Soccer - the Golden Era - Research Paper Example

4 May Soccer: The Golden Era ‘L’age d’or’ or the Golden Age: a term often associated with soccer or football as people call it in different parts of the world. The game has subsisted over the years, uniting people as well as tearing them apart at the same time. Different people have different interests with respect to the teams and the players that they are fond of, and this has started a war in many parts of the world as well. Neighbours are not able to live with each other in peace because some people in the community prefer a different team or country altogether; families and friend alike have various choices, breaking them apart when a match is going. All these attributes have been affiliated to the beautiful game of soccer since times immemorial. “The 1960s was a golden era for soccer. Even better, it was when television coverage started to get serious, which means that 50 years later we can see the legends of the ‘60s in all their glory on our laptops.” ("Total Soccer Show: 1960s Golden Era.") Soccer players like Pele dominated the world during the 60s and this was the era when they had reached their peak; the madness that followed with the pursuit of both playing as well as watching soccer had never been experienced before and was at its level best during this age, according to most people today. Brazil at the time had been producing some of the world’s best soccer players with beautiful tactics, making the game a complete showmanship of entertainment. Players like Garrincha also carved their niche during this era, fooling the fullbacks of the opposition despite suffering from attention deficit disorder. One of the first soccer players to embrace the status of a superstar, George Best, also made his mark on soccer during this time; thus the period being rightfully called the golden age. English clubs like Manchester United were beginning to show the world what they were really made of, and soon after followed the diligence of clubs from Arsenal to Chelsea and Liverpool to Newcastle United. Competition grew not only around the world but within countries as well. In Portugal, Brazil, Spain etc, football began to take another shape altogether; South America at the time was the hub of enjoying the sport to the fullest, even though the rest of the world was hooked onto it as well. Every country, every club, every team as well as each and every player faced his own golden era during the three to four decades following the 60s. At the same time however, there were a number of countries were the sport was not followed at all, or even heard of. Countries like the United States of America hardly ever played football or soccer as they refer to it, however the deep rooted Latino and Mexican culture within the US was beginning to wear off on the native locals and make them interested in the sport. (Romero, Jose P) All over the world, clubs and teams began to get stronger as the competition between them grew more and more; merchandise related to soccer began to boom at sales and supplies as the demands just grew higher and higher; and the question that every person was asking himself was whether or not the world had reached the golden era of soccer. Between the 60s and the 70s, as mentioned in the book Hard Tackles and Dirty Baths, the facilities of nutrition, training, cheering, stadiums etc were much lesser than what the world has today. Today everything runs on the basis of the amount of money spent in the sport, and not much thought is given to the class of a striker or a defender. Earlier, the difference was in training the player with much gusto despite not having the means, today even world class trainers and equipments are not enough to make the players the people that they could have been back in the golden age, another reason why the period was called so. (Best, George, and Harry Harris) Today, the players are interested in fame and money more than being rich in their understanding of the game; they spend more time in other activities rather than focusing on football as a sport only. In movies like Goal, Kuno Becker was seen as a player easily distracted by the million things life had to offer, including fame, money and power and forgot about how to defend his own game. Parents today tell their children about the time that they had spent with their emotions related to the sport; soccer was not just any game, it had become the lifeline for most people - something that would bind them and bring them together. That was the age when people cried over petty things related to the shoot of a goal, or the missing of a penalty shot; those single moments truly took people’s breaths away because it was a matter of either winning or losing – a 50% chance on both sides, an opportunity no one wanted to miss out on. Today, there are laurels and photographs of those times in stadiums, books, journals as well as the internet for the present generation of children to witness, but they will in fact never be able to live the excitement of the golden period that soccer lived in. (James, Kieran) This is because many critics and authors, as well as football associations, managers and players themselves state that soccer is facing a decline in the world today; even though there are millions of people still following club matches and watching the world cup once every four years, people do not follow the sport for its love; they do it in order to have faith in something and be opinionated against people. Agreed that they might love the players and watch their every moves, however most people are not interested in football once the season is over; they do not spend time following or finding out the way the players would be preparing for the next season, or playing and sweating it out, as if life would come to a standstill once football is over. That sentiment is no longer present in the coming generations of the world simply because they have not lived ‘to die’ for the game as their predecessors have. Buying merchandise has become an advertising scheme today because everything is about buying and selling of the game including the players and the bids that are placed on them by different clubs and teams. Money has become one of the biggest factors that the game has become associated to, today. Where there is money rolling, there are players being churned out; money makes merchandise, sells it to people and is thus creating a craze for associating oneself as part of a team or group of football players. Despite this however, football legends themselves, like George Best truly one of the best, state that there still are many people trying to revive the culture of football and turn every era that they live in, into the golden age. Especially in the UK, Ireland and South America, football is the blood within people’s veins; they might not remember when their children were born but they definitely remember the beautiful goals that were scored by their favourite teams and players during important matches, massacring the other team in this manner. The excitement associated with the game is something that lives its peak during the 60s. Today, there are a number of these small bars and pubs where the owners proudly present the winning photographs and imitation trophies of their teams and players in order to let others know where their loyalties lie exactly. In this manner, small towns have been able to revive their soccer glory throughout all these years, but the fear lies in how soon that will burn out if someone does not carry the legacy forwards. Wonderful players on different teams have been playing against each other and showing their skill; the world cup and English premier league is proof of that. Today, fame has taken over the love for the sport. As LA Times writer Graham Jones writes, “They were not Hollywoods only "soccer stars." Rod Stewart has long graced local soccer fields, and Elton John once owned part of an L.A. team. It seems so long ago, and the decades continue to fly by, all of which prompts this question: How much longer will it take before someone with vision and a bit of financial clout figures out the potential that exists in founding a soccer museum in California?” (Jones, Graham) Today, it has become all about raising museums and stands in order to honour the golden age that persisted, that no longer remains. Even though football as a sport continues, the love for the game has been on the verge of dying. Works Cited "Total Soccer Show: 1960s Golden Era." Richmond.com. 4 Nov. 2011. Web. 05 May 2012. . Romero, Jose P. "Are We In A Golden Age of Soccer?" My Life of Sports. Web. 05 May 2012. . Best, George, and Harry Harris. Hard Tackles and Dirty Baths: The inside Story of Footballs Golden Era. London: Ebury, 2005. Print. James, Kieran. WAFL Football Golden Era. Print. Jones, Graham. "It Has Been a Golden Era of Soccer for This State." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 03 Sept. 2011. Web. 05 May 2012. . Best, George. Blessed: Autobiography. Print. Read More