Here is a conceivable fictional conversation recorded, which perhaps brings the complexity of the whole story a little closer. The goal is still to find readers. Because, just to remind you: the topic of “soccer” is gigantic, but the spread of experts (mostly self-appointed, but doesn’t make the slightest difference) is just as big. As such, anyone reading about it would have spent as much time as it took to pronounce the word “objection.” “I already know everything, just a little bit better than you.” The expert would like to be asked to speak and by no means read anything about it. What broadening of horizons could he expect?
The conversation goes something like this. For example, you sit down with a new work colleague with the intention of getting to know each other better and letting the office hours be office hours. “Hey, I made a few theses about football.” “I did too, video evidence should finally be introduced because… then the fourth or fifth official is a farce, then the swallows upset me enormously, they Excessive salaries and transfer fees are no longer real and…” One interrupts now, no matter how difficult it is to stop the flow of speech and no matter how 100% right the man is, and and and…
“No, I mean, I have a few theses that sound a little different.” Well, the man reluctantly explains, promising to buy him a beer later, agreeing to a short minute’s silence. “So my first thesis is as follows: football is purely a fan sport.” You can feel how surprised the man is for a brief moment. “Yes and? What does that mean?” “Is that an agreement or a contradiction?” one asks. “I have no idea, I don’t understand it, but I don’t see a problem with it either.”
Well, at least for the moment succeeded that he is ready for further explanations. “Pure fan sport means that every spectator sitting in the stadium or in front of the screen is either for one team or the other, but none of the spectators is neutral.”
“Yes and? There are so many fans, and besides, why should you watch if you don’t keep your fingers crossed for either of them?” You have to repeat the first question: “Is that an agreement or a disagreement?” In principle, you couldn’t be right, since the statement “pure fan sport” has not yet been heard in this form, i.e. it is not and cannot be an issue, the observation is certainly not correct. “No, the thesis is wrong. I think there are a lot of people who watch a Bundesliga game in the evening in a bar with Sky, for example. Or when visiting friends. Or just go to the stadium.” Well, okay. There is the expected contradiction.
You dare to go one step further: “Do you watch games without a relationship with either team?” Real – Atletico in the Champions League final.” Well, of course, there are absolutely exceptional events, the interlocutor triumphs, because at least he has something ready. Nevertheless, the other person insists: “Okay, big events, World Cup, Champions League, everything is fine. But it would be more a question of whether you do it regularly. The sports show, by the way, doesn’t count at all. It’s a whole 90 minutes. Tonight, for example, VfL Bochum – Fortuna Düsseldorf. Are you in?”
“Yes, ok, no, so really, tonight? Did I already have plans? And anyway; second division football? No, if it’s in the first league then ask me again.” “Ok. Coming back to the people in the pub for a moment. Have you ever been there?” “Yes, of course, it happens more often.” “I’ve done it too. For observation purposes. In Berlin. The result: when Hertha isn’t playing, football is on, but a) nobody’s looking and b) the sound is off.” “The sound was on for us once. When Bayern ran against Dortmund.” Well yes, but somehow the man is “caught”. Very briefly to supplement and clarify: “If you are honest: if the local club is not broadcast, then the box flickers to itself, nobody looks and even less hears, because the sound is off. You know the interim result and drink your beer. When a goal is scored, someone nudges you, and you even watch the replay. Right?” “Well, that’s about right.”
Back to the original question: “Do you regularly watch 90-minute football matches?” “Well, no, not really, that’s true, but I’m not really a fan or anything. I watch my VfB, the sports show, the big tournament every two years…” once again taking the risk of interrupting him, “but only when Germany is playing…”. “Yes, that’s true, I’m only there for Germany games. Otherwise, of course, semi-finals, Spain – France or something.”
The truth is simply this: he doesn’t look either. The objection was filed outright, but it doesn’t really stand up. watching football, just like that? Who does that? Nobody does.
But that doesn’t mean that the man would be “docile”. “Yes, ok, pure fan sport or not. I don’t care at all. I watch when my club plays because I enjoy it and I watch the particularly big games and I watch Germany. Sports show is as much a part of it as a summer barbecue or something. So what? I know my way around, even if I haven’t thought about what you’re saying. At most I’ll admit that. But there is no problem in sight far and wide. The stadiums are full, the salaries are utopian and the transfer fee is beyond imagination, Neymar…” “No, wait, beer was promised, we’ll do your theses next time, now it’s mine. I’ll even raise to two beers because I had to interrupt again.” “Ok, then, go on…”
“Ok, so you watch, like almost everyone else, a game only when you’re emotionally involved, right?” “Yeah, right, that’s settled.” when your VfB is playing?” “Am I upset? And do I get excited! If one of us gets put down, we don’t get a penalty, if one of their strikers stumbles, he scores a point. Should you stay calm? If our man is free in front of goal, it’s said to be offside and I’m right on the line and I can see that it’s not true. Or recently ours were behind, against Werder, so they only attacked the corner flag in injury time and made two substitutions! The referee didn’t add a single second to the three minutes! Nah, I could freak out again!”
“But you do know that nobody listens to you when you say that?” The pictures later showed that, Elfer should have given up and that one time really wasn’t offside.” “No, I don’t mean that: you’re definitely right in those situations. Nobody listens because you say it as a fan.” “Oh, yes, it could be. But it was blatantly unfair anyway.” “It was. stay on the ground I mean that it was unfair, I agree with you, but didn’t ver VfB benefit from a penalty that wasn’t awarded to them away from home two weeks earlier?” Is that what you mean?” “Exactly.”
“So the problem is: there are always injustices and they somehow balance each other out.” “No, I have to disagree, there was an investigation recently into who benefited more from it and stuff like that.” “Oh, that happened by chance sometimes like this; sometimes like that. The Bayern massel, as the saying goes, only comes about because they end up creating dangerous situations more often, so they are more often in the penalty area and maybe get a penalty more often because they are in front at all .” “That’s right, it didn’t come out that way in the study.”
“So the fact that the fan you are at the moment is upset and feels injustice is because he strongly perceives what has been done to him and hardly registers the vice versa, from which his team benefits, simply accepting it as a compensation, so to speak, in this way, however, they do not receive increased attention. Does that make sense?” “Yes, yes, I know that too. I’m upset – and next week I’ll be happy to win, although it wasn’t entirely fair either. But still get excited? That’s clear, isn’t it?” “Of course it’s clear. But maybe we are gradually getting to the follow-up problem of Thesis 1?”
‘Who is that problem?’ ‘Well if anyone, practically anyone, were to say ‘football is unfair’, the best possible response would be laughter. Because: it is automatically and per se biased. He’s a fan – as you just confirmed that only a fan looks – and would, like you, wear himself out at the injustices committed against his team, but swallow the reverse. Sure?” “Yes, sure, I can follow.” “There is nobody who could say that there is something wrong with football. The coaches also bite their tongues after the games because they get just as upset as you and they also know that it wasn’t all right, they just aren’t allowed to say anything at that precise moment. So they swallow the anger and say:
