"regularly every four years the World Cup is proving an event that attracts hundreds of millions of people. No other event on earth can have an equally large effect, which shows that this affects sporting event some primordial element of humanity and one wonders what all this power is based of a game. The pessimist will say that it is as ancient Rome. The slogan of the mass was: bread and circuses, bread and circus. The bread and the game would be vital, therefore, the contents of a decadent society that has no other higher goals. But even if one accepts this explanation, it is not quite adequate. You should also ask: what lies the charm of a game that is almost as important for bread? One might respond, making still refer to ancient Rome, the demand for bread and the game was actually an expression of the desire for a life Paradise, a life of fullness and freedom with no worries satisfied. Why is this means that ultimately the game: action completely free, without purpose, without constraint, at the same time committed and takes all the forces of man. In this sense the game would be a kind of attempt to return to paradise: the escape from the seriousness of everyday life and enslaving the need to earn a living, to live free of seriousness that is not mandatory and therefore it is beautiful.
So the game goes beyond everyday life. But, especially in children, it also has the character of the exercise to life. It symbolizes life itself and anticipates, so to speak freely in a structured manner. It seems to me that the fascination of football is essentially the fact that it connects these two aspects in a very persuasive. Are forced to discipline themselves in order to get through training, self-mastery, the mastery, superiority and the superiority of freedom. Also teaches a disciplined teamwork above all: as a team forces the inclusion of the individual in the team. It combines the players with a common goal: the success and failure of each individual are in success and in failure of the whole. In addition, he teaches a fair rivalry, where the rule common subjects which you are, there remains an element that binds and unites the opposition. Finally, freedom of the game, if it plays correctly, cancel the seriousness of the rivalry. By assisting the men identify themselves with the game and the players, and are thus personally all'affiatamento and rivalry, with the reliability and freedom: the players become a symbol of life; which in turn has an impact on them They know that men make in themselves and they feel confirmed. Of course this can be polluted by a spirit of business which subjects all the grim seriousness of money, turns the game by game industry, and creates a fictional world of frightening proportions.
But even this fictional world could exist without the good thing is that behind the game: a tutorial to life and the overcoming of life in the direction of the lost paradise. In both cases, however, is to seek a discipline of freedom to pursue the harmony with oneself, and understanding the rivalry in obedience to the rule. Perhaps reflecting on these things, we could learn from the game to live again, because it is clear something fundamental: man shall not live by bread alone, the world of bread is only the prelude to the true humanity of the world freedom. Freedom is nurtured, however, the rule of discipline, which teaches teamwork and fair rivalry, the independence of the external success and arbitrariness, and indeed becomes, thus, truly free. The game, a life. If we go deeper, the phenomenon of a world football fan can give us more than a bit 'of fun. "
(J. Ratzinger - 1985)
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