I am not interested in the result of a soccer match, if Armenia doesn’t play, I don’t care who will win and who will lose at all. Besides the national team of my country, I have no reasons to root for any country. By the way, I didn’t understand why our people said during the Eurovision Song Contest that we should root for Russia, since Armenia didn’t take part. If it is a song contest, one should root for a good song, regardless of whether that song was written by your strategic partner or centuries-old enemy.
Coming back to the European Football Championship, I don’t go into and don’t understand quite well the nuances of teams’ tactics and strategy. I don’t want to hear trite explanations of sports commentators “there is panic in the penalty area of a certain team,” “it is dangerous,” “such-and-such a team has caught the other team by surprise.” Therefore, I prefer watching soccer on mute. Let me admit that I don’t know the names of the majority of European soccer players. I am interested in the match itself – one of the modes of human activities, which manifests itself in people’s skills, brain and most importantly emotions. Moreover, some bug sat on a player’s back during the match between Sweden and Ukraine, the cameraman seized those few moments and the director, showing a good reaction, switched to the right camera. It is a manifestation of human activities again, although it has nothing to do with soccer itself. However the most important thing for me in soccer is when they score, how they are disappointed when they don’t manage to do that – everyone does it uniquely and close-ups make it possible to watch all that, how they protest against the decision of the referee, which, in their opinion, is wrong, how the supporters of the given country leap or grab their faces painted in the colors of their national flag, how the players shout at each other and then lend a hand or look askew. All that is interesting and moving, but not to the extent of having a heart attack because of it.
However, there are thousands of people in Armenia who are moved to that extent of having a heart attack. Not because they adore the teams of Spain or Germany, they care for their money. Those people don’t care for soccer as a game with its professional and emotional manifestations. They look at this championship, as well as all the other games and events, from one perspective – whether the bet is a good one or not. I.e. whether the bet is justified or not. When one hears such conversations around him, he feels disgust – could one spoil that beautiful game to such an extent?
On the other hand, that psychology, the use of which is not confined to soccer, impedes those very gamblers, in the broader sense. Making themselves dependent on some artificial factors, they cannot enjoy the life in all its beauty.
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ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
