Football Horror
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Have you seen the match between Arsenal and Manchester United! Did you hear that Kaka has a child! Have you seen the new hair cut of Ronaldo! Ok! Wait! I don’t think I care any less! I mean come on people; do you really believe all this is going to change your life? News flash, it won’t! I think there is a new horror in town called football. It’s terrorizing the city. What amazes me most is that, we are not only watching football, we are watching people so remote from us playing football. At least watch Ethiopian football, if you are really interested.
Let’s take an example of one football fan. He comes home quarrelling about football in the middle of the night after watching what he likes to call ‘a battle of the big leagues.’ He wakes up in the morning to go to school feeling tired. In the first instant he enters into a taxi, he hears the radio talking about last night’s match. He goes all the way to school listening, (if you don’t like football, being irritated) to the trivia news of the radio. When he drops off from the taxi, he will be received by a boy carrying newspapers ready to hand him the same story he heard thousand times. But as a victim to the vampire of football, he will buy the newspaper without hesitation. Then while reading the newspaper, his friend will call on his phone and start talking to him about the same old match. At school he and his friends eagerly wait for the break to get back to their football match talk. Little did he know, the whole day is wasted on a thing that won’t bring benefit to his life.
Believe it or not this has become the life of many of us. Let us stop for a moment and ask ourselves one question. Why am I watching football? Most of the answers I get from my friends are the same. ‘I enjoy it’ and the most classic one ‘that’s what a man does!’ I’ll replay, well I love sleeping but it doesn’t mean I’ll sleep the whole day. But is the purpose of life spending our time, 24/7 watching football. As a human being we are expected to at least work and think. If we spend our time watching football and having fun when are we going to work!
I believe football has become the prominent feature of human civilization! Or as I like to call it human destruction! It has dominated the world as the air fills the atmosphere. I’m proud of the people in this big industry, they are making money. I also don’t have a problem with the occasional watchers. They are using it to refresh their mind. But I feel sorry for the so called fans that spend their whole time sitting around thinking football as the end to life’s purpose.
I know by now that you are all fed up with this disrespect I showed for football. Probably you won’t read it since you are too busy catching up with the latest news on some club. I’m not being anything but realistic.
Abel Merawi, abelmerawi@yahoo.com
Source: Letter to the Editor- Ethiopian Reporter
