12/08/2021
Messi-ng In Paris.
“Some people think football (soccer) is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.” Bill Shankly
It was though the Messi-ah had arrived.
Streets were cordoned off. Hundreds surrounded the local airport. More camped outside the hospital. Thousands perched themselves by the stadium entrance. All international news sites carried his arrival on their front page beamed to million of viewers. Cameras focussed, microphones stretching, cellphones pinging. Helicopters buzzing ahead. The timing of the anointment was impeccable - just a few days after the flag was lowered signally the closure of the Tokyo Summer Olympics. The press were starving for a scoop, a sensation to fixate consumer’s eyeballs onto their screens.
Lionel Messi, rated the greatest footballer of his time, finally arrived in Paris. After a frenetic few days of intense horse trading, he transferred from the only team he knew and played for, Barcelona, where he began his extraordinary career age 14, in 2011. He was part of a magical Barcelona team that won the national league (10) and crowned European champions (5); plus winning knockout competitions (Copa del Rey ), and Player of the Year (Ballon d’Or) medals many times. He scored over 600 times whilst at Barcelona, many of them extraordinary and entertaining to view.
He is joining Paris Saint-German on a two year contract, with the option of extending it to a third year. His annual pay could fill all the potholes in his country of birth, Argentina, plus more. Barcelona is technically on the verge of bankruptcy; Paris Saint German (PSG) is rolling in it. Barcelona could not pay Messi anymore; PSG easily can. Money shouts.
PSG was a journeyman in world football until the power of petrodollars came to town. In 2011, Qatari Investments from the oil-rich (fossil fuels) Middle East pumped hundreds of millions of Euros into purchasing the best squad and coaches. The financial tap is still flowing. PSG is now the team to beat in the French League; and has the quality to lift the Champions league trophy. Money is power.
Even though core financing is from sales of oil which converts into energy and massive carbon emissions contributing to global warming and weather volatility, there is hardly a whimper about PSG’s ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) credentials. Money is a bully and combined with popular global soccer is a behemoth difficult to chisel. I digress, again.
Messi joins two of the best strikers of their respective countries: Neymar from Brazil; Mbappe from France. Expect magic from PSG if they can blend together; expect the blame game and temper tantrums if they cannot. They might score goals, but only win the game if the number is greater than the opposition. So, PSG team must have skills to defend their goal, and the midfield to supply the strikers the ball. Including the goalkeeper, the last line of defense. Money does not buy team cohesion.
Goalkeepers don’t come cheap, either. I don’t spend time watching games on television. I rather stare at the statistics, the league positions, looking for patterns - the EPL (England); La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy); and Bundesliga (Germany).
Each game has its own depth and breadth of stats: scores, yellow or red cards, completed passes, % of successful passes, off-sides, corners, and shots on goal (that missed - off target, or the goalkeeper needed to save, on target). This last number intrigues me. In a 90 minute game, goal keepers make occasional saves, in a busy game, about 10 times, perhaps 2/10 are brilliant diving saves. I have yet to see data that divides goal keeper direct saves into the his/her salary for the game. All top tier goalkeepers are dollar millionaires.
At Saxonwold Primary school I was the goalkeeper for the age related team (under 9, under 10, under 11, under 12): four years in a row. It was boring - just simply standing forlornly between the goalposts, outside all the action. I was a hero, once or twice, when I saved a penalty or two, which at prepubescent levels were simple, straight down the middle, bobbling, missed kicks. No fancy dives. Simply finding my self in the right place, at the right time.
These days, the beautiful game, as ordained by the great, Brazilian Pele, has evolved where the goalkeepers are potential game winners. In knockout completions where teams are level after 120 minutes of play, penalty shootouts decide the outcome. The keepers are on full display, center stage, tensions unbearable, and are worth their weight in gold.
Soccer is a worldwide phenomenon. It is an easy game to play, for both men and women, simply kicking a round ball around; and the rules are not rocket science. For a billion or more spectators it is their replacement religion. Their place of worship is the stadium, their High Priests are the managers (Ferguson, Tuchel, Mourinho, Guardiola, Ancelotti…), the millionaire players (Ronaldo, Messi, Kane, Ramos….) their gods, home games their pilgrimage, and their Bibles are a conglomeration of the clubs or country’s stories and legends, history and biographies, the columns of results, scandals and gossip, dressing room tensions, injuries and transfers.
So when the anointed king of football moved from Barcelona to PSG, the people emerged from their homes to meet the Messi-ah. I am convinced the billion devout soccer followers heard this news, within twenty four hours of its breaking.
Why? Why do billions of humans invest time, energy and money in the global soccer enterprise? When in doubt, go back to basics, return to brain networks, the ultimate source of all decision-making and behavior. Let me offer four possible neuroscientific understandings.
Firstly, there needs to be a satisfying chemical response, most likely regular dopamine hits, as the follower builds psychological expectations of team performances. And these life long repeated behaviors build habits and are addictive. Difficult to break!
Secondly, social needs are met by belonging safely in a group, we against them. Bonding relationships release oxytocin which binds. Probably goes way back to ancestral genes who channeled lent-up aggression into wars. “We fought. We won. Let’s feast.” Soccer games are mini-wars, in many respects.
Thirdly, the structure and predictability of the game (not the result but the rules) and how it is organised dilutes the fear of uncertainty. Rituals appease the amygdalae, the anxiety provoking brain structures. Order soothes chaos. Obeying the rules even more so.
Finally, in a rapid secularizing world - in the epic battles between science and religion - soccer (as with other sports with massive followers) provides a trusting platform for answering the search for meaning and purpose. Soccer is physical project, and, paradoxically, can also dampen metaphysical drives, core to the human condition. Remember Maradona’s response in 1982 to his controversial goal against England: “It was the hand of God!”
Football is a great democratiser, largely egalitarian - for both players in action (even a shy 12 year old goalkeeper standing alone waiting for a little action, can play) and spectators watching the game on telly in the freezing village pub munching fried fish, salted chips and a pint of warm beer within arm distance. Shouting at the referee.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you may, please welcome the Messi-ah to Paris, city of love.
(c) Dr Jonathan D Moch
Psychiatrist, writer.
Website
www.jdmoch.com
Core Professional Interest
Cognitive-Behavior Therapy/Techniques “Yes, You Can!”
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Overall Vision
Uplifting (Extra-Ordinary) People To Achieve The Impossible.
Links
1). Transfer of Lionel Messi
https://www.google.co.za/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/08/10/lionel-messi-psg-transfer-paris-saint-germain-live-news-updates/amp/
2). Paris Saint-Germain
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Saint-Germain_F.C.
(21). Letter From An African Psychiatrist.
Thanks for letter No 21.
I don’t know much about football.
I once had an Australian boss, and the first thing I was asked when I came to visit Australia was which team I supported.
The question was qualified with….”and I hope it’s not that useless team, Carlton, that Jim Richmond (my boss) supports..”
I really didn’t care who supported whom, but the subject was treated as if it was a life and death decision.
Estelle