Better on the Playing Fields than the Killing Fields.

It’s going to sound wrong but what the world really needs right now is to look at what happens during an England-Germany football match. You get 22 men on the pitch kicking a ball and two halves of the stadium trying to outdo each other with all sorts of insults. The tabloids in both countries come out with all sorts of insulting headlines about each other. The Brits like to remind the Germans that they won the war. The German press runs headlines like “God Save the Queen – From her subjects.” It’s been going on for years and despite all the not very attractive expressions of jingoism, nobody dies and most people have fun.

England and Germany were at the heart of two World Wars. Both sides lost millions and there were scars. However, since 1945, England and Germany have actually been friends, who have traded together and prospered together and today, nobody can envision England and Germany going to war. So, how did two nations, which were mortal enemies at the start of the twentieth centuries, end up as good friends towards the end? Well, there are plenty of factors involved but the one that stands out is the fact that feelings of national chauvinism got transferred from the battlefield to the football pitch.

There is a lot to be said for the saying that “sport is a substitute for war.” Nations that play together have a way of avoiding conflicts. Think of that famous rivalry between South Asia’s nuclear powers – India and Pakistan. They’ve fought four wars (all won by India) and always seem to be on the verge of another. Yet, somehow, a full-scale war hasn’t broken out since 1999. Well, whilst Indian and Pakistani politicians may find each other to be the most convenient enemy, the people of both India and Pakistan have managed to live out a good portion of their “rivalry” on the cricket pitch. Great friendships between Indian and Pakistani players like the one between Pakistan’s legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram and India’s legendary batsman, Sachin Tendulkar, have developed:

 https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/sunny-bhai-they-ll-hate-me-in-pakistan-wasim-akram-s-explosive-revelation-about-controversial-tendulkar-dismissal-101670126243468.html

 

 So, if India and Pakistan have avoided plunging the world into a full out nuclear war by playing regular enough cricket matches, why can’t the rest of the world’s geopolitical rivals do the same. Again, I lived in the UK where we had the annual “Five Nations” (now known as Six Nations), where the Scots, and Welsh took on the English, French and Irish. They enjoyed indulging in “NOT” being English during the match and then went back to being part of the smaller components of the UK. Can you imagine if the former USSR had arranged for something similar between the component parts. In the Southern Hemisphere, New Zealand had the Bledisloe Cup, which allowed the smaller nation many moments of triumph against its larger neighbour. Can you imagine if the Arab League and Israel had a regular football tournament? Won’t solve all the issues but it would plant the seed of people-to-people understanding.

I’m a Singaporean and I think Singapore could play a role in hosting an annual “Israel-Palestine” football game. Like Israel, we are a non-Muslim nation in a Muslim neighborhood. We have, however, a significant Muslim population. We can get commercial rivals to sponsor the various teams too. Think of the billing it would be.

As kids, we play with other kids. We play with the kids in the neighborhood and we don’t worry about their social status, race or religion. We just know them as the guys and girls we play with. Then, our parents start telling us about differences of race, religion and so on. As we get older, we get corrupted and become nasty brutes to each other.

 

 So, isn’t it time we go back to childhood and learn to play together. Its time we realise that the guy on the other side isn’t some slur – he’s just the guy you want to beat on the pitch and then go for a meal with when the game is over. Surely the world would be a much better place if we relived the experience of playing together and releasing our competitive and more aggressive tendencies to the playing fields rather than the killing fields.