Football offers a slice of life - in and off the field

It is football season and while tempo is building up in the World Cup, the lessons emerging from it reflect the world as we know it today. In fact, football reflects the changing cultural and social pre-occupations of our times, and the lessons drawn from it are lessons in life.
It may be a cliché to say that football offers life lessons, but it remains true. Like all other team games, football requires determination, patience, extreme hard work and a passion for the game. So far, the teams which have shown such resilience have a chance to move on to the matches that matter.
Research shows that football develops psychological strength, emotional fortitude and confidence. The same qualities can be liabilities if the teams or individual players collapse under the burden of expectations. Resilience is a non-negotiable trait for players, often forgotten in the heat of the moment of victory or loss.
The lessons are not only for players and team members, but also for the spectators who have serious stakes as they identify with their countries’ teams. Research with spectators using wearable technology has shown that emotions can vary vastly, with stress levels among fans wavering more than 40% on and during match days.
Academic literature also demonstrates a measurable correlation between unexpected victories and short-term excitement that follows such wins. Of course, this also has an inverse impact in the case of defeat, with avid fans known to deflect their frustration on the roads or on social media. While this can be a celebratory moment in victory, it can also show extremes in emotion among fans whose expectations of their teams have been challenged.
Teamwork is one of the most important characteristics in football. As a game that is directly based on group work, including strategising, implementing and adapting, the idea of the team as being parts of a whole is perfectly seen here.
Increasingly, winning teams across the world are known for being multicultural. The Australian team is a good example this year. While being known for their homogenous nature in earlier years, the team this year consists of immigrants from such diverse backgrounds as Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and South Sudan. The overriding message in this team is ‘No matter where you come from, football is for everyone'. The sense of shared purpose and identity is central to the team’s performance.
Studies have also shown that support for specific teams reflects on social and cultural leanings.
Non-national supporters of teams from developing countries often tend to be left-leaning, supporting representation and egalitarianism. As a corollary, first-world supporters could have more conservative leanings.
Football is more than the ‘beautiful game’. It is a reflection of our world in real time, exhibiting our attitudes, hopes, and concerns. It is a mirror of the anxieties and realities of our changing world, with its focus on globalisation, commercialisation, and, of course, the use of technology.
The lessons we take from it can make the world a better place or one that is further divided by human frailties and unhealthy competition.