Watching From the Sidelines – Rambling Thoughts on the Philosophy of Football (by Dani)

A regular pastime while in Bangalore was for a few of us SV guys to gather together to watch Football matches on the weekends. We also used to get together for highlights of the football calendar such as the World Cup and the Champions League. The Champions League used to take some effort, what with having to stay awake till 3AM to watch the games. As a corollary, a lot of time and energy was spent in discussing, arguing about and dissecting various aspects of the game. Tempers used to fray, what with the differing view-points and we often used to wonder about why football evokes such passions in SV. Out of these arguments was born the idea of an infrequent column where folks can write about the intricacies of one of the world’s simplest games, Football.

Of course, now age has dimmed our passions but Football has always been an integral part of SVian life. In fact at some periods of schools life, it dominated all else. Getting into the School Team was the pinnacle of achievement and gave one “status”.

Generations of SV kids have floated through evening studies, gazing into text books studiously but dreaming of derring-do on the football field or philosophizing on getting past the gigantic – as it then appeared – centre back of the senior team.

While at School, we were lucky to be a part of the growing tactical revolution in football, which was belatedly making an arrival in India. We first began with the 4-2-4, moved on to the 4-4-2, then the 4-3-3. The 4-5-1 at least in our times was despised as too defensive. The 4-2-4 on the other hand was too offensive, leaving gaping holes for opponents to utilize. Too defensive or too offensive? This brings us to the basic philosophy of Football. Football offers literally unlimited tactical variations making a good team make 4-5-1 interesting to watch or a bad team making 4-3-3 unbearable.

Some played to win, there are still dark tales of the ends to which some of our local rivals were supposed to have gone to. Some played to play good football, of which SV was supposedly the guardians. Remember the tales of the juniors having to kneel in the sand after scoring fifteen goals in a game? – for breaking their tactical shape and playing like a herd of buffaloes (sic.).

Since football is a team played by 11 players against 11 players, it is often assumed to be about the men (or boys) on the pitch. This lead to the ball being hoofed to the big Centre Forwards who tried to muscle their way through even bigger opponents.

Consider this against the mindset that Football is about the “Spaces”.There is only a certain amount of yards that can be occupied by the players, the rest is all space to be exploited when you are on the attack. There are now numerous empty channels to run into, empty spaces to play the ball in and glorious runs to be made.

Remember the attacking football of Arsenal, Barcelona or Spain? A simple change of thinking suddenly makes the game beautiful. [An analogy for life, for after all life isn’t about the inconsequential obstacles we face, but the opportunities and empty spaces for us to fill. In fact, the only ‘Obstacle’ that matters is the goalkeeper whom we must surmount to win.]

 

While defending, the aim has to be to ‘block’ these spaces and channels. Great defensive players like Paolo Maldini almost never had to make last ditch tackles because they usually cut the balls along these channels.

 

Suddenly strength and size is not very important. This leads us to the 4 Ps of Football (similar to the 4 Ps in marketing), Pace, Power, Position and Precision. Of these, arguably the most important is Position. The others can be taught or practiced except position. This is the intangible something that gives rise to the „Right place at the right time‟. How many times have we wondered about the striker who just happens to wander in in the nick of time to score.  The ‘Fox in the Box’ who seems disinterested outside the box, suddenly appears lethal inside it. Second in the scale of things is Precision, The ability to play the ball exactly where you want to, both during the build-up and the culmination in the goal. Pace and Power are again inconsequential and not necessary to make a great player but Positional sense is absolutely essential to make a great player.

While the more physical and pacy English game (read English Premier League) demands athleticism and power, the Continental version, which is the more beautiful of the two is slower and easy on the eye. South America serves its unique brand of football along with the intense atmosphere while Asia offers a light-weight but hard running version of the game. Football has become a world language with unique regional flavours.

Happy football!

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