Soccer and humanitarian aspects

Soccer and humanitarian aspects

J. Sumardianta and Yusup Priyasudiarja, Contributor, Jakarta

Trilogy:
1) Bola di Balik Bulan (Ball Behind the Moon) , xv + 296 pp,
2) Airmata Bola (Tears of Ball), xv + 275 pp,
3) Bola-Bola Nasib (Balls of Fate), xv + 320 pp,
Written by Sindhunata,
Published by KOMPAS-Jakarta, May 2002

Conrad Kotak, an American anthropologist, notes that football
allows all to express feelings, and can unite people from diverse
backgrounds in a way that can not be achieved by any other
political force. Globalization results in a wider gap between
developed and poor countries. On the contrary, football succeeds
in spreading professionalism. The World Cup 2002 in Korea and
Japan showed that there is no longer any gap between the football
skills of Asian or African teams and European teams which have
long football traditions. The increasing number of Asian and
African players playing in European countries as well as the
coaches from Europe who train Asian and African teams plays an
important role in spreading the professionalism.

Football is actually a reflection of the daily life of human
beings. It is possibly one of the reasons why football has become
the most popular sport in the world, touching every corner of
human beings and affecting many aspects of life. Sindhunata, the
writer of this trilogy, Catatan Sepak Bola, highlights
humanitarian features in football.

Bola di Balik Bulan (Balls behind the Moon) covers inspiring
and touching stories in football. Take a look at the following
data. David Beckham has his daughter name, Brooklyn, printed on
his shoe soles. In spite of his fame as a great player, his love
of his family is deeper than that of football. Airmata Bola
(Tears of Ball) illustrates the tragedy of human beings such as
the failures of football players, coaches and teams. Le jour de
glorie a passe (the glory days have passed) is probably the right
expression to describe the failure of Bayern Munich in the
Champions Cup final in 1999 in which Bayern Munich was defeated
by Manchester United 2-1 in injury time (112 seconds) after
leading 1-0. Bayern Munich's loss of concentration and
carelessness in the last minutes led the team to a tragic and
sorrowful defeat. Bola-bola Nasib (Balls of Fate) mainly focuses
on the misfortunes of football players in which they often have
to work beyond their capacity as human beings. They often play
too many games in one competition. Besides, football can also
mean both glory and misery as experienced by Maradona who was a
great player but then plunged into the hell of drug abuses.

The magnificent performance of outstanding players such as
Giussepe Meazza (Italy), Santiago Barnebeu (Spain) and Pele
(Brazil) used to be associated with heroism values. At present
Ronaldo, Christian Viery, Del Piero, Raul Gonzales, Nistellrooy,
Michael Owen and Edgar Davids become glamour present-day
superstars representing individuals in an individualistic society
who are merely money-oriented. Football is already integrated
with a capitalistic industry system. For such players football is
just a short cut to get rich quickly. The egos of the star
players then turns to be a universal problem faced by all
football coaches.

In addition, football competitions do not always show fairness
in sports. Football teams often seek success by any means (the
goals justify the means) such as involving hooligans with their
brutish behaviors in order to bother their opponents
concentration. The players try hard to merely gain honor and it
is essentially contrary to the whole essence and philosophy of
sport. Sport is originally intended to boost the spirit of
brotherhood.

How do players enhance their professionalism, manage their ego
and solve their problems in life? Davor Suker, a very talented
striker from Croatia, gave a valuable example. Amid pros and
cons, he disagreed with the idea that women or wives should be
allowed to join the teams to support their performances in a
competition like the World Cup. He scored the most goals in the
1998 World Cup. He proved that his idea was right, indicating
that those who could refrain from having sex during the
competition could perform better. Beforehand Suker had been the
target of criticism for having only scored a few goals for Real
Madrid and his love life with Ana Garcia Obregon, a TV moderator,
blamed as the main cause. Ana G. Obregon used up the energy of a
striker whose job is to score goals, wrote the daily La
Vanguardia cynically.

In any feature Sindhunata, the author of the classic novel
Anak Bajang Menggiring Angin, always highlights humanitarian
aspects. He notes that street children (strassenfussballer), the
homeless, slums (favela) and the dwellers of slums (favelado) are
the life backgrounds of Brazilian players. In a favelado there is
no suicidal feeling. When Brazilians are hungry, in order to
survive they try to scrap around for the remaining food on
streets or in the markets. Even though Brazilian players have
already gained success, they still have the spirit of favelado, a
high fighting spirit. They never easily give up on the pitch.

In Brazilian football history, Garrincha was widely known as a
player with the favelado mentality. Earning a living as a bird
hunter, he lived in a poor favela (Airmata Bola, p. 236). Having
played football attractively, he was regarded by many as a
Brazilian hero in the Pele era. Garrincha, more respected than
Pele, is considered a spark plug of Brazilians and a symbol of
their joy, a lergria dopavo (Bola Di Balik Bulan, p.210).

Football also manages to minimize ideological conflicts.
Unlike what people had been afraid of, the match between the US
and Iran teams in de Coupe du Monde, France 1998 in which Iran
won the match, ended up in a touching scene. At the end of the
match, the players from both teams, hugged each other, shook
hands and exchanged their costumes. Football does not prove
Samuel Huntington's thesis on the clash of civilization.

Having been a member of Society of Jesus (SJ) and interested
in humanitarian sciences, Sindhunata can produce pieces of
writing with high-literary quality. Before being a priest, he was
a journalist. Hence he has a sharp analysis which shows his rich
knowledge of football. To support the data when writing, he did
not only watch football matches himself in various competitions
in Europe but also collected and read papers in English, Dutch
and German. No wonder, this trilogy is reflective, contemplative
and encyclopedic. One of the most interesting characteristics of
his writing rests on the fact that football is seen not only from
the aspects of sport but also from a humanitarian angle.

According to Sindhunata, a doctoral graduate of Hochschule fur
Philosophie, Philosophische Fakultat SJ, Munich, Germany in 1992,
football fans are actually fooled by a spectacular event such as
the World Cup. Even though the event is entertaining, it actually
does not change anything. Argentineans still live under both the
poverty circle and political repression as the country is still
controlled by the IMF. Indonesian people also remain poor and
hopeless under the leadership of the political elite who only
think of their vested interests. Football also fails to protect
the people from violence as what happens in South America since
the people there are already trapped in drug abuses. Football
itself needs to be questioned for the reason that it is closely
related to exploitation, commercialization and dehumanization.

Sindhunata features have a particular distinction. They
provide meaningful, rich factual information that gives readers
deep insights. His ideas flow smoothly and he can describe things
systematically. This particularity distinguishes him from other
football commentators who tend to merely discuss the techniques
and tactics in football.