Joy and sadness in football - Those who rejoice are ours and those who grieve are ours!
As in many sporting events, the place where we can see sadness and joy in the same frame is football pitches and tribunes. Since it is a team game, the number of people experiencing sadness and joy at the same time increases. As a viewer, the breaking points that reveal such scenes are more memorable.
Those who are passionate about football have witnessed many sadness and happiness. The dose of happiness and sadness increased as the bar of success went upwards.
While some people rejoice and scream like crazy, others sob and cry and experience deep sadness. It is perhaps more attractive to witness the struggle to give your best until the final whistle and to be on the winning side than to play.
The struggle and the desire to achieve success may not be rewarded on the pitch, but in such cases all football fans will give a standing ovation to the side that fought hard.
In the 1994 World Cup final, when Roberto Baggio kicked the penalty out, all of Italy was saddened, but all of Brazil rejoiced. The tragedy of Colombian footballer Andres Escobar, who was murdered in his country while the championship was going on, saddened the whole world.
Stress and excitement increase as the goal, the fruit of football, is delayed when small details determine the outcome. Disturbances in the heart rhythm, which are rare on the pitch, are very common off the pitch. What happens on the pitch reflects on the whole world, but what happens off the pitch reflects only on the family of those whose hearts are broken. In fact, the common point of both is to want success very much and to be on the winning side.
Football has the glamour that makes the masses run after it and directs the masses. Those who get caught up in the glamour may experience losses in their physical and mental health while straining their budgets. Despite having heart spasms many times in the stands and being forbidden by his doctor to watch football matches even on television, there are still those who buy season tickets in order to be in the stands and never miss a match.
All the health risks and the money spent are for the purpose of participating in the possible joy or sadness from the ground and watching the stage from the front. The aim is to scream with happiness, but it is also to be in the drama part of the play staged live.
In 2005, the Champions League final played at the Olympic Stadium in Istanbul was, for many, one of the most memorable finals in the history of the Champions League. The Milan players, who had scored 3 goals in the first 45 minutes, were waiting for the time when they would lift the trophy in the air, rejoicing like crazy. On the Liverpool side, tears began to well up in their eyes. They were waiting for the time to run out for the tears to start flowing. In the second half, 3 goals in 6 minutes, which can be considered very short in football, equalised the score and made the joy and sadness change places. After the penalty shootout, the Liverpool side, who were ready to cry, started to rejoice like crazy, and the Milan side, who thought that they had lifted the trophy in the air, started to cry. This time the tide was not in the sea, but on the football pitch and in the final. The cup went to Milan and then to Liverpool.
The stories of joy and sadness in football are endless. Even in amateur leagues, there are thousands of stories of joy and sadness at the same time. Witnessing the 1994 World Cup final from the TV screen and the CL final in 2005 from the stadium, I had the opportunity to see the story of joy and sadness closely. When you are neutral, it is possible to share the emotions of both sides in the stories of joy and sadness experienced at the same time! You can neither be completely happy nor completely sad, but your passion for football increases. Experiencing two opposite emotions at the same time is heavier than seeing them on the same stage. Despite everything; to live as a party to the excitement is to stay active in the passion for football.
It is a necessity of being a football fan to understand those who are sometimes sad, sometimes happy, sometimes neutral, who experience both emotions and to live the passion in doses. I wish to see or be a part of the next emotional stories closely. We are the ones who rejoice and we are the ones who grieve!