"You say you love day, but you come out at night"
Watching football with other fans gives me a wonderful insight into the 'rationality of irrationality' so to speak. Like just about every other place on earth, Kigali is football-mad and this town is awash with Arsenal fans. It's scary- I feel a bit like that guy in I am Legend (And yes I'm still bitter about how the film screwed over the book but I've bitched about that already) I'm not saying Arsenal fans are vampires, but they do share certain similarities.
A few weeks ago I was watching Arsenal versus Manchester United at my local bar and this Arsenal fan I know was growing increasingly hysterical. After a completely unhinged rant-splendid in its sheer refusal to even glance at the coat-tails of reality, never mind look it in the eye- he finished by giving Manchester United a new name. Mafia FC. The whole rant was delivered in Kinyarwanda which made it sound even more hilarious and over-the-top. He looked pretty proud of himself afterwards and he still uses the term Mafia FC whenever he talks about the Red Devils. I didn't have the heart to tell him he sounded like a loon.
I guess what interested me the most was the way my friend turned a game of football into the personification of the battle between good and evil. As an Arsenal fan, he saw them as God's anointed men- fleet-footed athletes yes, but the guardians of morality and the epitome of the sheer, blinding goodness of the human soul. Men who would jump the queue at the pearly gates on the day of judgement. I'm fairly sure that if he squinted hard enough, he could see wings on Alexander Hleb. Manchester United on the other hand were minions of the devil- bribing referees, cheating on the pitch, trying to decapitate players or just being arrogant...they had done it all. I'd come for the football but instead I was getting Milton's Paradise Lost.
Obviously it's not just Arsenal fans who indulge in this kind of thing- a few days ago there was a 'letter to the editor' in The New Times from a Chelsea fan stating as a fact that Man U were shitting bricks (I'm paraphrasing here)and the only way Man U would beat them would be by bribing the referee ' the way they've done it before.' He probably didnt know it, but he was setting himself up very well for failure- if things go wrong, he's got a reason already and it's sure as hell not one which will reflect badly on his beloved Blues. Oh no- Chelsea couldnt actually lose a match fair and square- there has to be some evil force at work. He was basically saying 'Either we will win or you will cheat and win.' Liverpool fans on the other hand are thin on the ground so we dont yet possess the necessary numbers to become annoying. If like me you are a young Rwandan male who happens to support Liverpool, then you get strange looks from other fans- the kind of looks that suggest that you should reevaluate your mental state, preferably with a hammer. If you feel disinclined-the look suggests- a strait jacket would work just as well. Yes the looks do say all that, but maybe I'm being paranoid.
Some may argue that supporting football clubs and obsessing over football is in itself irrational. In that context people frothing at the mouth about bribing referees and becoming mafia outfits fits right in- a kind of snowballing of irrationality, one linked to the other. Still it is very amusing because many of these fans-most are Arsenal fans by sheer force of numbers and decibel levels- are beyond parody. I dont think I've ever met a Gunner who didnt have a million things to say at the top of his voice. Interestingly they've got the same joke they recycle over and over again and I've heard it at every single bar I've been to- when another team scores a goal, they all start shouting 'bacyanze!' ('It's been disallowed') and then giggle to themselves. They know it's a goal you see, but they are saying it's not- get it? Did it make you split your sides with laughter? Didn't think so. Thats because that joke suffers from the tremendous handicap of not being funny at all. However like the Terminator, it keeps coming back to life everytime you think it's dead.
The Man U-Arsenal game also provided a compelling insight into how people cope with defeat. The answer-not surprisingly- turns out to be 'not very well'. When Man U took the lead, the Arsenal fan muttered that it was only 1-0 and his team would come storming back. When the score was 2-0, he began his epic rant about mafia tactics. When the third goal went in, he said "I dont care if they score 100 goals, they will remain Mafia FC" and sat there sullenly waiting for reality to suddenly take a U-turn and manifest itself the way he saw it. I was looking at him in awe.
Arsenal fans are currently undergoing that phase that religious cults go through when the date they have set for the apocalypse comes and goes. For many cult members, the failure of a prophecy only strengthens their belief that they were right in the first place- its the only way they can cope with the cognitive dissonance. Arsenal fans hailed Wenger as the messiah but now that their season is disintegrating, they're having a bit of a mental struggle trying to justify the events. In the end it's only strengthened their resolve- basically failure has made them feel they were right about not failing. They have shifted their mental goalposts to accomodate this unexpected failure and its only made them more convinced that their team represents the forces of good. It's a truly fascinating process and I want to be there for its conclusion.
A few weeks ago I was watching Arsenal versus Manchester United at my local bar and this Arsenal fan I know was growing increasingly hysterical. After a completely unhinged rant-splendid in its sheer refusal to even glance at the coat-tails of reality, never mind look it in the eye- he finished by giving Manchester United a new name. Mafia FC. The whole rant was delivered in Kinyarwanda which made it sound even more hilarious and over-the-top. He looked pretty proud of himself afterwards and he still uses the term Mafia FC whenever he talks about the Red Devils. I didn't have the heart to tell him he sounded like a loon.
I guess what interested me the most was the way my friend turned a game of football into the personification of the battle between good and evil. As an Arsenal fan, he saw them as God's anointed men- fleet-footed athletes yes, but the guardians of morality and the epitome of the sheer, blinding goodness of the human soul. Men who would jump the queue at the pearly gates on the day of judgement. I'm fairly sure that if he squinted hard enough, he could see wings on Alexander Hleb. Manchester United on the other hand were minions of the devil- bribing referees, cheating on the pitch, trying to decapitate players or just being arrogant...they had done it all. I'd come for the football but instead I was getting Milton's Paradise Lost.
Obviously it's not just Arsenal fans who indulge in this kind of thing- a few days ago there was a 'letter to the editor' in The New Times from a Chelsea fan stating as a fact that Man U were shitting bricks (I'm paraphrasing here)and the only way Man U would beat them would be by bribing the referee ' the way they've done it before.' He probably didnt know it, but he was setting himself up very well for failure- if things go wrong, he's got a reason already and it's sure as hell not one which will reflect badly on his beloved Blues. Oh no- Chelsea couldnt actually lose a match fair and square- there has to be some evil force at work. He was basically saying 'Either we will win or you will cheat and win.' Liverpool fans on the other hand are thin on the ground so we dont yet possess the necessary numbers to become annoying. If like me you are a young Rwandan male who happens to support Liverpool, then you get strange looks from other fans- the kind of looks that suggest that you should reevaluate your mental state, preferably with a hammer. If you feel disinclined-the look suggests- a strait jacket would work just as well. Yes the looks do say all that, but maybe I'm being paranoid.
Some may argue that supporting football clubs and obsessing over football is in itself irrational. In that context people frothing at the mouth about bribing referees and becoming mafia outfits fits right in- a kind of snowballing of irrationality, one linked to the other. Still it is very amusing because many of these fans-most are Arsenal fans by sheer force of numbers and decibel levels- are beyond parody. I dont think I've ever met a Gunner who didnt have a million things to say at the top of his voice. Interestingly they've got the same joke they recycle over and over again and I've heard it at every single bar I've been to- when another team scores a goal, they all start shouting 'bacyanze!' ('It's been disallowed') and then giggle to themselves. They know it's a goal you see, but they are saying it's not- get it? Did it make you split your sides with laughter? Didn't think so. Thats because that joke suffers from the tremendous handicap of not being funny at all. However like the Terminator, it keeps coming back to life everytime you think it's dead.
The Man U-Arsenal game also provided a compelling insight into how people cope with defeat. The answer-not surprisingly- turns out to be 'not very well'. When Man U took the lead, the Arsenal fan muttered that it was only 1-0 and his team would come storming back. When the score was 2-0, he began his epic rant about mafia tactics. When the third goal went in, he said "I dont care if they score 100 goals, they will remain Mafia FC" and sat there sullenly waiting for reality to suddenly take a U-turn and manifest itself the way he saw it. I was looking at him in awe.
Arsenal fans are currently undergoing that phase that religious cults go through when the date they have set for the apocalypse comes and goes. For many cult members, the failure of a prophecy only strengthens their belief that they were right in the first place- its the only way they can cope with the cognitive dissonance. Arsenal fans hailed Wenger as the messiah but now that their season is disintegrating, they're having a bit of a mental struggle trying to justify the events. In the end it's only strengthened their resolve- basically failure has made them feel they were right about not failing. They have shifted their mental goalposts to accomodate this unexpected failure and its only made them more convinced that their team represents the forces of good. It's a truly fascinating process and I want to be there for its conclusion.
posted by Minzo at 12:41 AM
2 Comments:
I hate soccer but this was thoroughly enjoyable!!
RayRay is right! Soccer sucks but this was hillarious! I miss you bro. Teta
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