“SPORTS HAS THE ABILITY TO BRING UNITY AND PEACE TO A WORLD THAT HAS BEEN DIVIDED AND SEPARATED BY RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS, POLITICAL BELIEFS AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES. THROUGH WORLD SPORTS – WE CAN UNITE AS THE ONE SPIRIT THAT WE ARE!”
There is enough animosity and separation in the world that if there wasn’t any sports to lighten things up, to bring people together through healthy competition – this world would be a very sad, boring, hopeless and dark place.
“Sports should be accessible to anyone that wants to participate, play or watch. It should not discriminate nor set any prejudicial requirements around status, wealth or race other than one having the heart and passion to play.”Sports, whether live, competitive, recreational or league-based allows people to escape the reality of life, responsibilities, errands and mundane tasks for a few minutes, couple of hours or for a few of weeks depending on how long a tournament might be. It allows politically tense situations, cultural differences and inequality to be put aside for the sake of a world tournament that unites over sports such as the FIFA World Cup, FIBA, the Olympic Games, French Open Tennis or NBA Playoffs.
Through such sports as Football aka Soccer, people of all walks of life in South America, Europe and Asia can come together to enjoy and play a match of football at their local pitch, soccer field or an empty parking lot in their village.
Football is considered to be the “poor man’s sports” since all is required is a football, and a space to play, which can have as little as 6 (3 on 3) people playing or as many as 22 people (11s) playing for 20 mins, 45 mins, 60 mins or 90 mins. Football allows people to escape the pressures of life, work and the challenges of reality so that they can come together and unite, regardless of colour, creed, religion or political standing. There is such an amazing atmosphere of unity at such big world sporting events as the FIFA World Cup or Euro Football tournaments, especially in the opening ceremonies or at the start of each match when the two teams enter the field with the little children holding their hands before the respective national anthems are sung. Also the feeling of comradery when fans get together at the local pub, raise their flags in the outdoor patio bars or on the streets to get behind their teams, the pride they feel when supporting their team in such a spectacular event.
As long there is no violence, hooliganism or verbal abuse between the rival team fans, this sport and any sport actually promotes unity and peace across countries and continents. Even in the Spanish La Liga premier league football, there is such a famous rivalry match up between the two big teams in Spain – Real Madrid and Barcelona, that the event has its own name called the “El Classico”. The underlying political undertone is that there is some tension between Madrid (being the Spanish capital) and Barcelona, being the capital of the Catalunia province (which has some minor cultural differences with other areas of Spain) which can be observed when these two teams come together.
So why is football so important to so many people?
I think it comes down to three things. First, a desire to feel part of something; second, the fun of following winners and third, because everyone else is following football!
I don’t have any definitive research to say the three reasons I’ve listed are accurate, but I’ll stick with them, as I feel that these three mirror society in general.
Now, let’s get back to how all of this fits into you as a leader.
People want to belong, and even bigger, they want to belong to something they can believe in and others can believe in, too. Conversely, if people don’t see something as a winner, they are quick to abandon it.
Growing up in Seattle, I remember that the Seahawks were an afterthought. Nobody paid attention to them and they served mainly as a distraction if you didn’t have anything else to do.
Then the ownership changed, and along with it came new management and coaching, and 10 years later the Seahawks own Seattle. One reason I believe they own Seattle is not just the better team on the field, but the fact the community as a whole didn’t have anything else to rally behind. They lost the Sonics, the Huskies were down and the Mariners’ glimmer of success was dying.
let us all promote peace with sports.
by nickson
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