Debate about Football Industry - Essay Example

DEBATE ABOUT FOOTBALL INDUSTRY By Location Introduction Football is undoubtedly the most popular and famous sport in the world. The powerfulness of this sporting event is imminent from its potential to bond communities, bridging cultural differences and also building hopes (Casamichana & Castellano, 2013). On the other hand, football is the most played sport, with substantial and best support from the fanatics. Nonetheless, football is the biggest revenue generator among the different types of games. The role that football plays in the society is imminent from the failure of other sporting activities to match the influence it has on people and the economy in general (Pringle, McKenna, & Zwolinsky, 2013). In the UK, for instance, football defines what peoples behaviors since they put a strong attachment to the games as becoming parts of their schedules during the weekends. On the contrary, football has been associated with violent behavior though sports hooliganism is characteristics of any game. However, football as a sporting event has the potential to transcend different cultural background and bring people together thus improving their ability to communicate in intercultural contexts (Berlinschi, Schokkaert & Swinnen, 2013). Besides football employs may people in the form of managers, players, and other professionals. Therefore, it is imperative to outline both the strengths and weaknesses of the game and conclude if football contributes to the well-being of the society. Strengths of football One of the strengths of football is that it has the potential for creating employment opportunities for people (Pringle, McKenna & Zwolinsky, 2013). During major football events like World Cup, the world football governing body, FIFA always takes to building stadiums thus many people are employed to work as constructors and handymen when the stadiums are being built. On the other hand, the arrival of fans as well the football teams present business opportunities for the home countries thus creating more jobs in terms of business people selling commodities to the football fans. Besides, football has the potential for benefiting the hotel and service sector of a countrys economy in the form of hotel bookings and restaurant services offered to both the players and the fans. Nonetheless, people worldwide football events sometimes are referred to as football tourism thus a good foreign exchange earner as was with the case with South Africa, the FIFA 2010 World Cup (Casamichana & Castellano, 2013). Moreover, football has transformed the lives of people in the developing countries where individuals use their talent to pursue football as a career in foreign countries. European football leagues, for instance, has employed many young people from developing countries who get paid a lifetime thus is a perfect way of reducing poverty. Another significant strength of football is that it brings fun to a country and contributes to overall social well-being (Pringle, McKenna & Zwolinsky, 2013). The implication is that football has been identified as one of the sources of social capital. In this regard, social capital refers to those aspects of the community like happiness, attitude, satisfaction, tolerance and so on. A community that engages in football quite often is deemed to increase the extent of happiness since people identify with the games by using sports language that is only known to them. Therefore, the identification of oneself as a particular a supporter of a team also adds to the total fun and happiness of the community. On the other hand, football also has a strong appeal to individuals who might not be interested in the games (Casamichana & Castellano, 2013). For instance, the nicknames given to teams become lifestyles and ways through which people communicate thus adding to the overall social capital. Another important aspect of football that adds to the overall fun of the society is the joy people get when their teams win. In fact, reports indicate that individuals who support football teams that record victory frequently are happier and satisfied with life. On the other hand, football offers people with the chance to learn the essentials of team building and teamwork (Rookwood & Pearson, 2012). Football as a game can be viewed as a work and organizational environment where the opponents act like the competitors. Besides, the football game is played with eleven players a side whose ability to win depends on the extent to which they can rally behind and work as a team to win the game. The fan as people who work as employees and some are leaders of various teams. Therefore, football is a classic example of how good or bad team building skills may influence the performance of the particular group. Moreover, football teaches people how to become better leaders who can be relied upon in both times of crises and during the good times (Pringle, McKenna & Zwolinsky, 2013). Leadership in football teams begins with the coach who must always encourage the team and also offer support through advice on how to win the game. In addition, the team captain is like the supervisor who also has to direct the team and the success of such duties entirely depend on the competency of to lead in various situations. The football fans, therefore, learn how the captain or the leader encourages his members even during the loss (Casamichana & Castellano, 2013). Also, a positive role of football is that the game has the potential for bringing communities together (Casamichana & Castellano, 2013). The implication is that the football fans plus the players are from diverse backgrounds thus they embrace each other through the game. For instance, football being a worldwide event has been used to create awareness about the dangers of racisms. In most cases, before the games begin, the footballers have been seen holding banners with the slogans #NOTORACISM and the same becomes trending in this world of social media or digital communication thus bringing communities together (Pringle, McKenna & Zwolinsky, 2013). On the other hand, football has been used to end ethnicity in certain countries since the love of the game transcends cultural diversity (Pringle, McKenna & Zwolinsky, 2013). The other way through which football brings people together is by sharing what communities go through where the fans advocate through social media using trending topics. When faced with major disasters or natural calamities, football has been used to send the message of condolences where moments of silence are observed before the games begin. In this case, the affected community is reassured that the whole world share their sorrows thus building strong relationships between communities (Pringle, McKenna & Zwolinsky, 2013). Football has been recommended as one of the platforms through which people learn good communication skills (Pringle, McKenna & Zwolinsky, 2013). In this regard, communication during the games takes place irrespective of linguistic differences where people identify with some common football language. In return, people learn the basics of communicating in intercultural contexts thus building on their overall competence in intercultural communication. Besides, football teaches people to keep fit and stay healthier. The implication is that those who have a strong attachment to football place a high value on physical fitness thus adding to their overall well-being. Nonetheless, football has the potential for helping people to learn various skills especially appreciate the concept of fair play (Casamichana & Castellano, 2013). Moreover, being a good footballer is a talent that comes from God thus it inspires people and lifts their hearts. Overall, the benefits or strengths of football revolve around increasing the happiness of a community and also uplifting hearts when the players appreciate that the talent comes from God (Rookwood & Pearson, 2012). Furthermore, the benefits of football to a society is viewed in terms of skills that people learn including team building, leadership, communication and among other competencies. Weaknesses of football The negative aspect of football can first be looked into in terms of the injury risks that players are always exposed to (Weiler, Keen & Wolman, 2012). Even though players take many precautions to avoid bruises, sprains, scrapes, broken bones, joint dislocation and concussions, such instances are more likely to occur. The implication is that the negative physical nature of the game poses the players to imminent injury risks. On the other hand, the injuries can have detrimental effects on the individuals especially if they depend on the game for livelihood. Nonetheless, the injuries occur despite the efforts put to provide rules for controlling violent behavior. The other negative aspect of football on the player is that it requires a lot of commitment in terms of time and dedication. In most cases, during the football season, the schedule of the player revolve around the game and the team where he or she has to attend the training sessions, film breakdowns, workouts, and gym. The committed makes life a bit more hectic to the particular individual. The implication is that other things that the player may want to do are put on hold because there must be the dedication from each of player to record good results. A serious weakness of football is the rivalry between the teams and the fans (Weiler, Keen & Wolman, 2012). Rivalry in football is not a new phenomenon because there are many cases in history that have shown how the rivalry between teams can be dangerous. In most cases, the rivalries have resulted in teams confronting each other, through the fans, and some people have lost their lives. A perfect recent example is the Algerian and Egyptian rivalry in football that left scores injuries with a few losing their lives. On the other hand, the serious rivalry between teams has forced the football governing bodies to reschedule the games or play them away from the home grounds. Nonetheless, football has been used to send political messages. History holds that some countries, especially during cold war, used football to fuel wars and countries have confronted each other during the games where fans attack each other, not on the basis of differences in the score sheet, but on political grounds. The players also got to the extent of fueling dangerous rivalries through games. In fact, the rivalry between the teams or the players is the most dangerous as some players launch serious attacks on their rival teams and not considering the implications on the individuals safety. Though the famous international footballers earn fortunes from the game, the suppliers of the materials are not granted fair wages (Weiler, Keen & Wolman, 2012). In this case, football is seen as an industry that does not engage in sound supply chain management activities by denying workers fair wages at the expense of multi-million dollars paid to the players. Interestingly, most of the clothes come from the developing countries that have always been seriously confronted with poor wages. Moreover, football as a profession is biased as it is more accessible to the rich than the poor despite the role it plays in bringing communities together (Berlinschi, Schokkaert, & Swinnen, 2013). For instance, the ticket prices are sometimes too expensive for the economically disadvantaged in the society thus locking other potential people from joining the fun. Football has not been embracing gender equality since it is always dominated by men. Though women have been given the chance to take part in football, their games are always given little attention (Berlinschi, Schokkaert, & Swinnen, 2013). In this case, football is not inclusive of other section of the society thus may not be achieving the goal of bringing people together. However, this weakness can be argued from the physical perspective of the game that might be quite easy for women to endure. Billions of dollars are injected annually into the football sporting activities, especially competitions like the World Cup though other sections of the world are in dire poverty (Berlinschi, Schokkaert, & Swinnen, 2013). The implication is that the multi-billion investments on football can be used to make the world a fair place for the poverty stricken populations. Nonetheless, the building of stadiums leaves some people landless and homeless as their lands are taken away for building new stadiums. A serious adverse implication of football is the promotion of negative behaviors like hooliganism (Weiler, Keen & Wolman, 2012). In fact, hooliganism in football is a serious issue that has also left many people nursing injuries and some even succumbing to severe injuries. On the other hand, hooliganism that is sometimes depicted in football teaches the young children violent behaviors since they believe that is the only way to go about solving issues when they are dissatisfied. Another bad behavior that is brought about by football is gambling (Berlinschi, Schokkaert, & Swinnen, 2013). Gambling football has made some people lose their entire life properties. Besides, gambling is an addictive behavior that makes people attach more importance to the game and make the game matter to the extent that they can lose their lives if things do not work out for them. Interestingly, some fans do not know how endure situations when their teams lose. Cases of fans taking away their lives because their teams lost have become common in the modern football implying that the game, to some people, means life and death. Conclusion In summary, football is the biggest and most loved game in the world though it has both strengths and weaknesses. Football, for sure, is a perfect way of bringing communities to share the best moments of the game. On the other hand, football has been identified as one of the social events that increasing social capital by increasing happiness, attitudes and tolerance among those taking part in the games. Besides, football creates employment opportunities and also important in reducing poverty besides contributing to the spiritual well-being by uplifting players’ hearts that the talent comes from God. However, there is the dark side of the game especially injuries to the players and chaos during the games that may also become dangerous situations for the fans. In addition, football breeds dangerous behaviors like gambling, hooliganism, and violence. Moreover, people always sent away from their lands to pave the way for building stadiums thus rendering them homeless and landless. Bibliography Berlinschi, R, Schokkaert, J, & Swinnen, J 2013, ‘When drains and gains coincide: Migration and international football performance’, Labour Economics, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 1-14. Casamichana, D, & Castellano, J 2013, May, ‘Differences between winning, drawing and losing teams in the 2010 World Cup’, In Science and Football VII: The Proceedings of the Seventh World Congress on Science and Football (p. 211). Routledge. Pringle, A, McKenna, J, & Zwolinsky, S 2013, ‘Health improvement and professional football: players on the same side?’, Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 207-212. Rookwood, J & Pearson, G 2012, ‘The hoolifan: Positive fan attitudes to football ‘hooliganism’, International Review for the sociology of sport, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 149-164. Weiler, R, Keen, R, & Wolman, R 2012, ‘Changes in bone turnover markers during the close season in elite football (soccer) players’, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 255-258. Read More