Not even sport can moderate our wild world.
There was a time when, whether in the West or the East, due to the diseases and political absurdities of societies, people looked for and found the pill of "spiritual survival" in sports. It could have been the wildest socialism here in Central Europe, the microclimate of the football pitches excluded political aggression and arrogance from the minds and hearts of the spectators for those 90 minutes, while only the experience and palpable satisfaction remained.
It didn't matter whether it was a league, international cup or national team match, then and there the crowded stands became one with the dignity on the field. The players became role models, to a certain extent they represented hope freed from the prison of ideologies. Whether they knew it or not, the "blood" was mostly absent in the otherwise "bloody" matches. Friendship, self-sacrifice, and decency flourished there, because hypocrisy was lacking.
The one who was pinned in the heat of the game, with a pained face, but stood up immediately, because he wanted to go as long as he could. It was a common sight that the players of their own team or the opponent picked up the player who fell to the ground, while it never occurred to them that their playing partner was just simulating or trying to make themselves feel sorry for themselves, as it is called nowadays. The criminal who committed the intentional collision - because it happened - was not rewarded by his own fans either, indicating that in the "sanctuary" of sport, the abuse of the world outside the field is not an acceptable act. Only the injury to be treated if someone had to be taken off the arena on a stretcher. At World Championships - not in the same one - it happened, for example, that Kálmán Mészöly, the center back of the Vasas and the Hungarian national team, and Franz Beckenbauer, the German fullback, played in decisive matches with their hands plastered, since their legs were fine... They could, because the others, twenty-one took care of the to the hands of the injured.
Only one close enemy was able to enter this forgotten world, the "black one", the judge. The one who sometimes ran proudly on the playing field, intoxicated by his power - that is, the power of his whistle, sometimes - he was more than a part of this - in the midst of the fans' curses, he also regretted that he had given his head to such madness, and in his endless outcast loneliness, he only chanted for the end of the ninety minutes. Thus, in retrospect, it can be assumed that many times it was not the specific decisions of the judge that irritated the esteemed audience, but the symbolism of how they experienced in other areas of life that there is someone who can override what is still acceptable to them. Because the stand that spits soot was transformed into an island of freedom free from ideologies every weekend. There was no rank or position, the cadre policy became a dwarf compared to the size of the football boots. The rain soaked everyone equally, just as everyone had only their caps and hats to protect them from the scorching sun.
It is not a problem if our lives have become more comfortable in the meantime, although with this comes the danger of excessive comfort. Nowadays, there are only seats in the stadiums, and the big prize is protected from the sun and rain with a roof, but even today there is no cover against the dirty mouth. Fortunately, the playing field retains its open nature, the sky above is still blue, with all its vicissitudes.
Whether it is related to the change in circumstances or not, the behavior of the viewers has completely changed in trend. It is as if the security guards at the entrances to the tracks are not able to keep out the immorality of everyday life. There are also spectator gestures reminiscent of "old football", but the majority bring in the intolerance that bites into societies, the rude and violent expression of opinions, the thirst for revenge and all other habits alien to sports. It is worth noting that the insulting of the referees - thank God - has remained in its old glory, although the introduction of VAR has turned the black suit, which until then was still considered a "living being" - at that time the referees only appeared in this color - into a "pitch tool" that cannot make mistakes, because the replay of the video recording based on which he can correct his wrong decisions.
In our increasingly distorted world, politics has unfortunately made its way into one of the most popular sports, football. It would be tolerable to a certain extent, because let's be honest, when would it not have been a political matter which nation would win the European Championship or World Cup? However, to use today's fashionable term, "double standards" were difficult to discover in the past. For the same mistake, all football associations were punished to the same extent. Not like these days.
To mention just a few examples: the vehemence of the Hungarian fans was punished by UEFA with a ban of three shutouts and a fine, while the crimes of the English fans were only a symbolic penalty of thirty thousand euros to the same European body. In Munich, our Hungarians could march between a line of armed German police, while in Budapest, the police were – quite rightly – the missing item in the Puskás Arena.
However, the most frightening thing is not the pretense of UEFA, but the behavior of the pushers who let their humanity be lost. The whistling concert during the national anthems, the expression of hatred towards the opponent is unacceptable. Or what was extremely disappointing at the final of the European Championship in London, which ended a few days ago, when the English fans, since their team did not win the cup, practically emptied the stadium in protest, not waiting for the award ceremony, and then waited on the street and attacked the visiting Italian fans...
The question arises: is humanity in so much trouble that even sports cannot moderate the evils of our wild world? Where are we going, why do we believe certain brainwashed political interest groups that the direction they impose on us from West to East in societies that imagine themselves to be civilized is good? Because if our resistance decreases and we almost lose our faith, the truth of our Székely Hungarians will emerge, according to which only the will of heaven can neutralize the upcoming global-scale, hatred-based clash.
Author: László Földi, secret service expert
Source: Hungarian Nation
Cover photo: English fans in the fan zone of Trafalgar Square watching the broadcast of the Italy-England match played in the final of the 2020 European Football Championship postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus epidemic at Wembley Stadium in London on July 11, 2021.
MTI/AP Pool/Peter Morrison
