The Demon Of War
As the demon of war spreads its tentacles in the Middle East, an ever-developing human tragedy is being perpetrated on innocent men, women, and children. Countless displaced, maimed, orphaned and tens of thousands have been sacrificed already on the altar of war. The situation is grim. The United Nations and The International Court of Justice have tried their best. Several resolutions have been tabled and passed and decisive Judgements have been pronounced. However, an unyielding, partisan, non-inclusive and intolerant section of the world refuses to listen. Their thirst for blood still unsatiated, the war is being pressed on. I am looking for some solace, a ray of hope to come from somewhere and brighten the dark and obscure horizon. And as I think hard I come across the Sport of the World, ‘Football‘.
The Heterogeneous Football Fan
The new season has begun and the leagues worldwide are in full swing. The fans are again glued to their devices searching for informative material regarding their favourite teams. They may come from a corner of the world, fully submerged in their love for a team from another corner. Distances, nations, and continents notwithstanding, the love for the game is boundless for them. With their emotions strongly mired in the fortunes of their team, the fans truly are a heterogeneous lot.
Unity in Diversity
The leagues themselves, based in Europe or anywhere else have teams fighting it out for the elusive championships and attention and love of their fans. Their players come from different continents, from various ethnicities, race, colour and culture. They are strongly bound by the cause at hand, to win and bring joy to their fans. The teams stay united in complex diversities, exhibiting tremendous camaraderie, acceptance, tolerance and inclusivity. Inherent talent, skill, professionalism and passion for football are the only criteria when it comes to recruiting players. The stakes are high here too and the most successful teams are the ones which are able to streamline the diversities into one seamless unit.
The Liverpool Football Club
As an example, find below, the top 15 players of Liverpool Football Club based in England and the countries they come from.
| PLAYER | COUNTRY |
| Diogo Jota | Portugal |
| Mo Salah | Egypt |
| Alisson Becker | Brazil |
| Luis Diaz | Columbia |
| Ibrahima Konate | France |
| Alexis Mac Allister | Argentina |
| Virgil van Dijk | Netherlands |
| Dominik Szoboszlai | Hungary |
| Trent Alexander Arnold | England |
| Ryan Gravenberch | Netherlands |
| Darwin Nunez | Uruguay |
| Wataru Endo | Japan |
| Joe Gomez | England |
| Caoimhin Kelleher | Ireland |
| Cody Gakpo | Netherlands |
The players represent virtually every continent from Europe to Africa and South America to Asia. The diversity is huge in terms of language, community and culture, but still the team has been one of the most successful teams in Football. This is just one example amongst several such teams across several Clubs in football. There is no doubt that every successful team at the Club level has a similar texture to that of Liverpool and this is how the world should be.
A Ray of Hope
The warring world needs to take a leaf out of Football and shift to the basics of co-existence, acceptability and tolerance. The price of this shift would be much much lower than the price being paid for war. The situation is grim, there is death and destruction, but there is definitely a way forward. The horizon is not all that dark. Football may be the silver lining and the ray of Hope.
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