The Future of Britain

MEDIA & SPORT
now been sorted is the manager.
David Moyes had only one piece
of silverware to show for his whole
managerial career: the Division Two title
with Preston. Many believe that Moyes
was always the wrong appointment due
to the trophy-per-season expectation
of the demanding Manchester United
fans and board, but Sir Alex Ferguson’s
wishes could not have been ignored.
Moyes’s future at the club was already
placed under the huge weight of the
expectation that he could emulate
Ferguson’s, even in a small way. Moyes’s
downfall was his inability to handle the
pressure of leading a big-name club
such as Manchester United, perfectly
illustrated by his panic buy of Fellaini
last summer. The Manchester United
board has learnt from its mistakes and
now Louis van Gaal will be leading the
Manchester based club next season.
The Dutchman has proven himself as a
winner throughout Europe, leading huge
clubs such as Barcelona and Bayern
Munich. The Dutch national side has
been producing outstanding football
under his leadership.
Qualifying to play European football
in the 2015/16 season is an achievable
target for Manchester United. The
opportunity to play in European
football is normally very attractive
to prospective players, but due to the
team’s failure to qualify last season to
play in Europe in 2014/15, world-class
players for next season will have to be
attracted by large salaries alone. A new
back four, a midfield powerhouse and a
winger are the main holes to fill for the
squad over the summer. I have faith that
Van Gaal will spend wisely. There is no
doubt that the likes of Manchester City,
Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Everton
will strengthen even further over the
summer but under Van Gaal, United has
a bright future and a chance to right the
wrongs of the past year for themselves
and the fans. ƒ
Football: more
than just a
sport?
Alex Goodchild
Hidden just off a little
passageway on the scenic
island of Madeira lies a
certain place of divinity.
The Portuguese are historically Roman
Catholic, yet, no conventional god is
worshipped here. It is Funchal’s CR7
Museum, a shrine to Cristiano Ronaldo,
a footballing icon. No biblical text is
needed; Ronaldo’s glittering history
narrates itself in more than 150
displayed trophies and medals, twentysix
signed hat-trick balls and two Ballon
d’Or awards. A life-sized waxwork and
several images reveal how Ronaldo is
just one example of how football has
become increasingly devotional. But
whether this is a religious symbol more
than a simple show of affection leads one
to examine whether football is indeed a
religion.
There is little doubt that Ronaldo’s
compatriots believe in him as an icon.
On this issue, the museum’s curator,
Nuno Mendes, declared, “He is Portugal’s
main ambassador… The image of the
country is reflected in him.” Certainly
football is a significant aspect of life in
Portugal but there is greater evidence
that it is followed routinely around the
world.
This summer, Brazil plays host to
the FIFA World Cup and, as such,
many fans have flocked to the football
‘Mecca’ of the World. City squares are
brimming with football fans and no less
by Americans. Remarkably, 200,000
match tickets were bought in the US,
which comes as some surprise given
that ‘soccer’ is still some way behind
baseball, American football and others
in terms of popularity. More incredible
still is that 75% of English season-ticket
holders would sooner change religion
than the team they support, according
to a poll conducted on the eve of Easter
by the makers of Warren United, an
animated sitcom about a fervent football
fan.
In an increasingly secular age, can
football therefore be considered an
adequate replacement for traditional
religion? As Diego Maradona said,
“Football isn’t a game or a sport, it’s
a religion.” Is convening to the new
churches in the form of stadia to attend
fixtures not a form of group devotion?
There’s communal singing in the form
of football chants, and a faithful crowd
always awaits, hopefully, the coming
of every new manager or star signing.
Posters and graffiti often adorn the
streets of Barcelona and Argentina
bearing the face of their one true hero:
Lionel Messi. And there is compelling
evidence that football can be a substitute
for religion. Songs of Praise, the most
watched religious programme on British
TV, attracts barely three million viewers,
just a quarter of what can be reached on
a televised match by Sky Sports.
Despite this, Italian film director Pier
Paulo Pasolini’s claim that ‘football is
the last sacred ritual of our time’ seems
a little exaggerated. Not always do you
see in a football fan the same unwavering
faith that you do in religion and even
if Neymar may now be the patron saint
of Brazil, should he not perform to the
lofty expectations, he could face jeers.
Besides, whilst some players are idols,
‘sacred’ could not be more inaccurate
when describing Uruguayan Luis
Suárez who has just recently bitten a
third victim to add to equally heinous
offences of racism.
Yet part of the reason that football can
be viewed in a holy light is because
religion played a formative role in the
rise of football in this country. In fact, a
quarter of league teams in England trace
their origins to church sides, formed in
the late 19th century era of “muscular
Christianity”, including Everton, Aston
Villa, Fulham, Southampton, Bolton
and Wolves. There are still Christian
leagues today, while professional clubs
nowadays have club chaplains. This
then sheds light on why the idea of
switching football clubs seems to true
fans sacrilege. “Soccer isn’t the same
as Buddhism”, concedes Franklin Foer,
author of How Soccer Explains the
World, “but it is often more deeply felt
than religion, and just as much a part of
the community’s fabric, a repository of
traditions.”
The backlash of supporters against
the commercialisation of football in
the developed world can be seen as an
illustration of the principle that football
means more to people than mere sport.
In the UK, where investors have been
drawn to huge profits in merchandising
and ticket sales, the largest clubs, led
by Manchester United, are leading
a comeback. Fans relish fighting off
commercial interests for the sake of
protecting the beautiful game. As
money becomes ever more important,
and the fans become abstracted from
the astronomical sums paid to players
for licenscing an playing, there will be
a global revolution. Rather akin to the
reaction of Martin Luther or Desiderus
Erasmus to the decadence in Rome, the
fans will no longer be able to tolerate the
excessive monetisation of the sport as if
it were a commodity.
However, Football should not be
considered a religion but it is still
vitally important to sections of society
in the same way as faith is for others.
Played well, football is an art that has
proved a great entertainment and it
fills many lives with the passion of
despair and euphoria. Perhaps it is Eric
Cantona who most accurately defines
the life of a football aficionado with this
observation: ‘You can change your wife,
your politics, your religion… but never,
never, can you change your favourite
football team.’ In that sense, football
might even be more than a mere religion
after all. The football infection hasn’t
yet reached its furthest extent, It won’t
be long before it does. ƒ
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