The Power Of Sport

Sport. One of the few truly universal phenomenons. People from every country in the world play it and care about it. The reach and inspiration sport brings is simply incredible.

It has the power to make a superstar out of men and women, but can just as easily crush the hundreds of hours of hard work and effort you have poured into it. Whether you are a fan, player, coach, manager, physio, kit-man, owner, chairman, or boot-cleaner, sport effects almost all six and a half billion members of the human race.

Every country has their preferred sports. In England it is football, in India it is cricket, in New Zealand it is rugby. Everyone from the giant Russia to the tiny San Marino has their personal favourite, which can make or ruin their day.

Kids from Gambia to Venezuela join clubs just to be able to play it. If they aren't lucky enough to be able to afford that they will play on the streets. Nothing can stop the power of sport.

And the biggest sport in the world is football, or soccer to most. It is what almost every young boy, and even many girls, dream of doing as a job when they are older. It has the power to  make people in Japan leap with joy one minute, and the next have those in America screaming at their TV sets.

The unpredictable nature of this sport, and indeed of most sports, can cause unmitigated depression to evaporate in an instant, and then be replaced by insatiable bliss.

A bad result for your team can affect your mood for the worse, and, in the vast majority of occasions, does. Knowing that you have just lost a match in which you could have, and should have, triumphed in can leave you feeling personally cheated and even insulted.

A bad referee decision can cause you to feel as if everything is unjust. You spend the next few days cursing his decision. The lasting effect of sport is amazing. I can remember bad decisions from ten years ago which still seem unfair.

Yet sport can provide so much joy as well as despair. A good result for your team has the opposite affect from a loss. The euphoria of an important win over your rivals, or a cup win, can last days, even weeks.

Certain moments of sport make me smile and even cheer when I remember them to this day, such as David Beckham's free-kick against Greece, Steven Gerrard's goals against Olympiakos and West Ham or Jerzy Dudek's save from Andriy Shevchenko in the Champions League final.

These are just a few of the moments that are special to me and that I will remember forever. Every single person will have different memories which make them feel the same way. That is the magic of sport—it affects everyone differently.

Why does it matter as much as it does? I can't answer that. In fact, I don't think anyone would be able to. There are plenty of things worse in life than a loss in sport. Yet when that loss occurs, it doesn't feel that way.

Countless people have died due to sport, be it tragedies and accidents such as Hillsborough, or riots and hooliganism. Sport has a massive affect in life, sometimes a decisive one.

Fans care so much about their respective clubs that some are willing to endanger other people's lives in the eternal search for radiance or retribution. That is the power of sport. It is what some people live and die for.

And sport itself will never die.

Is money ruining the game? Ask the kids playing football in the streets of Lesotho who have never heard of Cristiano Ronaldo or David Beckham. Money can never ruin sport. Nothing can ruin sport.

It has impacts on the lives of billions and billions of people worldwide. While that still happens, sport is always going to be more than a game.

The power of sport is immeasurable.

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that." - Bill Shankly