This Sunday the last of 31 nations which made it to the World Cup finals will bite the dust. The only remaining team will have won the World Cup. Brazil, the 2002 champions were dethroned a week ago and the new Kings of Football will pick up the coveted prize.
To us, this means that Malta will slowly return to a normal summer, enjoying lighter weekends by the sea at summer residences, complaining of the heat, doing away with most of the routine and ways of life adopted during the winter months. It generally means giving way to an easier and more relaxed living, usually taken up in the “smaller” residences by the sea. In fact a substantial number, actually thousands, of families internally migrate from the inner towns and villages in Malta to areas such as Bugibba, Qawra, Mellieha, Salina and Marsascala.
The last month has seen quite a different local scenario. Sport has once again brought about a most important desired result. No one bothered about the colour, religion or race of the players on the pitch. It all boiled down to whether this or that team was better or not – whether the end result was in its favour or against.
All of a sudden racism was thrown on the dump heap. It never mattered anymore whether the French, British, or Ghanaian players had blond or dark hair, whether they were fair-skinned or were born with natural dark colour.
It seems that sport can overcome all this. Men and women become heroes in sport not by the colour of their skin or by their beliefs but by their ability to excel in the discipline that they practice.
It seems that when one is interested in sports, all participants become one race – the emerging champions are followed by so many both on the field of play as well as in their private lives.
And businesses have taken up this message. Just turn on your television set and every so often we see a conglomeration of “actors”, oops, sorry, sportsmen and women who are chosen specifically to pass on the message that in their hour of triumph they have opted to use one product or another. It seems that for some, using such products will mean a personal direct link with the actor-athlete who looked so good on the screen. In other words, people taking after the modern-day idols.
Malta has enjoyed its fair share of football madness. Thousands of flags were splashed across the islands. As one ventured into densely built-up areas with blocks of apartments, it naturally followed that a plethora of flags appeared from balconies and rooftops. Many wanted to express their support.
Unfortunately only the few bothered to show off our flag among all the other colours. Once every four years the football bonanza brings us back together. I must say that I did enjoy a Brazil supporter from Zebbug. He drove around the village for some three weeks showing off both a medium-sized Brazilian flag as well as a substantially larger Maltese flag attached to the back of his van.
We tend to associate ourselves with this or that team. We passionately follow our favourite team referring to the players as “our players”.
Then, as soon as the final is played, lost and won, we put the flags back in their drawers waiting for the next edition and our renewed show of support. In the meantime we will carry on discussing this or that result, expressing our woes or satisfactions. At the end of it all, history will only remember the winning team – The Boys who won it on the day.
There are no exceptions to this rule. Even in the corridors of parliament, discussion, taunts and sly remarks about this or that team did not go amiss. Both sides have their colourful characters with Mario Galea clearly standing out on the government side and Joe Debono Grech doing the honours from the Opposition side. However this week they went rather quiet as England, which they both support, made an uneventful exit last Friday. However all in all, the 65 members, or most of them, seem quite content with the prospect of the FIFA World Cup being won by a European team.
I have no doubt that Sunday will see one and all, and if not all, almost all, either at home with the television sets on, or else at some venue in which one can follow the final. Big screens to attract a bigger clientele have become the order of the day. It is an occasion not to be missed.
On Sunday, the World Cup final will rank far more important than the speeches which politicians may decide to make. Save for the final game’s result, all other news items on Monday will rank second unless, of course, something of an extraordinary nature happens to overshadow the contest which will be viewed and followed by perhaps the largest audience of the year.
On Monday, dreams will disappear and many will have to return to the realities of life.
Tony Abela is Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister