‘EURO 2020’ but are we not in 2021? Ah ah!

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FROM MY NOTEPAD ABOUT FOOTBALL

Ashok SILWAL

D-Day less 6 days… the final of the European Football Championship UEFA, the greatest European football tournament, will be played on next Sunday 11th July at 21 in the night, in the most famous stadium in London, inaugurated in 2007, Wembley Stadium.

I am neither a fan of this sport nor have I technical skills to make adequate comments but when there are these big international competitions, I get involved and I love following some matches as an amateur and sharing with my more competent friends here and some European ones, guests become friends, with whom I remained in contact that, jokingly, ask me to cheer on their teams, on messenger or others.

Football is entertainment too and, as publisher and editor of Nepalnamcha platform, I think it is a right choice not to pass over this event in silence.

I would like to try to speak about it in a little different way, as from my notes taken here and there..

Networks, the Internet, specialized sports newspapers, and magazines are full of very specific comments on the tactical choices by the coaches, on the characteristics of the players, on the behaviors of the referees, on free kicks and penalties, on the reasons and the wrongs…..I could not compete and they would rightly laugh at me !!!

So I will stop on three remarks, funny and curious, which have held my attention and I would like to share with you, my dear readers and friends.

Let’s speak about some eloquent numbers :

The league is called ‘EURO 2020’ but are we not in 2021? Ah ah!!

Yes: it was postponed for one year due to the Corona pandemic but UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) kept the name because 2020 was the 60th Anniversary of the creation of this tournament.

Someone said that it is the tournament of ‘first times’: first time played in many towns (11); first time ‘itinerant way’ between Rome ( opening match- 11 June ) and London (final – 11 July.)
51 teams on the starting line, more than 1 year ago.
6 groups, A, B, C,…. each one with 4 teams.
On 11th June, 16 teams remain for the final tournament.
11 players for each team, including the goalkeeper.
Football field: 105 and until 110 meters long, 68 and until 75 meters wide.
Salaries of some of the most famous players, the stars, the talents, the phenomena..:
The Portuguese Cristiano RONALDO: 31 billion
The Polish Robert LEWANDOWSKI: 20 billion
The French Kylian MBAPPÉ : 18 billions.

And it is just the salary. There is at least the same as sponsors!

Sarcastically someone says, all this money to run after a ball?!

It is not the place now to talk about this…they are dizzying figures that make your head spin but another world…. without possible comparison.

Then, in my notepad, I wrote ‘aesthetic side’… why?

Because, in fact, these matches look like a picturesque ballet, starting with the colorful scenographies in the bleachers and the painted faces of the fans that the camera’s frame, the national flags.

Then the teams enter on the perfectly green field. There is something religious and sacred in this alignment. You can read the emotion and the fear. And the singing of the national anthems is the highlight of this show spread throughout the world.

The worldwide sharing of these events has something magical…

What to say about the uniforms: from the long red socks of the French players to the blue shirts of the Italian ones… and many colors, above all red on the green grass….. and the haircuts and their colors are no joke! They are part of the show!

At the starting whistle, they will start running here and there, according to specific exchanges studied and tested for months before… a picturesque ballet in the feet!

Football is very telegenic for the colors, the variety of movements, the possibility of shooting from afar and up close. Then, even the ignorant spectator like me gets caught up in enthusiasm and enjoys a sporting show but also an aesthetic one.

And in my notepad, I wrote too: forgetting everything for about two hours!

Yes, football has also this social function. Someone, using the Marxist formula about religion as ‘opium for the people, said that football competitions have also this same role.

It is a distraction, an amusement, an outlet: for about two hours you ‘live’ into the screen …. If you are a little passionate, there is no Corona in these two hours, no election problems, no work anxiety…. All attached to the smartphone because in this lockdown period there are no big screens around.

I loved watching some work Championships with friends and a small beer…. in a nice and joyful atmosphere where everyone feels expert!

Is it too much pretentious to give football championship a social role? We all know that it is a sport, a spectacular sport around which billions revolve..

So, in the end, it is nice that everyone can take advantage of it if they want.

And concluding three appointments: