Why are we (almost) all crazy about soccer?

John Priestley, an English novelist and playwright, once said: "Thinking that soccer is just 22 mercenaries kicking a ball around is like saying that a violin is just wood and cat guts, and that Hamlet is just paper and ink. Soccer is confrontation and art."

Above all, we can surely say that soccer is the most important tribal ritual of our time, and it is precisely its tribal essence that explains the intensity of the passions aroused, and its enormous economic dimensions. In this article, we will explain the similarities between soccer and tribes. Are you ready? Let's start! 

The soccer player-hunter seeking a prey: the goal

In soccer, the player is the hunter, the ball is the weapon, and the goal is the prey. But since the goal is immovable, something is needed to make the hunt more challenging. 
The extreme popularity of soccer compared to other sports (just think of the huge amount of people who engage with soccer betting compared to all other sports!) would thus be due to the fact that it mimics more of the phases and elements of hunting, such as aiming, physical danger, the rush of pursuit, and cooperation. 

But that is not all. Other components, in fact, ensure its penetration into society. The war element, although not preponderant, is still present, because it is not enough to score as many pseudo-killings as possible; one must overcome the opponent, and in the end, there must be a winner and a vanquished. Then there is an element of "status": if our team wins, we feel gratified but, more importantly, our city or nation benefits economically: the cases that prove this are endless.

Faith in our teams 

There is also a pseudo-religious component. How often do we hear the idea of a stadium approaching the status of a temple, or watch famous players being worshiped? How often do we hear about "faith" for a team?

In nineteenth-century England, factory owners had to reduce the working hours of their workers, giving them new free time. Directing them to the sport meant keeping them out of the pubs and in good shape - a double benefit. Many workers became professional players; many factory owners owned teams, and the other workers were fans of those teams - a perfect outcome for the capitalist system. Soccer is therefore a business and an opportunity for entrepreneurs and wealthy tycoons to reassert their primacy. 

Finally, soccer is a theatrical performance, a mass entertainment that has, over time, acquired all the components of a star business: the big celebrities, the much-anticipated shows, the galas, the fan clubs, the groupies, and much more. 

Heroes, emblems, and trophies 

It is because of all these factors that soccer has become what it is: the greatest contemporary tribal show! A show that has its heroes, its emblems, and its trophies. At the center of the stage are players and coaches, increasingly well-paid, increasingly media stars, increasingly idolized. The players come from the same working environment as most fans and often have exemplary stories of redemption and social climbing behind them. They live an extraordinary contradiction because to establish themselves, they need to be selfish and self-focused on the one hand, and capable of sacrificing for the team on the other.

Their successes, and their failures, are public, and this requires them to have great personalities.

This does not exempt many of them from being superstitious, a behavior that can be traced back to that of primitive tribes, where life was full of risks and where magical thinking originated, but not only that; if they can convince themselves that their bizarre actions will make them play better, then it will, simply because the rituals will help them reduce tension and give them greater confidence and, therefore, a greater chance of success. 

What happens when the goal comes? 

The moment that most unites the heroes with their audience is the goal: fans cheer in the stands and their favorites celebrate the symbolic kill by jumping and hugging each other. This is one of the aspects that have evolved the most in recent years: in the past, there was usually little more than a handshake between teammates. 

And this is despite the fact that the soccer tribe (very conservative whenever changes, even small ones, occur in the rules of the game) through its "elders," i.e., past champions, has not welcomed these excesses, partly because of the Anglo-Saxon origin of the game, and partly because they are identified as early signs of the transition to show business.

The twenty-first-century change

One of the great changes of the 21st century is the arrival of "foreign billionaires" among club owners. Clubs used to be owned only by local businessmen who loved their cities and had long-standing family ties to their teams. Now the top clubs can offer huge sums to attract the best players in the world, and this does not help the local and tribal nature of the game, yet it has failed to destroy the enthusiasm of the fans.