise. At times, sports has also served to divide people especially where competing teams and their loyal hordes of fans just can’t stand the sight of each other. Amidst all this, more positive than harm can be attributed to football and sports at large.

We all know the simmering tension and warfare experienced in many parts of the world but in the world of sports, there is no black and white, Christian, Hindu, Muslim or Jew. It’s an avenue where humanity’s greatest traits are exposed, where the simplicity of a unified world is demonstrated whether on a pitch, stage or even a swimming pool.

A great act of Kindness

Needless to say, it’s not always nice and smooth. Sometimes racism rears its ugly head and nationalism exceeds human value. But also in such a stage is where we can watch citizens of the most secluded nation on Earth, the North Koreans take on a football giant in Brazil, as it happened in the last world cup in South Africa. It’s also in sports that a Kenyan lady relinquished her sprint to victory in a marathon to help an Oriental man without arms to drink a bottle of water.

There are many other wonderful things and traits that are nurtured through sports. Ranging from team work, hard work, unity and respect both for self and others but that’s a point of discussion for another time. Until then keep it sporty and live out the values of the game, especially the gentleman’s game; football.

Till next time, I remain Njabia, the 3rd.

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