#41 - On Soccer
On Soccer
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One of the goals I had for my last year at business school was to play in a MBA soccer tournament. So with 32 other soccer legends, I headed down to Austin last Friday for an amazing weekend that confirmed what I already knew to be true.
That soccer is the greatest sport of all time.
Simplicity and
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complexity
The beauty of soccer is its simplicity. There is no sport that is simpler or more elegant than soccer.
In essence, all you have to do is kick a ball into a goal on the opposite side of your field. At the same time, your opponents are trying to stop you from doing this while they attempt to kick a ball into your goal.
Sports like cricket or basketball require special courts or equipment. Soccer does not.
Whether I’m watching Arsenal play at the Emirates stadium (constructed at a cost of £400m) or joining a pick-up game with children on the streets of Battambang, Cambodia, it’s effectively the same game. Whether you have real goals or a couple of backpacks to kick a ball between, it’s still the same game. Whether you have a real ball or a bundle of rags tied together, it’s still the same game.
At the same time, soccer is a game of incredible complexity. There are an infinite number of set pieces, tactics, and plays that you can use to win. In fact, teams who try novel and exciting new ways of playing can be rewarded with success against far superior teams, as Leicester City showed when they defied odds to win the 15/16 Premier League.
In many ways, this love of soccer’s simplicity and complexity is why I love board games that are simpler (such as Ticket To Ride) compared to those with far more complex rules (such as Settlers of Catan). Soccer is simple to understand and get involved in, but complex enough to allow for true mastery that separates the wheat from the chaff.
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Universality
Soccer is probably the closest thing we have to a universal sport, being played by people across the world.
This really showed in the 2 teams that Kellogg took to the MBA soccer tournament. The assembled group was one of the most diverse, fun, and interesting groups of people that I have seen at Kellogg (albeit skewed heavily male). Each of us had gone through our own unique paths to be there that day, but we were united by our shared appreciation and love for soccer.
Whenever I travel, I have also found soccer to be one of the easiest ways to make a connection with people. I still remember the nervous feeling I had when I was 19 years old and landed in Hanoi for my first solo backpacking trip. It was a new country, where I didn’t speak the language, and where I had no real plan. But from the moment I saw a Manchester United sticker on the taxi driver’s van, I felt completely at ease. Neither the driver nor I could speak each other’s language. But through gestures, sounds, and us both speaking emotively in our own languages, I was able to have a conversation with him about our joint passion (soccer, not Man Utd.).
That is the power of soccer.
An outlet for
aggression
I am a relatively calm and peaceful guy in most of my life. But everyone needs an outlet for the anger and rage that is an inevitable part of our existence. For me, that outlet is sports, especially soccer.
In any game I play, I am yelling, swearing, playing very physically, and generally just being intense. As one of out teammate’s parents put it, after seeing me on the sideline, “that guy is a piece of work!”
For me, the 90 minutes of a soccer match presents a discrete opportunity to give it your all and then move on with your life. It makes me think about my favourite line from Rudyard Kipling’s poem If:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
But it’s not all fire and brimstone. I heavily lace my ‘aggression’ and ‘intensity’ with a slather of optimism and positivity. I’m always cheering on my teammates when they make great tackles or plays, even if the outcome doesn’t play out. I’m always encouraging teammates when they make mistakes. I am always cheering the team on towards our inevitable victory, even when I know that such a victory is near impossible.
Because soccer isn’t just about me. It’s about the team.
Camaraderie + fun _
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Despite soccer being an outlet for my aggression, the main reason I love soccer is that it is just great fun.
To be outside, active, but still mentally engaged, is a real treat. And the fact that you are doing this in a team of great people makes it even better.
I went into the weekend not knowing most of the people on the Kellogg teams. But within the short time I spent with my them in Austin, I made countless great friends both on and off the field.
Even though we lost all three games and I dislocated my shoulder (two things I have experience in from my glory days at Thornleigh Thunder), going through the experience with others just made it that much better.
