A Season of Comebacks
Sometimes you just have to pinch yourself. Is this really happening? When your hopes and dreams are coming to life before your eyes there can be an element of disbelief.
Last year in the football world (2018-2019) was a season of unbelievable comebacks. Two Champions League semi-finals in two days were prime examples of this. Liverpool overturning a three goal deficit to defeat the mighty Barcelona at Anfield. Then followed by Spurs coming back against Ajax, winning with the last kick of the game. The normally unflappable Spurs manager, Mauricio Pochettino, was overcome with his emotions. Surely he wasn’t the only one?
The season also saw the comeback of two of English Football’s most loved clubs. As a Man Utd fan, I was pinching myself as Ole Gunnar Solsjaer began his reign with 8 straight victories and a return of the attacking football and belief in players sadly lacking under his predecessor. All this from a United hero who is a direct link to the glory days. It was just so unexpected and the turnaround almost too good to be true.
The season also confirmed Liverpool’s comeback. They sustained a real push for the Premier League and added to their collection of European Cups. The glory days are on their way back. After many years of disappointment and a few false dawns, or partial successes, they look like a genuine force to be reckoned with once again. With Klopp at the helm, surely there’s more to come?
Why do these comebacks mean so much to us? Why are they so hard to believe? Well, maybe it’s because we’re no strangers to disappointment. We live in a world where happy endings seem to be a rare commodity. We are surrounded with news, almost none of it good. Rather we seem to be floundering in wave after wave of scandals- whether it be in how the church has treated the most vulnerable or how the health system in our country is consistently failing. When good news appears we tend to be more than a little cynical. Yet the comebacks of last season struck a chord. They evoked emotions and celebrations that were born of a genuine joy and a hope that dared to believe in something better.
Could football be more than just a sport which gives us a ready form of escapism from our messy and mediocre lives? Former Liverpool legend, Bill Shankly, once famously said, “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.”
A survey by sociologist, Tom Inglis, suggests that sport is one of the main ways people find meaning in contemporary Ireland. Whilst hope and meaning used to be found in the Christian message, now “faith is not on the lips, hearts or minds of the Irish people.” The same could not be said of football!
As a Man Utd fan, I haven’t told the full story of their past season, which ended without a win in their last 5 games and some dismal performances. They ran out of steam. The comeback was not sustained. Was it all too good to be true? Solskjaer has got a significant job ahead of him to begin to build a club that will in anyway match the sustained and measurable momentum that Liverpool are generating.
As a sports fan, no doubt you can identify with the tell-tale signs of placing your meaning and happiness in sport. Always plotting how you can make the most of your day and organise other commitments around the fixtures? Delighted when your lot win. Devastated when they lose. Those around you know when to avoid you. There’s no doubt it matters, but does it deliver? (I suppose it depends which team in red you support!?)
Could it be that instead of being the answer to where we find hope, sport is the way we realise that we need hope? Could it be we make it so important because we feel the lack of hope in our lives? In a secular and materialistic culture are we so obsessed with the here and now that we lack anything firm to look forward to or to anticipate beyond this life?
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