Position; Striker
Shots on Goal; 7
Shots on Target; 4
Goals; 1
Final Score; 1-0
The game of football, or as our North American friends and their sympathizers would call it, soccer, is undoubtedly the most popular game on this planet, by a country mile. There are places on this highly unstable planet of ours where warring factions have lay down their arms to watch teams their teams tussle it out for 90 minutes. This game has an almost cult following. Hyperbole? Ask the mother whose family of 3 boys and their father is glued to the TV from 1445hrs to 2300hrs on Saturday watching European football or goes to the local ground to watch their team play. Please ask her about her opinion on the beautiful game, as the followers adorably refer to it.
The popularity of this game also dictated that for the little boy growing up in Africa in the 90s, the nostalgic 90s, before everything got cut throat serious, the only pastime I had was football. As long as it wasn’t dark and the folks permitted it, I was out there, with a tiny round something, barefoot and kicking with all my might. This happened against boys twice as tall my diminutive self, boys my size and very few times, boys smaller than me. No. Girls.
Growing up, the only defined role was goalkeeper, the ultimate line of defence, your WhatsApp password, your Mobile Money or ATM PIN; and a couple of times when we faced the big boys, my big brother ordered me to stand between the sticks, a gallant attempt at protecting me. We however had the luxury of switching goalkeepers for say, a penalty. By and by, the game gained clarity, positions, roles, rules (save for handball and penalty of course), and demarcations were mastered. You know what they say, the more you know, the better it gets.
The adage, he who loves the roses must bear with the thorns too rings true here, with the popularity of this game comes attention, tonnes of money and as earlier mentioned, an almost cult following. All this will trickle down to the men on the field, particularly, the striker principally because he is paid to push his team ahead of the opponents. The statistics above are a drop in the ocean compared to what the increasingly hawk-eyed media dedicated to sport can come up with. Consequently, there is a constant and if the gods are kind, consistent weight on a player's shoulders. After 90 minutes of posting numbers like yours truly and relief or excitement of the victory has waned off, your performance will come under very close and obviously damning scrutiny. You already know that is not good enough but you have to endure all opinions from the very wise encouraging words to utter moronic dribble.
To this day, I believe the most difficult roles on the football field are the aforementioned goalkeeping role and the highly demanding role of leading the line. I never played the former when the stakes got high but I know any role that is defined by the “one that got away” has got to be an insurmountable feat, a thankless job. That leaves me with a role I have filled, the striker, the leading man. Patience, tenacity and considerable mental strength define the orthodox leading man. He bears with frustration due to either a lack of service or being the brunt of man handling and jibes by the opponents, does not see so much of the ball because he occupies the “dangerous areas” of the field and ultimately whatever chances fall his way, he has to make them count. That is the easy part, because even after failing to capitalize on innumerable chances, he must let go…and start from scratch, a clean slate that is far from clean. The role demands that, after all, he is the leading man. Football is about how many goals a team scores and this role here has “Goals Scored” written all over it. Subsequently, this leading man is my ultimate entrepreneurial mind, he might not be as creative as the men behind him but he combines a considerable portion of creativity with high levels of efficiency, should be as frugal as a single mother raising 6 children on a shoe string budget and after every heavy fall, cynical shirt tug or reference meant to wind him up, he must dust himself off and use his chances to win the game, make the opponent pay.
If you do not see a bit of yourself every time you see a forward toil, you need to shake yourself sober for you my friend are not alive, you only exist. As we go about our businesses, our jobs, our lives, family experiences; to get that extra shilling, to hoist our children above our own lofty heights, to make our spouses smile, to be a blessing to society, we are laden with responsibility that matches or supersedes that of a leading man. Ofttimes we fall under the glare of family or community scrutiny, we believe life has handed us lemons and sometimes bear the brunt of untold injustice. In the thick of the rigours of life, it is unerringly imperative to keep our eyes on our goals, to listen to advice, to ignore the noise of harsh criticism and when we get the opportunities; we emphatically take them for us, for our confidence, for those who spur us on and those that ultimately look up to us. We owe them that much.
I Out, Enjoy the #MayPac Bout
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