Philosophy for football fans – a doctor writes (part one in a series..possibly)
By Blacksheep
The life of a committed football fan (which, it’s worth remembering, is shorthand for ‘fanatic’) is a troubled one and, as we lurch towards the opening of new campaign, it might be useful to see what philosophy can offer to help us all cope.
Thomas Hobbes, that great pessimist, would probably urge us all to do something other than nail our colours to a particular club for therein lies a lifetime of pain. Hobbes famously described Dennis Wise as ‘nasty, brutish and short’ and the epithet could equally be applied to several current footballers (a Mr Barton springs to mind).
A Hobbesian take on football would be that we should just stop hoping that our team will be successful because it probably won’t and there’s nothing we can do about it anyway. Instead we should trust in our leaders and leave it in the hands of God to decide what happens.
Jeremy Bentham believed a lot less in the intervention of any almighty benefactor (he lived in an age before the invention of Russian Oligarchs or oil-rich Saudi princes) but had almost as little faith in man as Hobbes. Bentham’s utilitarianism (the greatest good for the greatest number*) means that it is best to sacrifice the happiness of a few for the greater good of the many.
In football terms this means small teams turning up to the Emirates should not ‘park the bus’ but instead roll over and let Santi, Theo et al delight us with a goalscoring masterclass. A few thousand people will go home grumpy while close to 58,000 will be delirious.
The Buddha preached 4 noble truths:
Life is suffering
Suffering involves a chain of causes
Suffering can cease
There is a path to such cessation
However the Buddha never played top flight football (he did turn out for Kathmandu Rovers twice in non-competitive matches but was subbed both times). His philosophy if applied to football would probably go something like this:
Watching Arsenal is suffering
Suffering involves last minute goals, ridiculous referee decisions and Didier Drogba
Suffering can cease (in May but just temporarily)
At least we’re not spurs
Finally, for this week at least, let us consider the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein the erstwhile under 18s coach at Rapid Vienna between 1925 and his untimely death in 1951.
Wittgenstein made many observations on life and the state of man. In the Tractatus he opined that the world consists of a variety of interacting objects, all of which are affected by each other. These can be both positive and negative. The trick is to analyse them and apply ruthless logic. In effect what Wittgenstein is saying is ‘this is how things are’ deal with it.
The application for football fans is therefore fairly straightforward: instead of endlessly discussing why Howard Webb didn’t give a penalty when 59,000 people saw Evra’s blatant foul on the Ox in the box we should just accept that the man in black (or yellow or green or pink or..) is a cheat in the pay of dark forces.**
So there you have it, what philosophy teaches us it that there’s nothing whatsoever you can do about anything at all when it comes to football except turn up, cheer for the team, hope (or not), and come back and do it all over again a few days later.
Tune in next week for Descartes, Stoicism and Anselm of Canterbury
* excluding spurs, obviously
** based largely in the north west of England
Songwriter Paul Simon, and the Professor of Philosophy, University of Frinton on Sea, discuss the game with Her Majesty the Queen
Arsenal Anniversaries: 6 August
- 6 August 1926: Harry Woods transferred to Luton
- 6 August 1930: Leslie Compton signed as an amateur
- 6 August 1977 Pat Jennings signed for £45,00
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
enough of the suffering..win a trophy or two,otherwise you become the supporting cast in the league or cups and others are the main attraction..
Yeah, but where is the fun in that? This must apply to those who get TOO heated and want to start a WAR or get nasty. For all the others, a little bit of banter and rivalry adds to the fun of the game, and the way the game seems to be going we do need it too.
Good read – enjoyed it!
I seem to practice the Confucianist strand of Arsenal supporting…
Btw, you haven’t seen Monty Python’s Philosophers Football recently, have you??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur5fGSBsfq8
It should’ve been you…
Not Vilanova…
It should’ve been you…
hopefully you will write one about thomas aquinas, ovid and the bloke who sits near me who hated eboue but loved him on sunday
Blacksheep,
Love it!
We need stuff like this for a chuckle every now and then. It is only a game and its role in our lives should primarily be for entertainment.
Please keep the series going.
Edu,
You couldn’t even let a humorous and tongue in cheek post go without bringing the usual whine about trophies.
Just sad.
Brian Hertz I have published your first post, but not the utterly repulsive second one. No matter who anyone is writing about I would never publish such a thing.
Tony – Brian Hertz’s first post is still pretty offensive and wildly off topic… I would have put him on the blacklist for that – alas I am the lord of censorship and the defiler of basic moral decency that crushes these creative flowers of ‘free speech’, that wish terminal illness upon a fellow human being, just like Stalin or Kim Jong-Il probably did/do on a regular basis.
You however ooze liberal tolerance – well done you!
🙂
I did enjoy the article though – thanks for that Blacksheep, more please!
@Blacksheep,
Your thoughtful article reminds me very much of my Uncle Farouk who, during WW2, studied medicine in India and finished up with the letters MD (Bombay)(Failed) after his name.
He told the story of later playing footer against East African Regiments whose teams didn’t wear boots.
After the war, he decided to emigrate to Kenya, became a chiropodist and made a fortune.
DogFace,
Isn’t Tony the epitome of tolerance and fortitude?
Hell, not me. Like you I wouldn’t allow most of the offensive and baselessly antagonistic tirades that many of those ‘non-AAA’ 🙂 type post on here. But then with my rather combative approach, I wouldn’t have a website with with 500,000 visits per month.
They come in attacking the articles and the writers without any cogent, coherent or even contextual point. All they see is a site that isn’t parrotting the common wisdom and they just wish it’ll disappear.
Yet, they are the first to whine about being censored and all that crap about right to free speech – on a PRIVATE blog! I would laugh at their ignorance but for the knowledge of people living under actual dictatorships.
While it’s mostly repetitive stuff, authors and commenters on this site engage the contrarians as long as they present coherent arguments; even if it is on a topic that has been discussed a million times over.
Boo – only way you could be more sanctimonious would be if you were pope…
@ Doofus. I confess. He is!
Doofus,
I know must have hurt your feelings but don’t take it personal 🙂
colario,
When am I getting my hat, gown and mansions? I don’tmind being the pope but I must have the full regalia and all the perks of the office!
I’m loving this!
thanks all for the kind remarks, given that philosophy seems increasingly to be being written out of university programmes its nice to use it a little more here. Stay tuned Dude, Aquinas can certainly feature – triffic player (says ‘Arry)
love the Python football match, thanks for the reminder D S-C. Nicky on the lack of footwear point the British Library’s current exhibitions has a poster of the Empire Games with Roger Bannister in a singlet etc and a Nigerian runner with no shoes!
Dooface………Boo is Pope and you have now been excommunicated from the Arsenal Communion but speaking of sanctimonius sermonizers, you make Boo look absolutely parochial in comparison. If he is the Pope, you are the Poop!
Omg – ta!
@blacksheep63,
Your mention of Nigeria reminds me of the story making the rounds among UK troops in Burma during WW2.
Soldiers from Nigeria formed part of the 81st West African Division. Huge in stature and always smiling, they were a popular set of comrades.
In 1944/5, they were operating in an area known as the Kaladan Valley, as the Allied forces began to drive the Japs south out of Burma.
The Divisional Command was puzzled over the fact that the Japs facing the West Africans, were fleeing rather than fighting, a most unusual situation.
The West Africans were ordered to slow down their advance and asked to explain the reason why so little opposition was being encountered.
The story was that a Company of WA had captured 3 Japs and had taken them back to their camp where there were 2 large cooking pots. In one was the carcass of a bullock boiling away with bones sticking out in all directions. The other pot was full of water.
Through sign language, the Japs were led to believe that they were destined for the pot like their colleagues before them, whose bones they could see.
The terrified Japs were then allowed to escape back to their lines to tell the tale about these black cannibals.
Presumably they didn’t mind dying for the Emperor but objected to being eaten by savages afterwards!
Hope you found this off topic of interest.
@ Tony, as you have Brian Hertz’s email can you please forward it on to the police as I, and I’m sure many others find it morally repugnant and deeply offensive.
Thanks.
nicky,
I love that story, especially the line:
“Presumably they didn’t mind dying for the Emperor but objected to being eaten by savages afterwards!”
I have got tears in my eyes!
Doofus,
I find it funny that you have no problem with the vile commenter, Brian Hertz, but you get to whine about me being ‘sanctimonious’ for calling his type out.
Should I also call you sanctimonious for always moaning about lack of trophies and the need to splash the cash to get some? We have different beliefs on how Arsenal can move forward. You present yours and I defend mine.
Your whine about me being ‘sanctimonious’ is the stuff of sore losers. If you can’t win the argument, call the winners names.
Nicky: classic story but I wonder if its true, man I hope it is cos its funny stuff!
New day upon us I wonder what has happened in the Arsensl world.
@ Nicky ,Blacksheep – very nice . That is why I love to haunt this blog !
Just ignore the trools and it all becomes sweeter !
Sometimes they just misunderstand , or do they ?
AUSSIE HELPLINE
“G’day mate, Aussie Helpline…What’s the problem cobber?”
“I’m in Darwin with my sheila and she’s been stung on the minge by a wasp, and now her pussy has completely closed up.”
“Bummer mate!”
“Thanks mate, G’Day!!!!! I hadn’t thought of that, Bye.”
1)Ups and down in life are very important to keep us going,
because a straight line ,even in an ECG means we are not alive .
2)None can destroy iron but its own rust can ! Likewise none can destroy a person , but his mindset can.
Ratan Tata .
Take risks in your life .
If you win ,you can lead .
If you lose , you can guide !
Swami Vivekananda
SIX ETHICS OF LIFE .
Before you pray – Believe .
Before you speak – Listen .
Before you spend – Earn
Before you quit – Try &
Before you die – Live !!!
Medical alert sent to medical division of UA for your perusal .
New Diseases In Malaysia
The Malaysia Ministry of Health is now asking the public to be on the lookout for symptoms of the following new contagious diseases.
ASSMA
Severe rashes around the mouth caused by kissing too
many asses. The number-one disease in Malaysia amongst
civil service
DIAL-ARRHOEA
Uncontrollable urge to continually dial friends on
mobile phone to share with them such important
information as ‘I’m now on the monorail’ or ‘I’m
walking towards the car.’ Victims can be recognized
by large, twitching thumb.
MEESLES
Blotchy skin condition caused by eating too many
packets of instant noodles (known locally as (mee or meehoon )
MULTIPLE SPOUSOSIS
Affliction whereby victims make frequent trips to
Vietnam,Thailand,Indonesia, and China to take on
additional brides. Middle-aged men are at significant risk.
YELLOW FEVER
Compulsion to date Asian females. Very common
affliction amongst foreign celebrities and Caucasian
expatriates working in Malaysia. Also known as
Pinkerton’s Disease.
EKOR-TOTONUS
Flushed complexion, high blood pressure and
sometimes depression on finding out one has not
won any gaming numbers and lotteries.(Ekor is local slang for 4 digit lottery )
HEAVYTITIS
Excessively large breasts. This disease comes in
several variant strains…. Heavytitis C; Heavytitis D;
Heavytitis DD, and sometimes Heavytitis F…or even G.
CYBERTENSION
Feelings of stress and panic caused by lack of
internet access.
DYEBETES
A compulsive need to colour one’s hair. Reddish
brown tints are the most common symptom, but health
authorities have reported a new strain of blond highlights.
CHICKEN TOX
Victims exhibit a great need to tokkok. Highly contagious.
Spread by ordinary conversation, and may be exacerbated
by good food and alcohol. Politicians and lawyers are
especially susceptible. Incurable. ( Talking kok/cock or poppycock )
ITCHINIA
The urge in some men after reaching 40 to go for young chicks.
This disease spreads fast among those with money and position and cuts across both government and business people. Beware of those who take trips out under the pretext of duty or business.
This is a dangerous symptom that the disease may already have taken hold…..
@bricksfield gunners
Where is the six ethics of life comes from?
It amazes me,,,
Funny article.
Looking forward to Part 2.
@ Sukebe – Sorry missed you comment .It was in an e-mail sent
with the other quotes but not sure of the source .