GOM World Cup Diary #17 – The Football Gods Must Have Been Chuckling
I’ve always believed the Football Gods have a sense of humour.
Not a cruel one.
Just the sort that quietly smiles when life produces one of those coincidences that nobody could have planned.
Yesterday was one of those days.
Seattle was celebrating Pride.
The city had embraced the colours, the music and the message of inclusion.
Then the World Cup fixture list produced Egypt against Iran.
If the Football Gods were watching, I suspect they allowed themselves a quiet chuckle.
Not because of the people celebrating.
And certainly not because of anyone’s personal choices.
But because football has an extraordinary knack of throwing up little ironies that nobody could possibly script.
You spend months organising a tournament.
Years preparing a city.
Thousands of people work tirelessly to make everything run perfectly.
Then along comes the fixture computer and says, “I’ve got an idea…”
That’s football.
Or perhaps that’s life.
The more carefully we organise things, the more likely it seems that reality will produce a coincidence that leaves everyone raising an eyebrow.
I’ve noticed it happens outside football too.
You wash the car.
It rains.
You take an umbrella.
The sun comes out.
You finally throw away a box you’ve been storing in the garage for ten years.
The next day you discover you needed something that was inside it.
Life has impeccable timing.
So, it seems, do the Football Gods.
Of course, I spent five minutes wondering whether someone had planned it before remembering that tournament fixtures are worked out long before anyone knows what else will be happening in a host city.
Sometimes a coincidence really is just a coincidence.
But that doesn’t stop it being amusing.
Perhaps that’s one of the reasons I still love football.
Not because it always gives us the result we want.
But because every now and then it reminds us that, however much we plan, organise and prepare, life still has the final say.
And somewhere, I like to imagine the Football Gods sitting in the stands, smiling quietly to themselves.
Anyway, what do I know?
I’m just a grumpy old man.
