Colin Sheridan: Sporting nostalgia and its ability to make us forget

We love the past, not because our ideals were purer then, nor our needs more fulfilled, but because of how it makes us feel

NOSTALGIA: Former international soccer rivals Ray Houghton and Toto Schillaci come face to face for the first time since Italia ‘90 at the 2022 National Ploughing Championships. Pic: Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland

There is a dichotomy in nostalgia that is often hard to reconcile. When it comes to sport, we - I - demand romance, crave beauty in poverty, poetry in conflict. It’s an imperfect and very human reaction to the bias of recency; today, after all, is shit. We have never been as corrupt, never as obese, never as angry, or as obsessed with coffee beans and tik tok and self-image. 

We blame Society as if it is some nefarious government think tank, forcing us to do things against our purist principles. This perpetual discontent causes us to look rearward, wistfully longing for a time that may not have been that great either, but it’s not “now”, so we believe it better. Retro jerseys have never been as popular. Vinyl is the new crypto.