…means: “The only thing that counts is victory, nothing but success.” The author questions this requirement. There is a very good possibility to reconsider and change this specification. It is by no means the truth that this requirement was initially dictated to the media by the fans and that the latter could not help but take it to heart and reproduce it, no, the way is the opposite: you drum it into the “fans” for so long until they actually start believing it. In this respect, here is a reformulated specification, which expresses in a very simple way what could steer major professional sport in a completely different direction in all areas and thus even help it to achieve much greater and healthier growth. It’s just a friend speaking here, a fan of the game of football, who admires top performances but also keeps an eye on undesirable developments.
“We do NOT care how success is achieved. We’re very keen to choose a winner, provided they achieve that win within the rules and within the framework of fair play. We’re happy to mourn with the losers as long as we recognize that they gave their all and also played by the rules. We thank them for entering the competition, recognizing that we can only truly celebrate a winner when there is a loser, and the celebrations will be correspondingly greater the closer the loser also came to winning. Regret and sympathy for the loser always comes BEFORE the big celebrations, because we, the opponent and all the spectators, want to say thank you right here that he was the participant in this big event and that his great resistance made us this great made competition possible. We will turn our backs on the winner and even give them the whistles they deserve if they win through breaking the rules, being unfair or being unsportsmanlike. We are happy to accept it when David beats Goliath, because that is what makes this and every other sport exciting for us. The unknown of the outcome. A high level of predictability of events is not desirable, but neither is a complete equation of the conditions, because we could then alternatively resort to the dice game to determine a winner. We appreciate the small as much as we respect the big. We not only appreciate them, we even admire them. Always exactly when they achieve their superiority and their victories within the framework of the rules: We thank the little ones for their participation and wish here and there that they trip up the big one. Always the same requirement: we stick to the rules. Exactly then, all game and competition outcomes are welcome and we can get a lot out of them, even if it affects the (envied?) rival here and there, who snatches the trophies from the specially beloved club.
