Northern Ireland v Cyprus (12/06/2020)

We all know what the best teams with the best players can do, but we are really only interested in our 11 and, if necessary, how they can stop the free flowing football and prevent the superstars from shining. Which of us would not take a boring 0-0 draw instead of an exciting 6-2 hammering? It is all very well admiring from a distance the skills of Ronaldo or Messi, not so much fun if they are strutting their stuff against your team. As Mike Tyson memorably said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Another of the oft quoted myths which need debunking is that ‘these things even themselves up over the season’. Quite clearly they do not . The penalty that we should have been awarded in this game, which if we had scored would have meant that we would have won, does not equate to the penalty awarded three months later in a match we are winning 3-0! Football is all about this game, today, not one which will be played at a later date. We live in the here and now. It is great to remember the victories of the past , but they are of little value if you are 2-0 down in the 94th minute. In a similar vein clearly all referees have it in for every team. They award penalties against us but not for us, they caution and send off our players but not the opposition. The offside flag always goes up as we our bearing down on goal , never for the other side. They disallow our goals but never theirs. This one-sided perception is a common football fan trait . It’s a persecution complex, but we relish being the underdog, we relish that everyone dislikes us and our team. It brings us together. And when the whistle is blown for full time and the game ends, we can either trudge back to our lives defeated and deflated or stride confidently victorious and buoyant into the future. That is the power of the game we love and enjoy - and may we enjoy today’s match!

WORDS : WILLIAM CAMPBELL

REALLY IT?

He would call in on a Monday morning to discuss the weekend’s local football and I found out he was a Linfield season ticket holder. He would often bemoan the Blues’ performances (it was not a season where they were sweeping the boards) . On one occasion he said ‘and my wife thinks I’m enjoying myself – how could you enjoy watching that?’! That football fans actually enjoy matches is a myth, in my opinion. We ‘enjoy it’ when our team wins (and that means deservedly or not) and to our eternal shame we ‘enjoy it’ when our bitter rivals lose. Football fans are the most fiercely loyal supporters of the doctrine of schadenfreude (deriving pleasure from another person’s misfortune) I have come across. As fans we also cling on to the faintest strand of hope. Give me a turgid 1-0 victory won by a miskick any day over a free flowing and skilful exhibition in which we are well beaten 5-0 by a wonderful side brimming with skill and class.

IRISHFA.COM

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