Violence: the new face of sport. Maybe NP workers should really go on strike and stop all of us in our tracks. If nothing else, a shortage of gas will eventually lead to fewer vehicles on the road and, hopefully, fewer incidents of such tragic carnage as on Saturday in Trincity and Cross Crossing.
Like bodies hurled out of a careering vehicle and being horrifically dismembered, basic decency, civility and respect for the rights of fellow citizens are ripped to pieces by an increasingly selfish and savage society.
Even in the sphere of sport, which should be a celebration of skill and fair play, the images are more and more that of violent confrontation and thuggery, all of which serve to legitimise such behaviour in the eyes of impressionable youth.
I've always maintained that football, when played as the beautiful game should be played, is the embodiment of all that is good about sport, incorporating physical prowess, mesmerising skill and mental acuity, all in a free-flowing 90 minutes, interrupted only by halftime.
Of course, that ideal exists nowadays only in isolated periods of play, whether the stage is the nearby savannah or the World Cup final in one of the game's great arenas. Because it is the game of the people everywhere in the world, it is reflective of different styles and cultures, and, sadly, the increasing tendency towards hooliganism and cheating both on and off the pitch.
Saturday's ill-tempered first game between the Trinidad and Tobago under-20 squad and their Venezuelan counterparts at the Larry Gomes Stadium is just another example of what is increasingly becoming the norm.
Based on the reports I read, our South American neighbours were apparently the more aggressive of the two teams, prompting Express football writer Lasana Liburd to refer to " teenaged Venezuelans whose antics might have enthused local boxing promoter Boxu Potts but did not find favour with the sprinkling of locals who turned up."
And that's another thing. In a country that has just experienced all of the hype and nationwide euphoria of making it to the World Cup finals for the first time, the passion for the game is nowhere near what it once was at almost all levels. Not so long ago, it was the norm for the Hasely Crawford Stadium to be close to capacity for the Intercol semi-finals, to say nothing of the final itself.
Yet the vast unpopulated areas of the stadium for Saturday's semi-final victory by title-holders Fatima over St Augustine betray that dwindling interest, where only the diehard supporters and fiercely partisan make up the numbers in the stands. The crowds are even more conspicuous by their absence at senior club level, but it has been like that for a very long time, although hot-tempered clashes like last week's duel of San Juan Jabloteh and Joe Public hardly qualify as an excellent advertisement for the game. It seemed that once the tackles started flying, almost everyone wanted to make a few points with raised studs, as if to prove that so-and-so was more man than so-and-so in the sheer viciousness of the tackle and the willingness to stand toe-to-toe with the opponent just in case he wanted to show Mr Potts how adept he was with his fists.
In a copycat society such as ours, foreign influences are very, very powerful, especially when they are associated with celebrity status and enormous wealth.
The persistent images of players faking injuries to draw fouls, or coming to blows, or managers and coaches hurling insults at officials, or squaring up to their opposing counterparts in the tunnel after the game-images that are the norm in all of the glamorous, high-profile leagues of the world-become a template for the conduct of more and more players and coaches at younger and younger levels on the local scene.
I only saw the last 15 minutes of yesterday's big top-of-the-table English Premiership showdown of leaders Manchester United and champions Chelsea at Old Trafford, but I don't think I missed too much, never mind how superb the goals may have been in the 1-1 draw.
Almost everything in those final minutes was about no-holds-barred tackles, accompanied with a mouthful of expletives, inciting the masses on the other side of the touchline to engage liberally in their own relentless verbal abuse of any opposing player within earshot.
No wonder they put up those towering fences in Argentina or have the stands some distance away from the field as in Brazil, for it must involve a certain degree of bravery to turn your back for a throw-in or free-kick when such rabid fanatics are in close proximity.
In our environment of increasing violence everywhere, including the classrooms and highways, we need more and more to accentuate the positive and condemn outright the negative for the benefit of a generally confused and rudderless generation.
There is more than enough inspiring stuff to emulate-from the breathless skill, dexterity and control of a world-class striker to the never-say die determination of a national midfielder-without also falling prey to the boorishness, indiscipline and dishonesty that comes with the overall package.
Just as a vehicle is only as dangerous as the person behind the wheel, football, and all sport for that matter, can be a positive, constructive component of our society if we all play a part in praising and encouraging brilliance, while at the same time condemning the baser qualities of intense competition.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_sports?id=161057512
