Football - A sport, a passion, an attitude!
"Martin, you need to come inside, dinner is ready!" was one of those sentences I just hated as a kid. Don't get me wrong - My mum's cooking skills are great and I was lucky to be in the situation, that I was getting such great food on a regular basis - But when I heard the above sentence, it almost always meant that I had to leave a fun football game on the small grassland in front of our home. And as a kid, playing football was definitely more important than eating. At least emotionally ;)
I can't really tell you when I started playing football (I probably was kicking things with my feet before I could talk) and I can't really tell you why I have always enjoyed it. I just can tell you that it is that way.
It doesn't matter if I look all the way back to elementary school where we always cheered when we were allowed to play.
It doesn't matter if I look back to my beginnings in club soccer or on yesterday's team practice.
It doesn't matter if I look back at the biggest victory or the worst loss.
Regardless of where in my past I look - I don't regret a single time I played this beautiful sport. I definitely regret some situations or conflicts that occured while playing. But I don't regret the fact that I have played.
And I have played tons of it. As said above, it started all the way back in my earliest years of living on this planet and it still goes on up to date. Like I have already pointed out, I have had the luck to be able to play hours of soccer in front of my parents house. But it wasn't just luck.
I grew up in a neighborhood with around 15-20 other kids around my age. And in the middle of our neighborhood, there was this unused acre which unfortunately was way too bumpy to play on it. One day, we met the owner of the field an asked him, if we could try to even it out by ourselves (we were around 6-8 years old) in order to play there. He said "Yes". Over the next days and weeks, the most soccer-obsessed of us where doing not much expect trying to even the field up with spades from our parents backyard. And when we were happy with the ground, we built some goals out of wood we gathered from the local forest. And then we played - hour after hour, day after day, year after year.
And durning all those years we consistently worked on improving OUR football field (as we did with our skills of course 😏). We sow grass and we kept it short. When a goal broke, we built a new one. We got nets for the goals. Ultimately we even got some iron goals with a great net. At it's best, our field looked similar to this one.
But a few of us didn't limit ourselves to the friendly games in the neighborhood - So we joined our local football club. And guess what - Now, more than 15years later, I am still playing for the same club - and some of my teammates are still the same guys I played with on this small soccer field of ours!
Even though nobody from us even made it close to an professional level, we all still love the game!
Especially with playing in a club, the hobby sometimes feels rather like a job. Yes, there have been times when I was mad because I couldn't go to a party because of it. And of course you also don't look forward to every practice - especially if you have lost the previous game and the weather is really bad outside.
But ultimately, I love being on a team. Even though we all fight for the spots in the starting squad and we have stronger and weaker players (I am definitely amongst the last!), we still are one team. It doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter where you come from, it doesn't matter what job you have. When we play together, we basically are all the same. I think that is one of those things I love most about playing in a club - Working together with equal individuals towards achieving the same goal.
(Funny connection to this platform: When I joined a local Steem-Meetup for the first time (it was in Munich back in the fall of 2017), I kind of felt the same. Different people with different Stakes (from Minnow to Whale) who all seemed to be on the same level and "worked" together on the same goal of a better platform.)
Ok, enough information from my personal side - now let's come to the facts, why football or soccer - call it however you like, is the most popular sport all around the world (According to this study, there were around 1.6 billion fans on this planet in 2015)
Everbody can do it - everywhere!
It doesn't matter if the sun is out or it's raining,
It doesn't matter if you are with others or alone,
It doesn't matter if you play with your best friends or strangers,
It doesn't matter if you play for fun or in the world cup finals,
It doesn't matter if you are poor or rich,
It doesn't matter if you pay for playing or if you play to get paid,
The only thing that matters, is your own effort!
As you can see, there really are not many arguments you can claim why you are not able to enjoy this beautiful sport ;) If these three boys can do it with an old ball and three wooden sticks on a field that is set under water, what is your excuse to not at least try it out?
I hope you liked this little post about the sport I love - And I hope that some of you will share their experiences soccer - the real football - in the comments below :)
Thanks for reading and see you,
Martin
This post is dedicated towards @anomadsoul's CONTEST: My 2018 - This is my Hobby - Check it out - it's fun ;)!
Martin grüßt den anderen Martin :)
bringen wir´s doch einfach mal auf den Punkt - Fußball VERBINDET! Und genau so ist es auch mit den STEEMIT - Meetups. Man kommt in eine bunt zusammengewürfelte Runde, jeder mit anderen Interessen, Fähigkeiten und Kenntnissen. Jeder weiß jedoch sofort, dass alle der Gruppe versuchen werden mit all Ihren Möglichkeiten den bestmöglichen Input zugegeben, sodass eine gewisses Gemeinziel erreicht werden kann
Mit geht´s nicht anders als Dir - und wahrscheinlich vielen anderen "Buben" im deutschsprachigen Raume - dass Fußball als Kind zumeist an oberster Stelle stand... eben weil man die gleichen Vorstellungen hatte, gemeinsam einer Gruppe etwas unternahm und gemeinsame Ziele versuchte zu erreichen.
Ein Beispiel aus meiner Vergangenheit zeigt, dass Fußball viel mehr als nur ein Sport ist. 2006 bin ich ohne sprachliche Vorkenntnisse nach Montreal gereist um mich sprachlich fortzubilden. Ich muss gestehen, war definitiv eine Herausforderung die seines Gleichen sucht. An meiner Unterkunft angelangt musste ich feststellen, dass niemand da war... jedoch ca. 50m entfernt war ein Bolzplatz... nunja, was nun? Fußballschuhe logisch immer mit am Start - direkt Bolzen gegangen. Es war toll zu sehen, dass auf dem Platz eben nur eine Sprache regierte - Fußball. Nicht Englisch, Deutsch, oder Französisch - sondern FUSSBALL! Respektvolles Miteinander, Leidenschaft und Ehrgeiz Ziele zu erreichen... und genau das macht auch STEEMIT aus
Lieben Gruß
Martin grüß Martin zurück ;)
Da hast du Recht - Fußball ist ne Universalsprache! Als ich als Kind mit den Eltern nach Mallorca fuhr, habe ich auch den ganzen Tag mit Kindern aller Nationen am Bolzplatz gespielt - auch wenn weder ich noch diese englisch konnten ;) Schöne Erfahrungen!
Danke für den super Kommentar!
LG
Fußball ist mehr als nur eine Sportart ❤️
Ich erinnere mich auch noch daran, wie wir uns als Kinder Tore aus allem möglichen gebaut haben und auf den Straßen gekickt haben.
Bin auch in einem Dorf aufgewachsen und leider hatten wir keine Möglichkeit auf ein richtiges Feld.
Ich erinnere mich an eine Nachbarin, die Iwann alle Bälle eingesackt und nicht mehr rausgegeben hat, die in ihrem Garten gelandet sind.
Was haben wir diese Frau gehasst..
das hat uns dennoch nicht daran gehindert weiter zu spielen 😁
Schöne Erinnerungen
Solche Nachbarn hatte jeder - Da mussten halt dann Streicher her - mehr sage ich dazu jetzt nicht :P
Wow, wow, wow!
So this was packed with passion. I felt it.
And honestly, I didn't know that this sport is so important to you.
But now I have learned something new about you.
And of course, there are some things which remind me of myself when I played in the village where I grew up.
As you said this is the real football ;)
Thx man - especially from a man who earns his living with this sport, those compliments mean a lot ;)
Do you still have pictures from back then when you played in the village? - Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you want), we didn't have smartphones back then so I don't have many :(
Same here.
Maybe one or two but I have to ask my mom :D
Mir ging es in meiner Jugendzeit ebenfalls ähnlich, wir Burschen im Hof den ganzen Nachmittag Fußball spielend und als dann auch noch die attraktiven Nachbarmädels zum Zuschauen kamen, ertönte oftmals der Ruf meiner Mutter mich zum Abendessen zu bewegen.... ging gar nicht! :D
Toller Beitrag deiner Leidenschaft über das runde Leder, kann ich komplett nachvollziehen, auch wenn ich jetzt sehr selten dazu komme.
Zum Zuschauen - Bei uns mussten sie schon auch mitspielen :P
Danke! :)
Football in Germany is probably the best in the world at this era, wow I'm so thrilled about your football development stages it's really amazing.
Football unites a huge number of people! That's great!
Football passion is what male human being cant run from
I play football too and i like love playing at the midfield
And a worthy passion it is. Nicely done!
wenn das herz nicht nur für den ballsport schlägt, sondern schon daraus besteht, dann sieht es bei einem bestimmt schon so aus, oder Doc?! 😄
Das musst du dann mal die Medizinstudenten fragen, die mich sezieren :P
Hi Martin,
honestly speaking I do not like playing football very much, but I like your style of writing. As to watching football, that's another story. It can be a nice pastime in good company. People are different, which makes the world colourful.
About the name of the game, I am with John Cleese: You use your foot to play an actual ball. This is the real football. You probably know his rant ?
Best regards
I didn't know it - But thanks for the link! ;)
Soccer is a very exciting mass sport, unites people and leads to coexistence between countries. We look forward to the next World Cup.
Habe selber lange Fußball gespielt - hach, war einfach herrlich ! Leider mit 22 Beinbruch, sonst hätte ich noch viel länger gespielt.
Werde nie vergessen, wie ich mir meine ersten eigenen Torwarthandschuhe vom Taschengeld gekauft habe - 60 DM waren das - habe die Dinger im Bett noch angehabt !
Grüße
Michael
Jo, Verletzungsgefahr ist leider sehr hoch - Bisher hatte ich aber Glück aufholzklopf!
Was hast dir genau gebrochen?
Habe selbiges mit dem Ball gemacht, wurde aber dafür geschimpft :D
I am not into sports, and I mean any sports. But with football/soccer, I prefer to be a better sports for us Filipino. Most of us dreamed to be a professional basketball players. But our standard height is a disanvantage. And Football/soccer should be the a better sport dor us to play. A regular Filipino strength and determination, a goal can be score.
Good luck for all the game man.
Für mich ist Fußball einfach eine universelle Sprache die fast überall auf der Welt gesprochen wird, egal ob von jung oder alt. Ich habe in Vietnam mit so vielen Kindern Fußball gespielt obwohl wir uns mit normalen Sprachen nicht verständigen hätten können. Es war auch völlig nebensächlich, wir hatten alle Spaß an der gleichen Leidenschaft. So etwas ist total verbindend. Bei dem Kindern ist es natürlich besonders schön die Begeisterung zu sehen, vor allem wenn man ihnen Tricks vorführt die sie selbst noch nicht beherrschten. Solche Momenten sind der Grund das Fußball immer einen gewissen Stellenwert in meinen Leben haben wird, völlig egal in welcher Form. Einfach genial das etwas simples wie ein Ball solch Emotionen hervorrufen kann. Das Leben ist doch etwas schönes. Dein Artikel darüber hat das alles nur weiter untermauert, toll geschrieben!
Völlig faszinierend war ich in Vietnam ja vom Federfußball. Von dem schon mal gehört? Siehe: LINK Im englischen nennt man ihn Shuttlecock. Das spielt dort gefühlt jeder, egal ob Frau/Mann/Alt/Kleinkind auf einen Niveau das mich verstummen lies. Habe mir selbst 3 so Bälle gekauft. Es ist total anders als mit einen Fußball zu jonglieren, das wird noch mehr geübt weils doch so Spaß macht. Hab das ebenfalls mit ein paar Einheimischen gespielt, die waren dies bezüglich immer so einladend auch wenn man Anfänger ist.
I love football as well! A huge fan of spanish and english (premier) league, and of course, the champions league is the best.
This year I am hoping to see crazy thing in the World Cup, I remember in the last one the total destruction of Brazil 7-1 against Germany, that was crazy and I hope we can experience something similar this year. I also remember the huge failure of Spain when it was destroyed by the Netherlands in the group stage.
I use to play football when I was at school, but once I finished it I never really find the time to keep playing, I guess today I must really suck at it but I was a good striker at my school hehe.
Ah, the beautiful game! I would have to turn in my Canadian passport if I said that I preferred any sport above hockey, but I'll always have a soft spot for football, and there are few sporting events that top the World Cup. I tried to get tickets for Germany 2006, but failed to win the online lottery and had to settle for watching England lose in penalties in a pub near Liverpool Street station, London.
This year's competition will be interesting, with a few old favourites missing, giving way to countries like Iceland. I hope they have a decent tournament. I'll never forget their inspiring performances in 2016, but they'll find it hard to surprise anyone this time around.
I only regret that I don't still play (I was never much good at it, but I loved it).
By the way, I'm impressed you got through this whole post without mentioning which club you support, haha.