The non-jubilation for the ex’s goal, total hypocrisy

It’s an issue that has divided many football fans in recent years. More precisely, in the last few decades, because a long time ago the problem did not arise. If you scored against the former team, you would cheer and that’s all, in the name of professionalism and respect for the fans of the team of the moment. There were no second thoughts. In recent years, however, many players feel a need for integrity immediately after scoring against their past, which has no counterpart in other areas.

Sometimes it’s the same people who enjoy being rough, becoming the idols of the worst fan and raging at the vanquished. Then confronted with a precise kind of situation, something snaps. Everything depends on whether this responds to a code of unwritten rules or is not the result of a fairly precise calculation. The debate is open, even if the sincerity thesis seems weak and is in any case tied to the sole author of the goal.

AN ODD IDEA OF RESPECT

If we thought so Roberto Boninsegna Inter not loved, then we would be crazy. Bonimba He was an ‘inside’ player for the Nerazzurri, but when he wore the Juventus shirt in 1977 he didn’t hesitate to give Ivano Bordon two. And he cheered a lot because he was a pro and because these networks paved the way for the Old Lady to become a Scudetto. No Inter fan was offended because everyone recognized the loyalty of those who were serious about their job. Alone, in another shirt. Those were different times, someone will say. True to a point, but if you take it for granted, those were less hypocritical, less respectable times.

The footballers were paid for it what they knew best.

They didn’t have their own badge, nobody had to like them except their employers. With exceptions they were “mercenaries” like today, perhaps without hiding too much. But if Boninsegna could have celebrated two goals against Inter (and he was anything but a mercenary), then that really wasn’t a problem. However, today we are faced with the footballer brandwho absolutely need a positive image, because the market is a giant that has eyes everywhere. Those of the past weren’t solid men, and those of today aren’t necessarily puppets. When times change, they change the behaviors.

Nowadays you often need a picture Social, even if – one has to be honest – the problem of ex-jubilation precedes the emergence of Facebook, Instagram & Co. by a few years. Suddenly a strange fear was felt: The ex-team fan may feel offended or provoked. When scoring a goal, the scorer can sound argumentative or, worse, ungrateful. Or disrespectful. Therefore, after the “punishment” of the old team, a dark face, an almost blocked posture, raised hands, as if to apologize for the inevitable, are almost mandatory. In the face of another who at least had the audacity/sincerity to follow his instincts and indulge in a perfectly legitimate pleasure.

THE “GOOD FEELINGS”

The question is, if goals cause so much internal pain in your team, why score goals? All in all, it is better not to play at all, not to conquer the field, so as not to be tempted. The strange thing is that fans know in their hearts that these longings, often in such theatrical form, does not correspond to that much substance. You know. And yet, when one of their former idols scores and seems happy, they resent it, boo him, maybe target him. The past is suddenly erased. Does demand or supply come first? Probably the offer.

It’s hard to remember who first decided not to indulge in such a situation, but if the gesture had never been amplified by the media and misrepresented by radio, television and newspapers, it would have been an isolated episode. However, for years Not cheering seems to be exactly what is claimed by the player, regardless. If, on a hypothetical morning, Ciro Immobile scores against Lazio Rome or Osimhen against Naples, a rather restrained joy can of course be expected.

Back then, a hypothetical Totti or an imaginary Del Piero beaming after a goal against Roma and Juve respectively would have meant an anomaly, but you don’t necessarily have to reach for the big names to try and understand the meaning of a behavior the hidden ends (if they are such). Today we feel for a lot less exa few more or less recent appearances on the Primavera team will suffice, the point is different.

Unless we are flags (bad word, but at least we understand each other) of a team, the regret for a winning goal appears in the “wrong” goal sheer hypocrisy. Someone like Christian Vieri, who in his time visited practically the entire constitutional span of Serie A, would theoretically only have the right to be happy about three or four teams, little more. And instead, long live the face of sincerity, he always rejoiced without hesitation and without arousing the anger of the other party. Why?

Let’s get down to business: Because he is perceived as a sincere footballer. It’s the authenticity the one that seems to prevail.

Someone like Vieri has never declaimed declarations of love for this or that, he has always guaranteed serious professionalism and maximum commitment, albeit on a time basis. He’s never kissed shirts out of line, so he could afford to go “by feel”. No one will accuse him of a non-existent inconsistency. Pavel Nedved has scored at least a couple of times for Lazio. There was jubilation after the goal, but that’s to be expected from a down-to-earth businessman like him and can’t be blamed.

If anything, those who create an expectation that is then disappointed are the problem. Those who, for example, kiss the jersey as a sign of eternal loyalty and then learn that they had already ratified for another team at the time of the kiss. Side B of the same duplication. Ruben Sosa comes to mind: longing in Rome under the curve, signing in Milan, almost simultaneously. Maybe Batistuta was more honest when he scored against Fiorentina, who knows.

NEITHER THE DEVIL NOR THE HOLY WATER

Then there are those who transcend the very concept of heart and loyalty. Such is the case of Marco Materazzi, Perugia defender who promised Inter for the 2001-2002 season. In his last season in Umbria, the future 2006 World Cup defender scored in both the first and second legs for the Nerazzurri. Those are goals that won’t stop Inter from winning both games, albeit in one of them Materazzi implements a “preventive non-cheer”, as if to apologize in advance to future fans. Nothing illegal, mind you, just a somewhat calculated gesture. At least apparently not very spontaneously. Smart here.

In the middle of the third millennium that of non-jubilation After the goal, the former team almost appears a brandin fact a single company rather than a factory. Makes a good image, makes a good boy, makes a conscientious pro. And most importantly, it leaves the way open to any return you’ve ever seen. One only wonders when a similar gesture will finally wear out in the eyes of the reference target, part of a ritual that no longer attracts attention. Above all, football has to be fun. Or sadness, but for scoring an own goal, not for scoring the right goal.

Maybe it’s the grandstand world, the criticism in general, insiders, bringing reality back into line with professional duty and with a notion of respect that is not just formal.

Because there’s no point in flaunting any particular notion of deference and ethics if those ethics are mostly betrayed in the same 90 minutes of play or immediately thereafter. With boisterous cheers, with the declaration of displacement at the end of the meeting. Or with a differently interpretable gesture, like the one we talked about. Because, if it’s true, the former fan needs to be respected, let alone how respected a fan of his team should be. The one who raves about the jersey worn by the goalscorer at the moment of the “sulking goal”. If we don’t notice such nuances, then it’s official: football has become just marketing. Given the passion.