Derrick Pereira
Football – sure, it’s just a game. But isn’t it great to have a sniff of the beautiful game back in our senses? Is this a sign we are getting back to normal? Not overwhelmingly! The pandemic still rages on, but anything that reminds us of the good old days is good.
To believe that these are not unprecedented times would be foolhardy. Thus, a touch of normalcy goes a long way. The I-League qualifiers are a great start and the start of Indian Super League (ISL) isn’t far behind.
We’re entering the month of October and still can’t quite figure out how the past few months went by. It has been tedious and a struggle for most. We have had to cancel so many things and find out ways
to do several other things differently.
Family celebrations and festivals have been tamer. We have had to choose to celebrate so many different occasions with social distancing strictly in the peripheral conscience.
All of these things have meant the embracing of something we weren’t used to. That’s why the smallest of things that reminds us of our lives before this pandemic brought the world to a halt, bring a smile to our faces.
Football and Goa
The beautiful game has long been known to be entwined with the fabric that makes up Goa. It starts with the little boy trying to play with the bigger ones in the village and those dreams take deeper roots for so many in the days ahead. It’s a cornerstone of our Goan society. You can look back well over 100 years through its lens and see us. There on the beaches, there on the fields, running with a ball at
our feet. That’s what it means to us.
Before and even after the liberation of Goa, through both the ages, football was always there… It has been the reason for some of our most joyous days and the little pick-me-up when things have gone a bit awry.
The return
Football matters. So do any of the major sporting events. It’s a sign that we’re okay. It might not be the same without the fans in the seats and the noises of sheer exuberance and the loud sighs. There will only be a telling silence. But, even that is now a welcome sight as long as it is on the pitch. What can be better than football and the bright lights beaming on to the pitch in the evening as 22 men battle on?
No one is following social distancing on the football field — it being difficult to tackle a ball carrier otherwise (although if you had seen Bayern Munich in the Champions League, you might think otherwise as they time and again created the six-foot distance that’s required in grocery stores; the results were predictable).
Maybe you are not a football fan, but this is much bigger. It’s a sign of a return to normal life, and even if you’re still nervous it might improve your state of mind and trick you out of your anxiety. There is research to suggest that the mere act of smiling — even if you’re not particularly happy or have to force yourself — can trick your mind and make you happier. Maybe the return of football produces the same effect.
To see the teams and players slowly coming to Goa and getting ready for arguably the grandest sporting spectacle on Indian soil this year makes me feel like we are indeed heading towards that ‘normal’ which is critical.
I would like to conclude this by saying that I would like to thank God and the thousands of frontline workers working around the world to make things safer for us.
And please, keep wearing those masks.
