Football, Dreams and Dog Dirt
This was really difficult to write, not emotionally, I’m just incredibly hungover. As I celebrated Luke Shaw’s early goal in the final of the European Football Championship it all seemed too good to be true. Even the man jubilantly swinging a carrier bag full of his dog’s shit around his head could not throw me off my stride. Everything was going to be fine forever! When I was young I yearned for England to win the World Cup (and I’ll lump in the Euros as well to make this preamble less pointless). I didn’t think I would be bothered about whether or not that happens now as a 24 year old man but it did bother me?!?! I wanted to unpick this a bit.
Obviously, I enjoy football now and with age have been able to appreciate the nuances of the game more. The skill, the tactics and most tragically the money. It is easy to become cynical as you see more of the world however there is a bit of me that still believes in the magic of football. I will not suddenly be fulfilled through an England victory but it would certainly mean something to the 8 year old me. Obviously, that young man would have wanted that dream to have been realised then but that’s not often how the world works. Hopefully, it will be worth the wait and live up to expectations… maybe even exceed them?? The beautiful words of Eduardo Galleano were a perfect match for my thoughts on football. I will write about this book properly at a later date but this felt like something worth saying whilst the thoughts whirled around my head.
The next thing I say is from the past and it should stay there but I thought I would leave it in as it showed what I was feeling at the time of writing the day before the game. Hopeful, excited, delusional?? “When England win I will be saying goodbye to my friends at the pub and running as fast as I can to my uncle’s house to celebrate with my family there. I mention my uncle specifically because he took me to my first football match and even though he feels bad for inflicting the woe of watching Plymouth Argyle play on me and my brothers it is something I value beyond words.”. Hahahahaha. Unlucky, Reflective Reading (yeh that’s my real name)!
Unfortunately, England didn’t win however it was still amazing and the precarious nature of the final was something I couldn’t help enjoy. The highs and the lows are all part of it and the anguish a defeat at the final hurdle offers a greater richness to any future searches for glory. I doubt 8 year old me would accept this and would probably just be blubbing or throwing a strop, however that helps me to understand what there is beyond meeting particular dreams and I think that can be taken beyond football to life as a whole.
