The joyless World Cup: From sportswashing to foreboding

For one glorious month every four years, football asks us to ignore the noise of the likes of wars, human rights abuses, politics, climate change and economic crises outside the stadium, writes Colin Sheridan

FIFA World Cup sign at the New York New Jersey Stadium in the US. Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA

“Modern societies deny men and women the experience of solidarity, which football provides to the point of collective delirium. Most car mechanics and shop assistants feel shut out by high culture; but once a week they bear witness to displays of sublime artistry by men for whom the word genius is sometimes no mere hype. Like a jazz band or drama company, football blends dazzling individual talent with selfless teamwork, thus solving a problem over which sociologists have long agonised. Co-operation and competition are cunningly balanced. Blind loyalty and internecine rivalry gratify some of our most powerful evolutionary instincts.” 

— From Football, a dear friend to capitalism, by Terry Eagleton