The beautiful game

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The beautiful game

by deana24 @ 2008-05-23 – 11:10:50

All in all I've had a good week in terms of getting what I want on the big stuff. The stuff over which I have no control.

Watching John Terry cry like a baby; well you don't like to gloat but...

After Manchester United’s Champions League win this week and those fab pix of our fans swapping shirts for hats with the Russian police/soldier people it's made me all glowy about football again. I've almost forgotten about Rangers.

Nice quote:

'If you were to ask what provides some meaning in life nowadays for a great many people, especially men, you could do worse than reply "Football" … Sport, and in Britain football in particular, stands in for all those noble causes – religious faith, national sovereignty, personal honour, ethnic identity – for which over the centuries, people have been prepared to go to their deaths. Sport involves tribal loyalties and rivalries, symbolic rituals, fabulous legends, iconic heroes, epic battles, aesthetic beauty, physical fulfilment, intellectual satisfaction, sublime spectaculars, and a profound sense of belonging… It is sport, not religion, which is now the opium of the people.'

Terry Eagleton (John Edward Taylor Professor of Cultural Theory at the University of Manchester; from ‘The Meaning of Life: A Very Short Introduction’, OUP, 2007)
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5 Comments to The beautiful game

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- rubychoo
- 2008-05-23 @ 11:27:53
I enjoyed that

'It's not Terry's.....'

moment too...

(Even as a red)
- - deana24
  - 2008-05-25 @ 21:58:26
  I am truly touched.
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- technomist
- 2008-05-23 @ 11:28:05
How wrong Mr Egleton is. Professional club football has turned into a game for louts and cheats. The current Manchester United epitomizes none of the virtues listed in your quote - and if they are the best there is, then the game is truly a edifice of lies these days.
- - blacksheep63 ^Pro
  - 2008-05-23 @ 18:54:27
  well put. what are these 'noble causes' anyway? 'religious faith, national sovereignty, personal honour, ethnic identity' all the cause of wars, persecution, intolerance, racism. to be fair to prof eagleton he may not subscribe to these views - as a cultural theorist he may just be explaining how it is. i would prefer it if he critiqued modern popular culture and preferably did not misquote marx: what he said was that religion was the 'opiate' of the people, but hey.. as for man utd and giving hope i think he is probably right up to a point. people seem to have very little they value in their lives in this consumer society gone mad. winning at all costs has long replaced 'play up and play the game' (if that golden age ever existed) and the red devils from the diving of dennis law to the diving of christiano (i'm off to the highest bidder) ronaldo certainly epitomize that spirit. but who can blame them? all teams are at it. and its not just football, look at the mess athletics and cycling are in. anyway good luck to utd they won on the night and have been the best team in europe this season - not the most attractive (that's us) but the most consistent.
  - - deana24
    - 2008-05-25 @ 21:57:56
    I think you are right. Mr Egleton is a cultural theorist; he observes, he comments and he is rather clever with his words. He knows how to sell. Which is just perfect for the society in which we live; utterly consumer-driven.
    
    But to imagine our sporting heroes, or our religions, have never been interested in money is, indeed, looking at our past through rose-tinted glasses. I don't think the Catholic church has ever said 'no thank you, we'll leave the gold' while spreading the word through the world. Contrary to popular belief the original Olympic atheletes weren't amateurs. That little rule was dreamed up by the Victorians - to keep the posh kids in and those that needed to earn a living out.
    
    Faith/money/power v sport/money/power.
    
    Interesting, though.
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5 Comments to The beautiful game

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