I see ‘em!

The World Cup playing out its expected bouts of drama these few weeks, Keano’s retirement seems like a distant event. The furor and controversy surrounding the man has cleared, and has kinda petered out tamely considering that the Republic of Ireland is not represented in the World Cup.

Speaking of representation, the departure of Roy Keane from football represented something important for me. Of late, I have lost interest in watching soccer matches. As a kind of withdrawal symptom, only betting seems to raise the excitement a notch. Nonetheless, there seems to be little to care about in soccer anymore.

Who are these men who take the game as a sport? Who are they that I should care and cry with them? What did it mean to anybody other than themselves if they won?

When we support something, usually it is thought of as an extension of the self. It is strange if you think about how we associate things with ourselves. Walk into a pub and you hear: ‘Hi I’m Mark and I’m a Man Utd fan.’ It almost seems like an important biological fact of our lives.

But when you think about it, it is quite absurd to say that you support a club. What does ’support’ really mean? Do you pay the players’ wages. Does one feel the rivalry of the clubs up North, whatever that means? I live in Yio Chu Kang and I’m supporting a football club in Manchester? It is quite a ridiculous assertion to say the least. Hence these days, I would only say I’m a fan, because I admire the football played by certain teams, certain countries. I would say Roy Keane supported Manchester United. Why? If he didn’t play or he didn’t care, there was a direct impact on the team. Who gives a hoot if you or I stop ’supporting’ a club?

Anywayz, what is there to miss when Keano’s gone? And what is now missing in all these games. The bets increase from $25 to $50 dollars, it could reach a hundred, a measly sum to some. But the point is, you are excited about the money, anxious about your winnings. You don’t care for the game.

What Keane represented to me was not the usual terms associated with him. Aggression, determination, loyalty. These qualities I do value alot. But what is simply special about him is that he is someone who cared.

In this day when the importance of things fade as there is always another distraction, there are few people who care enough about anything. If you are feeling down after your favourite team lost, you go out and eat prata and soon you’ll forget it all. Same as footballers. If they lose a match, they have their girlfriends, their tonnes of money, their next fashion show to go to. Buy another house. Nobody cares much about anything anymore.

Lost in time is the madness of the warrior giving up his life for the cause. It takes a naked belief to be in the front row of a charging wave of battlers. Have you watched Braveheart or any film where two armies met in hand-to-hand combat? To rush headlong into certain death, it takes a certain sort of commitment. It is not a buts-and-ifs situation. To find such a man in these times would be priceless. You could never buy such a man.

When you see Roy Keane, he WAS Man Utd. You couldn’t take him away from Man Utd. No other club bothered to bid for him, there never was any transfer speculation. Nobody bothered to. It was impossible to get him to leave unless he wanted to.

Look at all the other clubs. Patrick Vieira, captain of Arsenal was hounded every season by other clubs, eager to prise him away. Now after he has left for Juventus, their next captain, Henry is always being targeted by other clubs. Liverpool always had to endure speculation about Gerrard’s future. Only Terry from Chelsea is spared this and he is another to be admired.

Is there any other player who cares as much? Seeing teams play in the World Cup, it breaks my heart. If you are playing for your nation, when you are representing it, you have to play your soul out. Yet, all can be seen are half-hearted efforts by teams. I spit in the England players face when they said that ‘it was hot’ as an excuse for underperforming against Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago. What *^&%$#@ nonsense is that? (Wow I’m really ranting here)

It is almost a joke considering that I play with everything I’ve got, whether rain or shine, and I play for free, on an uneven-pitch. And I even have to fork out my own transport fares. These players are flown first-class. They have no respect for themselves man. It is absurd and disgusting to say you support any of these people.

Ultimately, it comes down to what these things mean to one personally. Everyday we live half-hearted lives, pursuing half-believed causes. Yes, we can fail a test, we will take another one. Lose a friend, make another one. Fallen out of love, find another one. Yes, many of us are beset with self-doubt, insecurities, uncertainty. And there is much to fear in this modern day. But also, there is too much to fall back on. What I see in Keane is that he could look straight at the cause and invest himself totally in it. There was no consolation, there is no tomorrow to make up for failure. He always played as if it were the last match of his life.

As if possessed, sometimes his spirit shakes me on the field. And that is what my eyes search for when I look across the green plains of grass. Real men whose past spirits bear more force and fury than the pale imitation of today. Only ghosts run through these fields now.

Frozen

in my memory is an image of Roy Keane against Arsenal seasons back. Having won the ball off Vieira, he sailed out of our defence in front of the baying crowd of Highbury. We had not won the game yet. Wearing a white away strip, with his men about him, he was a shining fighter bearing a flag and rallying his troops. They ran by his side, first fast, then slowing to admire the regal image. In an instant, doubt, uncertainty and fear - the future - was banished with the white reflected in your eye. You could fling talent, speed, agility, these names at him, but he would overcome them with sheer will. With this figure, we knew we had won.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 16th, 2006 at 12:30 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.