football is not ill

My response to FIFA President Mr. Sepp Blatter's statement that "football is ill"

Football is ill? Don't make me laugh. Should Chelsea and Arsenal have laid the beats to each other in the Carling Cup Final? Maybe not, but I'm not convinced that they shouldn't have. We are talking about a sporting event. While we all know that "sportsmanship" dictates that "brawls" of that kind don't happen, I think deep down anyone who has played the game, even as a kid, knows that "sportsmanship" is not always possible.

Here are the reasons. First, football, as with any sport, is ritualized violence. It exists as a replacement for all the violent things that men do or want to do. It is an acceptable form of the violence that we constantly strive to suppress. Therefore, it is outrageous to assume that ritualized violence will not spill into real violence from time to time. This does not point to illness in the sport, or even in the teams involved. It points to human nature. Second, ritualized violence aside, anyone playing in a cup final of any importance (or a derby or any other important match for that matter) is going to have his temper on the edge of explosion. Don't believe me? Ask Zizou. Otherwise decent guys have their temper explode simply because they are playing for something they care about and tensions are high. The only answer, Mr. Blatter, is to ban all trophies and maybe even stop keeping track of scoring. Let's just make it a big friendly kick about, which we'd all love to watch. Finally, non-violence in sports is not possible because we, the fans, actually look forward to the occassional loss of cool. We like it when a punch gets thrown. We don't want to see it leave the game because when our sides do battle we benefit from catharsis. I am a France fan, and even though we lost the World Cup, Zizou's headbutt made me feel better. It made me feel better because it took my own head of steam, my own building tension and anger, and it gave it a release.

So Mr. Blatter it's time for you to recognize that violence is the natural state of man, and that your sport is simply an attempt to redirect that violence. Occassionally that redirection will fail. That is not a failing of the sport; in fact, it is not a failing at all. It just is, and trying to get rid of it is completely unrealistic. Why don't you worry about important issues like racism and stop worrying when Eboue takes a swing at Bridge. The leagues dole out their fines and suspensions and that's all that needs to happen. You worry about bananas hitting the pitch and stop whining about fists hitting faces.