Burning: The reason we went to the European Championships – and the reason we should rethink
Daniel was sitting in a black hole in his apartment.
He was depressed, anxious and worried.
But then suddenly something happened on the TV screen in front of him that came to change his life.
Now it is the reason why Sweden plays the European Football Championship – and at the same time the reason why Swedish sport should rethink.
The tattoo on Daniel’s right arm does not look like much to the world. 15 points, a pair of rectangles and two dotted lines.
But it was the picture of what happened at that moment on July 10, 2011 that changed his life.
Daniel was not really interested in football, did not know much about the sport and did not play himself for many years. But some fond childhood memories from the US team in 1999 (when Mia Hamm was the big star and the US won the World Cup gold medal after a penalty shootout in the final against China) still keep him interested in the World Cup quarter-finals away in Germany.
The U.S. was set to face Brazil, and Daniel was sitting in his apartment in his Washington home, frankly totally rocking.
The Americans took a 1-0 lead when they knocked out Rachel van Holbeck and tied at the back. Then the match moved to extra time where already two minutes later Marta looked like she had sent the USA out of the World Cup.
But at the last second of the scoop Megan Rapinoe In a coincidence publication in the penalty area of the Brazilians. It’s the first dotted line on Daniel’s arm.
The goalkeeper went away undisturbed at the far stop, and Amy Wambach managed to score 2-2. It’s the second dotted line.
When Wambach put his head on the ball against Brazil, something happened to Daniel as well. He still can’t really explain it, but for some unfathomable reason he realized in adulthood that he was going to start playing football.
He just graduated from college, so it’s hard to consider the decision normal. But he managed to convince a friend to come and quit his first training.
Daniel describes himself as lousy. Lockbox. He was so bad that he was convinced he would quit after three games.
Eleven years later, he still plays football.
But it’s really just an arc in this story. Because what really matters is that Daniel has found something more in football.
Before Wambach shook his head with that ball in 2011, Daniel felt so bad that some days he had trouble getting out of bed. He describes himself as depressed and researches with a social anxiety that has made life difficult.
But football gave him identity and context. He has learned to be part of a group, to trust others and to grow with others’ belief in him. He’s learned about personal development, that it’s okay to make mistakes and, above all, that his own good is good enough.
But football has also made him, through networks of other gay footballers, more comfortable with his sexuality.
It may seem like an exaggeration, or even a utopia, that an adult soccer series can offer so much to an individual. But Daniel is serious when he says it.
Football pulled him out of the black hole and since then it has been steadfast through career changes, friendships and relationships.
It is a satisfying realization that sport can mean a lot to a person. But it also creates annoying questions.
Is anyone okay?
At a time when men’s football has turned into a bunch of players and clubs piling cash and prizes, respectively, without anyone caring (and what violations of international law) who pushed for the ceremony, it’s sometimes easy to give up.
Why should we rejoice when the US-owned Premier League cartels, with the help of imported football workers, delay the price of their shares? Why should we care if Erling Haaland gets his salary from the UAE or Qatar and if Kylian Mbappe gets a billion or two billion dollars to play football?
Why should we cheer when spoiled youngsters fly private jets around the world and are welcomed as saviors so they can play football? The same young people who then have to lock their families behind high walls and advanced security systems so that they are not exposed to theft during match days.
What is the point of all this? Is anyone satisfied with this?
At the same time, we see how women’s football is heading in the same direction with applause to the players, leaders and journalists who shout in unbridled euphoria that “women’s football is now finally taking the big step!”.
Step into what? 18 years financially independent? Tax planning 28 years? 47-year-old defensive?
How can they be an inspiring role model?
I hope everyone will understand that in most respects men’s professional football today is not the ideal women’s football to follow, but the mined path they should avoid.
Because at a time when it’s sometimes hard to justify what footballers actually play for, it’s impossible to misunderstand what women are fighting for.
The struggle for public morals
They fight for equality and respect. For development and respect for human values. for public morals. This is what makes women’s football so powerful and interesting. That there is still something important – real! to fight for.
I hope the Swedish players will remember that when they complain over and over that they – unlike the men’s players – also have to answer questions other than those about offside lines and zoning.
I also hope that how grateful we are that we who are watching them will remember forever how grateful we are to still be able to answer these questions.
Those related to equal pay, harassment against LGBT people, and gender discrimination in general.
I also hope those who write about the tournament on social media will remember the explosive power of football when swarmed by heavy losses or goalkeeping boards. They put women’s football in its historical context with bans and harassment, but they also see its impact regardless of the similarities or differences between the sexes.
I also hope that Swedish sports understand that sport should be for all of us, at all ages. The traditionally organized federation sport should stop drawing its lines at the age of 15, the state ensures that our money goes to more than just talent development and that the sport never says no to a ‘too old’ or ‘too bad’ boy or girl.
And that all leaders understand and respect the important context in which a football team can be for one person. It can even change a life.
‘She saved my life too’
On July 10 this year, Daniel decided to celebrate the eleventh anniversary of Abby Wambach’s goal by telling his story on Twitter.
He wrote a number of posts, hesitating long to post that it was time for July 11th before he finally pushed the button. But as soon as he did, the response came quickly.
“Football has also saved my life in many ways. Shocked by that opportunity, Megan Rapinoe replied, ‘I am so grateful that we have communicated through this wonderful sport.”
“Danny, you’ve been there too and I’m so glad we made it through. I’ll be thinking of you on July 10th every year,” wrote Abby Wambach who put his head on that ball.
The United States lost the World Cup Final in 2011 after a penalty shootout, but 11 years later, Rapinoe, Wambach and all of us can see the significance of the tournament anyway.
I hope Stena Plaxtenius, Kosovar Aslani, Caroline Seeger and all the others think about it out there in Britain. I also hope that Daniel will be inspired by federation leaders, Russian Federation leaders and politicians back home when the power that the national team is now creating is channeled and used.
But no matter what happens, I’m glad I got a reminder of what the point of all this is.
And that happy Danny today salutes and thanks for all the nice messages.
