Effour

Football fanfiction has been written based on English Premier League’s match between Liverpool and Tottenham. Live long football if you’re long in your life

———————

Read the rest of this entry »

 

On a sunny day two sorcerers decide to stand at the top of a mountain. They look down to a green field, enclosed by a white imaginary fence. They have met to discuss about the most fearful phenomenon in football: possession.

 

‘Do you know what it does to the players?’ the sorcerer Con asks.

 

‘I think you will tell me that!’ the sorcerer Pro answers.

 

‘Never trust possession! It’s a myth!’

 

‘People who divide their lives into numbers don’t say it’s a myth! Why are you so sceptical, Con?’

 

‘Possession hardly works in favour of football! These teams which manage to control it most likely are strong without it too!’ Con looks at the field where the players gather for the up-coming match. ‘Pro, you’re silent! Do you have nothing to say?’

 

‘I reckon you forget that awareness of such mystical possession is needed to measure the performance!’

 

‘Measure the performance?’ Con shouts. ‘You forget that the possession is the most unreliable measurement in today’s football! How many games have been played with this phenomenon ruling one team and giving nothing but disgrace and devastation? I would never rely on possession, as it is stupid! It doesn’t exist! It’s such a shame that only I have noticed that!’

 

The green field at the foot of the mountain becomes vivid – the game has just started. The sorcerers watch the match for a while and then return to their discussion.

 

‘I have to be honest – I wish football had no this word in its vocabulary,’ Con crosses hands.

 

‘How do you call it?’

 

‘I have no title for it! It deserves no title anyway!’ Con is strict.

 

‘In my opinion, there are many good things about this myth!’

 

‘Name one!’

 

‘I can name more than one! Firstly, it demonstrates power! In every game the presence of power is vital! Secondly, possession is really fearful for both the players and worshippers or supporters! Have you ever channelled a worshipper when possession serves for or against him? Emotions are also vital for football! Thirdly, and that is probably the most important aspect, possession doesn’t lead football game to its outcome!’

 

‘What does it mean?’

 

‘Everyone loves this myth because it’s not fixed! Imagine how predictable and boring football would be if possession worked as it had to! It wouldn’t be fearful… it wouldn’t be dangerous! It would simple be… fixed!’

 

‘It corresponds to my view that it is useless! Let its myth to be on the pitch, but not in the reviews!’

 

‘Of course, you can avoid and eliminate possession out of your understanding of football! My three aspects will live, though!’

 

‘Your aspects are irrational!’

 

‘Has football ever been rational?’

 

‘You twist my words!’

 

‘I do not do that! Look at the field,’ Pro shows how one side celebrates their first goal. ‘Not possession scored the goal! The players did! Not possession built it! The players did! Possession is only the fearful phenomenon in football, and it all makes it a lot more easier!’

 

‘I won’t change my mind,’ Con is stubborn.

 

‘You’re not invited to!’ Pro laughs. ‘In the end you’ll understand that being angry with possession you’ll be angry with football in general! I like your idea not to pay the attention to it! It’s a nice strategy to enjoy the game! You can’t forget that it’s still there, though!’

 

‘Can we watch the game now?’ Con is upset that Pro seems to be the winner of the discussion.

 

‘Sure! That’s why we’re here, aren’t we?’ Pro guesses Con’s thoughts and taps on his shoulder. ‘Don’t worry! The tale of the mystical possession doesn’t disappear! It will eventually be reconstructed! We’ll see what happens then, my friend!’

 

Con smiles and focus on the game. The green field gives both of them another piece of mind.

 

THE END

 

 

‘When you’re going into a battle, don’t forget to take a winner!’ a sorcerer says. Football is supposed to be a battlefield.

 

‘A winner?’ a hero from previous battles asks. ‘How can I take the winner into the battle?’

 

‘The winner is born in great memories! It is then embodied in a mind of every warrior who decides to stand on the pitch honouring the law!’

 

‘Who does the winner create?’

 

‘It creates the better men!’ the sorcerer notes. ‘Have you ever seen a moment of beginning in football that tells you that each battle which the admirers like to call the match shapes the better men?’

 

‘The matches are not always perfect! Some actually look battle-less! Do the better men appear there?’

 

‘You are the hero, do you have an answer?’

 

‘I think the best can be spotted in the winner!’

 

‘So all warriors – or players – are the best because they have the winner?’

 

‘The winner is seen at the end of the battle, not before it! If only the battle is won and a trophy of three points is obtained, the winner is formed…’

 

‘Do you want to say that I cannot own the winner because I have not played the match? How sad this battle is!’ the sorcerer is worried.

 

‘It is easy to understand!’ the hero is amused. ‘The winner depends on an accomplishment of a particular task… or battle!’

 

‘You noted yourself that some fights would be battle-less! Where is the winner there?’

 

‘You can look at it from the strategic point of view!’

 

‘No strategies, please! Strategy is a list of activities that have to be done! It doesn’t necessarily apply to the myth of the winner!’ the sorcerer frowns. ‘I think the reason of the battle-less-ness is that the warriors forget the better men!’

 

‘The winners are the better men,’ the hero objects.

 

‘How can you find the better men in a battle-less winner?’ the sorcerer is interested. ‘You can’t, can you? So why do you steal a chance to have the winner at the beginning if there is no guarantee you will see the better men at the end?’

 

‘What do you propose?’

 

‘Let each warrior have the winner before the battle! As I have said the winner is the great memory! Some might also tell that the winner is the background of the warrior! Well, isn’t the memory once again? The attitude, the pride, the willingness are basic foundation of the memory which drives each warrior further! No one can take it out of football, right?’

 

‘And?’

 

‘You will see that at the beginning every side is created from the better men with the winner in their minds! Still, only some sides can implement this thinking… the other ones are stuck in the search for the winner at the end, forgetting it does not start from there…’

 

‘The end is the most important!’

 

‘The end is the most devastating because you will never be able to change what has happened!’

 

‘You look from loser’s point of view!’

 

‘Don’t you?’

 

‘I don’t!’

 

‘How many fights have you won, hero?’ the sorcerer is curious.

 

‘Many fights!’

 

‘Where did the fight start?’

 

‘In my mind!’

 

‘Yet, you’re trying to persuade me to think that you didn’t have the winner at the start of your battle! You believed that your side were the better men! You conquered many mountain tops just because you followed your winner inside you! The only thing that the end gained was the post-match emotion! Did it really influence the content you showed? Not exactly! How can you evaluate your winner at the end, then?’

 

‘The start is the most important…’

 

‘Finding the winner before the battle will make it meaningful… it will make football colourful and entertaining! Of course, the admirers worry about the end, but most often they worry about the performance… they can sense when you have no winner inside!’

 

‘I will try to do my best!’

 

‘It’s not your battlefield anymore, hero!’ the sorcerer laughs. ‘I bet you have just remembered your glory! The winner still lives in you! Make sure that the current generation becomes the one of the better men…’

 

THE END