It is also my team
I love football. And I love my club. Since I was a child, I've been cheering on every game. I'm at the stadium almost every weekend. I've been through the highs and the lows, and it feels like this club has been with me my entire life. As a football fan, you know that love for a club is unbreakable. It endures through crises and successes. You suffer and you celebrate.
By Serdar Somuncu
By Serdar Somuncu
Things haven't been easy for me in recent years. My club is languishing somewhere in the middle of the table. Players come and go. And sometimes "we" are fighting against relegation, sometimes for Europe. We can only dream of the championship. We look enviously at other clubs that have been able to modernize and stand up to the big players. And we look back wistfully at the times when we were still among the big players. As a child, my club stood for daring and anarchism. We were the antithesis of stuffiness. Our players wore long hair and substituted themselves. We became German champions five times, won the DFB Cup twice, and were also successful internationally. All that was a long time ago. Today, our club is run by bureaucrats who seem almost indifferent to what the fans think. If we express our displeasure about an overly defensive style of play, we are reprimanded like little children who have no clue. But at least we can be happy. Unfortunately, far too rarely.
In recent years, we've had numerous coaches. And somehow nothing has changed. I wonder why that is. Is it the players' mentality? Or is it Is it the incompetence of the coaches? It's difficult to say what makes a successful team. It's a complex system in which every screw has to mesh seamlessly. Above all, a club needs a soul, a shared spirit, a sense of identity. Something that touches and engages you. And that's been lacking enormously in recent years.
Football has become a business. And as stereotypical as this statement may sound, clubs are in fact nothing more than commercial enterprises concerned with profit and revenue. These days, the release of a jersey garners more attention than the memory of their own legend. Everything is stylized and marketed, and as much as it might be desirable for many things to exist around a club that have little to do with football, it would also be nice if we could remember the simple virtues of football: team spirit, the will to win, discipline, and commitment. Today, the transience of these ideals is reflected in football as well as in society. Our relationships are not characterized by empathy and sensitivity, by sympathy and compassion, but often by Pragmatism and usefulness. We form our opinions not through experience, but through a sense of belonging and the need for recognition. Our principles are often interchangeable, and more than ever, the usability of an idea determines our loyalty to our ideal. On the one hand, that's very sad, but on the other hand, it's also normal. Because everything is changing. Football is merely a reflection of society. And just as everything in our everyday lives is becoming more immediate and transient, so it is in football. Successes are merely snapshots, and all the fuss surrounding them is often nothing more than an advertising strategy designed to bind us fans to the club.
Whenever I'm in the stadium, I see how automated all these things have become. Chants, flags, and fireworks. And in the end, it's still just a game about winning and losing. Almost predictable and simple. Why we've been so unsuccessful in recent weeks, though, I can't explain. Because actually, everything is right. Except for the tactics. And that's particularly annoying. Why we let ourselves down after an early lead Why do we retreat and wait for the opponent to get stronger, or why do we act cowardly even though we actually have nothing to lose? I don't understand the reasons, nor do I know the solution, because I'm not an expert. But I also know that it annoys me, and I wish it would change. Because we fans are the sovereign. In life as in football. I'm not one of those people who immediately demands a new coach in situations like this. But I would like to see a new mentality finally take root in this team.
May 19, 2025
©Serdar Somuncu
The new book - "Lies - Cultural History of a Human Weakness"
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and director
CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW BOOK
TICKETS FOR THE SHOW "HE\\\\\\\\\\'S BACK"
In recent years, we've had numerous coaches. And somehow nothing has changed. I wonder why that is. Is it the players' mentality? Or is it Is it the incompetence of the coaches? It's difficult to say what makes a successful team. It's a complex system in which every screw has to mesh seamlessly. Above all, a club needs a soul, a shared spirit, a sense of identity. Something that touches and engages you. And that's been lacking enormously in recent years.
Football has become a business. And as stereotypical as this statement may sound, clubs are in fact nothing more than commercial enterprises concerned with profit and revenue. These days, the release of a jersey garners more attention than the memory of their own legend. Everything is stylized and marketed, and as much as it might be desirable for many things to exist around a club that have little to do with football, it would also be nice if we could remember the simple virtues of football: team spirit, the will to win, discipline, and commitment. Today, the transience of these ideals is reflected in football as well as in society. Our relationships are not characterized by empathy and sensitivity, by sympathy and compassion, but often by Pragmatism and usefulness. We form our opinions not through experience, but through a sense of belonging and the need for recognition. Our principles are often interchangeable, and more than ever, the usability of an idea determines our loyalty to our ideal. On the one hand, that's very sad, but on the other hand, it's also normal. Because everything is changing. Football is merely a reflection of society. And just as everything in our everyday lives is becoming more immediate and transient, so it is in football. Successes are merely snapshots, and all the fuss surrounding them is often nothing more than an advertising strategy designed to bind us fans to the club.
Whenever I'm in the stadium, I see how automated all these things have become. Chants, flags, and fireworks. And in the end, it's still just a game about winning and losing. Almost predictable and simple. Why we've been so unsuccessful in recent weeks, though, I can't explain. Because actually, everything is right. Except for the tactics. And that's particularly annoying. Why we let ourselves down after an early lead Why do we retreat and wait for the opponent to get stronger, or why do we act cowardly even though we actually have nothing to lose? I don't understand the reasons, nor do I know the solution, because I'm not an expert. But I also know that it annoys me, and I wish it would change. Because we fans are the sovereign. In life as in football. I'm not one of those people who immediately demands a new coach in situations like this. But I would like to see a new mentality finally take root in this team.
May 19, 2025
©Serdar Somuncu
The new book - "Lies - Cultural History of a Human Weakness"
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and director
CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW BOOK
TICKETS FOR THE SHOW "HE\\\\\\\\\\'S BACK"
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